MUNSTER

Old Irish Muma the southwestern province of the Republic of Ireland, comprising the counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford. It was historically one of the fifths (ancient provinces, or kingdoms) of Ireland. Geographically, the area is divided by the Sliabh Luachra Mountains into Desmond to the south and Thomond to the north. The power of the kingdom originally lay in the south, where the ruling rainn clan had their chief fortress at Temuir rann in the Ballyhoura Hills. Inroads into northern Munster made by the neighbouring men of Leinster were fought off by a people known as the Eoghanachta, who became rulers of Munster from about AD 400. They later unsuccessfully challenged the Leinster high kings and in the 10th century failed to defend their own land against Viking raiders who settled in Waterford and Limerick. After the Anglo-Norman invasion of the mid-12th century, the feudal families of Fitzgerald, earls of Desmond, and of Butler, earls of Ormonde, became all-powerful in the province. Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), northwestern North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. Mnster is bordered by The Netherlands to the west, Lower Saxony Land to the north, and Detmold district to the east, Arnsberg to the south, and Dsseldorf to the southwest. The district occupies an area of 2,663 square miles (6,897 square km) and is coextensive with the northwestern portion of the historic region of Westphalia (q.v.). Mnster Regierungsbezirk takes its name from the name of the second largest city and administrative seat of the district. The heavily industrialized Ruhr urban complex and the immense Ruhr bituminous coalfield extend into southern Mnster between the Emscher valley (south) and Lippe River (north). Three cities in the Ruhr complex of MnsterGelsenkirchen, the largest city in the district, Recklinghausen, and Bottrophave populations of more than 100,000 inhabitants. Population densities in these urban areas often exceed 5,200 persons per square mile (2,000 per square km). A varied industrial structure exists, based largely on coal mining, iron and steel processing, glassworks, chemical plants, and electrical power plants. The wide expanse of the Mnsterland lowlands, occupying more than three-quarters of the district's total land area, is situated between the Ruhr region and the Teutoburger Wald (Teutoburg Forest) escarpment near the northeastern border. The lowlands average between 160 and 330 feet (50 and 100 m) above sea level and are fairly level. Only a few groups of low sandstone and limestone hills, including the Baumberge, Haard, and Beckumer Berge, rise between 330 and 650 feet to break the lowland landscape. Due to the proximity of limestone, clay, and Ruhr coal, the Beckumer Berge has become a major centre of the German cement industry. In central Mnsterland fertile clay soils and high rainfall support ideal livestock-grazing pastures; the region is the Ruhr's largest supplier of fresh dairy products, meat, and bacon. Lands to the north and west, however, are covered by less productive glacial-outwash sands and patches of marshland and heath. Here a number of smaller cities, including Bocholt, Rheine, and Mesum, have developed textile and clothing industries. The heart of the lowland basin is the city of Mnster, a service centre and important traffic junction located on the 168-mile- (270-km-) long Dortmund-Ems-Kanal. The canal traverses central Mnsterland from north to south, providing a navigable waterway from the Ruhr region to the North Sea. The Westphalians of Mnster Regierungsbezirk are descendants of the western Saxons and speak a Low German dialect. More than two-thirds of the people are Roman Catholics and about one-third are Protestants. The predominant rural settlement pattern is one of widely scattered or loosely grouped farms surrounded by oak groves, forest plots, and hedged fields. Farmhouses tend to be large and often have belonged to the same family for centuries. Many old moated castles, including those of Nordkirchen, Raesfeld, and Gemen, and manor houses of the nobility have been preserved. Higher education in the district is centred at Westflische Wilhelms University in Mnster. Pop. (1989 est.) 2,408,271. city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany, on the small Mnster-Aa River and the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The community was first mentioned as Mimigernaford (Ford over the Aa) when Liudger (Ludger), a missionary sent by Charlemagne, founded a bishopric there in 804. It was renamed Mnster in 1068 and was chartered in 1137. Mnster's favourable position at the intersection of long-distance trade routes and its wool trade with England gave it early economic importance and contributed to its influential position in the Hanseatic League in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Anabaptists, who constituted the radical wing of the Reformers, proclaimed their kingdom of a thousand years there in 1534. In 1535 Mnster was captured, and in 1536 the Anabaptists' king, John of Leiden (Jan Beuckelson), was executed with two of his accomplices; the iron cages in which their bodies were publicly exhibited still hang in the Gothic tower of St. Lambert's Church. A neutralized Mnster was the scene of the peace congress (164548) that resulted in the Treaty of Westphalia. In 1815 Mnster became the capital of Prussian Westphalia. The city suffered widespread destruction in World War II, but most of its historic buildings have been restored or rebuilt, including the gabled houses and arcades of the Prinzipalmarkt, the Gothic town hall (1335) with its Friedenssaal (Peace Hall), the cathedral (122565), and several churchesSt. Ludger's, St. Lambert's, the Church of Our Lady, St. Martin's, and St. Maurice's (all 13th15th century). The work of Johann Conrad Schlaun, a Westphalian architect of the Baroque period, is evident in the Westphalian Wilhelm University of Mnster (founded 1780, a full university from 1902; in the 18th-century an episcopal palace), the bailiff's high court, and several churches. Notable modern structures include the state Chamber of Commerce building, municipal administrative offices, the theatre, the railway station (1956), and the Mnsterland Hall. The centre of Westphalian culture, Mnster has several cultural and scientific museums, as well as technical institutes and schools for the arts. The city's industries include the manufacture of machinery and textiles. Mnster is also the centre of the Westphalian cattle-breeding market. Pop. (1993 est.) 267,072.