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Lemgo |
emgo was founded about 1090 by Count Bernhard of Lippe. It grew quickly due to it's
location at the confluence of two major trade routes. A thriving merchant class developed
and in 1231 the Catholic Diocese of Paderborn located an Archdiocese here at the Church of
St Johann "outside of the walls". By 1283, the Neustadt was platted just south
of the Altstadt walls. The church and abbey of St Marien had been built here in 1279 and
the town grew up around it. The Hospital of the Heilegengeister (Holy Ghost) was founded
in 1290.
By the early 1300's, Lemgo joined the Hanseatic League, a trade league of northern Germany cities that dominated European trade for several centuries. In 1365 the Altstadt and the Neustadt are united as one city and the old walls torn down and replaced by one wall around both cities. The united cities continued to thrive building a diverse merchant class. With the advent of the teachings of Martin Luther, in 1527 Lemgo accepted the Reformation. The town's people accepted Lutheranism, adhering even after the Counts of Lippe embraced Calvinism.
By 1580 began the Hexenverfolgungen or Witchcraft Trials which would last off and on until 1681. Innocent citizens were imprisioned and interrogated for witchcraft and over 200 people would be executed in a time of terror that made the Salem Witchcraft Trials pale in comparison.
In 1584 Simon VI, County of Lippe made Schloss Brake, his castle one mile south-east of Lemgo, the capital of Lippe and his seat of residence. Simon accepted the Calvinist faith and in 1613 there was a rebellion by the Lutheran inhabitants of Lemgo who did not wish to follow the Calvinist doctrines of Count Simon VI. The townspeople fired the citie's cannons on the Count's Castle at Schloss Brake, and eventually the Count was killed in the religious rebellion.
In 1635, at the height of the 40 Years War, the Commander of the Catholic Armies, Count Tilly, attacked Lippe and terrorized and laid seige to Lemgo. Although the city was not sacked, it was heavily damaged, initiating a time of decline that affected Lemgo for centuries. Countless citizens left the city to build lives elsewhere. The city did not recover until the nineteenth century.
Traphagens at Lemgo Photos of Old Lemgo
oday, Lemgo is a city of 40,000 residents, a modern city with a Medieval touch. In the late nineteenth century, the city walls were demolished to make way for rail lines, but the site of the walls was preserved as park land. The center of the city, about 1 to 1 1/2 miles in diameter, retains it's Hanseatic City flavor. Most of the old buildings have been retained and rennovated, St Nicholai and St Marien Churches still stand, the buildings dating back to the Eleventh Century.
The elaborate Ratshalle or City Hall is one the the most beautiful examples of Weser Renaissance Architecture completed in the late sixteenth century. It flanks the Marktplatz (Market Plaza) surrounded by old restored buildings. Mittelstrasse, running from the East Gate to the St Johan Gate on the west, is a marvel of halftimber houses, shops and restaurants dating back to the middle 1500's. Lemgo owes much of this Medieval Beauty to the decline of the city after the Forty Years War and the fact that it was not a strategic target during World War II and never bombed.
Today Lemgo is home to people who work in other large cities as well as being the site of the Lippe\Lemgo Technical College. Even with it's beautiful architecture, it has not become a major tourist site, so it is still an undiscovered gem.
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