Free Imperial City of Dortmund

Origins

Dortmund grew around a royal court on the Hellweg, the trade road between the Rhine and the Weser. Ottonian kings held assemblies there, and by around 1220 it was the only imperial city in Westphalia. Its merchants traded across the North Sea and Baltic, and it became a leading member of the Hanseatic League.

Rule and society

A council of merchant patricians ruled the city. Its free court was the leading tribunal of the Vehmic courts of Westphalia. In the Great Dortmund Feud of 1388 to 1389 it withstood a siege by the Archbishop of Cologne and the Count of the Mark. The city was surrounded by Mark territory and gradually lost trade. Lutheranism was introduced in the 1560s and 1570s.

Decline and legacy

In 1803 Dortmund lost its freedom and was given to the house of Nassau-Orange. It belonged to the Grand Duchy of Berg from 1808 and to Prussia from 1815, growing into a great coal and steel city of the Ruhr.