Free Imperial City of Munster

Origins

Munster grew around the Benedictine abbey of Saint Gregory, founded in the 7th century in a Vosges valley west of Colmar. The town that formed beside the monastery won its freedom from the abbots and was recognised as an imperial city by Rudolf I in 1287. It later joined the Decapolis, the league of Alsatian imperial cities.

Rule and society

The town shared authority over the valley with the abbey in a long and often bitter relationship. Its people lived from dairy farming, cheese, textiles and the valley's trade. The town and much of the valley adopted the Lutheran Reformation in the 1530s, while the abbey remained Catholic. Munster suffered heavily in the Thirty Years War.

Decline and legacy

French troops occupied the Decapolis, and the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1679 confirmed French sovereignty. Munster was almost completely destroyed in the fighting of 1914 to 1915. It is now a town in Alsace famed for Munster cheese.