Ahaus (;
Westphalian: ''Ausen'') is a town in the
district of Borken in the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It is located near the border with the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, lying some 20 km south-east of
Enschede
Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...
and 15 km south from
Gronau. Ahaus is the location of one of Germany's interim storage facilities for radioactive spent fuel.
History
The first written mention of the aristocratic seat of ''Haus an der Aa'' dates from around 1030. Around 1120, Bernhard von Diepenheim had ''Ahaus'' Castle built where Ahaus Castle stands today. In 1154 his son Lifhard called himself ''von Ahaus'' for the first time.
The lords of Ahaus belonged to the smaller noble dynasties in Westphalia in the wider environment of the Munster bishops. They got into a fight with them in 1176 when the nobleman Johann von Ahaus gave his castle as a
fief
A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
to the Archbishop of Cologne. In 1177, however, John had to surrender to Prince Bishop Hermann II of Munstersubdue. The castles of Ahaus and Diepenheim, which belonged to the noble lords of Ahaus, were destroyed. Nevertheless, the noble lords remained in possession of their rule.
In 1389 the noble lords of Ahaus granted the castle settlement an excise privilege. Two years later, Ahaus received city rights. In 1406, the
Prince-Bishop of Munster, Otto IV von Hoya, bought the lordship of Ahaus and incorporated it into the Bishopric of Munster.
It was combined by the Bishopric of Münster together with 24 parishes, which extended over large parts of West Münsterland, to form the Amt of Ahaus . It lasted until it was dissolved by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803.
Climate
Ahaus has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Cfb'';
Trewartha: ''Dobk'').
Twin towns – sister cities
Ahaus is
twinned with:
*
Argentré-du-Plessis, France
*
Haaksbergen, Netherlands
Notable people
*
Friedrich Koechling (1893–1970), officer, general of infantry
*
Michael Denhoff (born 1955), composer and cellist
*
Jens Spahn (born 1980), politician (CDU), Member of Bundestag
*
Heike Wermer (born 1988), CDU politician
*
Urszula Radwańska
Urszula Radwańska (; born 7 December 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player.
Radwańska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and eleven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 October 2012, she reac ...
(born 1990), Polish tennis player
*
Stefan Thesker (born 1991), footballer
See also
*
Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service
*
Eintracht Ahaus
References
Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia
Borken (district)
{{Borken-geo-stub