Uelsen () is a community in the district of

Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim () is a districts of Germany, district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Netherlands, Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the distri ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Geography

The community of Uelsen lies in westernmost Lower Saxony, on the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with the Kingdom of 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 ...

, roughly 30 km north 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 northwest of

Nordhorn Nordhorn (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'', or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn,'' and Dutch: ''Noordhoorn'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim, located in the southwest corner of the state, near th ...

History

* About 690: The groundwork for the great parish of Uelsen was laid, probably by the missionary

Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop, and missionary. He became the first Diocese of Utrecht (695–1580), Bishop of Utrecht in what is now the Netherlands, dying at Echternach in Luxembourg, and ...

. * 1131: Uelsen was first mentioned in a document by the Bishop of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. At that time, Uelsen belonged to

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

(now in the Netherlands), which then belonged to the German Empire, as did Utrecht. * About 1300: The

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

of the Count ten Tooren or von Thurn stood in Uelsen. (The castle's remains were used in the mid-19th century as a

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

.) * 1312: Ownership of Uelsen passed to the Count of Bentheim. * 1544: The

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

creed was introduced to Uelsen. Start of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. * 1546: Under Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

, border crossings were sealed and Uelsen was cut off from the Netherlands. * 1580: Heavy fighting in the Uelsen woods in the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

between the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and the Dutch. * 1588: The Reformed creed was introduced. * 1597: The Reformation ended. * 1618 to 1648: The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. The County of Bentheim (Grafschaft Bentheim) was supposedly neutral ground, but the people suffered great hardships.

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

, Hessian and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

troops all moved into billets in the Uelsen community and extorted board and the people’s last belongings. * 1636: As a result of the war and widespread hunger, the plague broke out. * 1650: The town hall was built. * 1655: Bernhard von Galen, Bishop of Münster, waged war against Holland. Again fighting troops marched through the County. * 1666: Bernhard von Galen concluded the Peace of Nordhorn. * 1672: The new Bishop of Münster, Elijah von Corey again attacked the Netherlands after only six years’ peace. * 1688: Count Ernst Wilhelm converted to the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

faith. The Reformed clergy he then also had replaced by Catholic clergy. The County pastors turned to the Netherlands,

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

became the church’s language, and until the late 19th century, it was also used in

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s. Church hymns were still partly being sung in Dutch as late as 1933. * 1756 to 1763: The

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. * 19th century: The population figures fell from 1200 to 806 as working-class families moved to

Schüttorf Schüttorf (; ) is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in southwesternmost Lower Saxony near the Netherlands, Dutch border and the boundary with Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia). The town of Schüttorf forms with the surrounding commun ...

to find work in the textile industry. Some families also moved to the Netherlands or America. * 1921: An electric company was founded. * 1929 to 1931: A water supply system was built. * 1933 to 1945: Uelsen and its outlying centres were

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

strongholds. * 1974: Uelsen became the seat of the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of Uelsen, to which also belong the communities of Getelo, Gölenkamp, Halle, Itterbeck, Wielen and Wilsum. * 31 December 2004: The ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts ' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...

'' of Weser-Ems, which Uelsen belonged to, was abolished after administrative reform. * 2006: Uelsen marked its 875 years of existence with a festival week. The state-recognized health resort of Uelsen is the Joint Community’s middle point and at the same time its seat.

Partner town

Uelsen’s partner town is

Tubbergen Tubbergen (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. Geography The following population centres can be found ...

in the Netherlands.

Events

* Saisonauftakt (seasonal prelude): Saturday before

Whitsun Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian holy day of Pentecost. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter and commemorates the descent of the H ...

* Volks- und Schützenfest (folk and shooting festival): 2nd weekend in July * Herbstmarkt (Herbstkirmes; autumn market): 3rd weekend in October * Weihnachtsmarkt (

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

market): Saturday before 2nd day in Advent

References

External links