Münster

The Prince-Bishopric of Münster was an ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1337 its bishop was Louis II of Hesse.

In 1534 radical Anabaptists seized Münster and established a communal regime; episcopal troops stormed the city in 1535. In 1648 Spain and the Dutch signed a peace treaty there. The bishopric was secularized and partitioned in 1803; in 1815 its south went to Prussia and most of its north to Hanover and Oldenburg.