Address
Stadt Bad Iburg, Am Gografenhof 4, 49186 Bad Iburg
Tel.: 05403/404-0, Fax 05403/404-33
Internet: www.badiburg.de
E- mail : info@badiburg.de
Tourist- Information, Schloßstr. 20, 49186 Bad Iburg
Tel.: 05403/796780, Fax 05403/6025
E- mail: tourist-info@badiburg.de
Hanseatic City Guide-Bad Iburg
I. The Town
Rittersaal/Bad Iburg castle
Benno I., bishop of Osnabrück (1052 - 1068), erected a residential tower in Iburg built on the remnants of a castle from 9/10th century. His successor, bishop Benno II. (1068 – 1088), boosted it to a bishop’s residence and founded top a Benedictine abbey on the mountain-top. Thus a twofold construction of residence and monastery originated. The Iburg was the most important territorial castle of the Osnabrück bishops from 11th through 17th century. Its favourable situation at the crossing of two routes, the main trading route from the North across the Teutoburg forest pass and Iburg towards the Rhein-Main district and the East-West connection from Paderborn towards Rheine was of advantage not only for defending and strengthening of the southern part of the prince bishopric, but also for the passing merchants.
In course of time more and more people settled at the castle mountain, servants of castle and monastery, artisans, merchants and so on. A settlement developed that was fortified by the prince bishop in the middle of 13th century and given certain town rights. In 1369 already, castle and civil community were combined under a council with a joint constitution. Prince bishop Konrad III. (1455 – 1482) put walls round the borough with three gates. During 30Years War Iburg was occupied by Swedish troops in 1633, and castle and monastery were given to Gustav Gustavson. It was only in 1645 that the Benedictines were able to repurchase their monastery. In 1657, the borough was granted a privilege to hold a fair.
In course of time more and more people settled at the castle mountain, servants of castle and monastery, artisans, merchants and so on. A settlement developed that was fortified by the prince bishop in the middle of 13th century and given certain town rights. In 1369 already, castle and civil community were combined under a council with a joint constitution. Prince bishop Konrad III. (1455 – 1482) put walls round the borough with three gates. During 30Years War Iburg was occupied by Swedish troops in 1633, and castle and monastery were given to Gustav Gustavson. It was only in 1645 that the Benedictines were able to repurchase their monastery. In 1657, the borough was granted a privilege to hold a fair.
Historic pharmacy
In the charter of 1246 May 22, the three bishop towns Osnabrück,
Münster and Minden joined in the „Ladberger Bund“ (Ladberg
alliance) to jointly attend to their common interests. The alliance
referred to the resident long-range merchants as well. As to
Osnabrück, the charter refers to accompanying towns (beigeordnete
Städte). Certainly, Iburg as residence town of the bishops belonged
to them.
Here was the cradle of the family of Iburg(Yborch, Yborg, Yburgh,
Iborch, Iborg). The first bearers of the name are mentioned in the
charter books of Osnabrück and Iburg. The oldest member of this
family, Arnold von Iburg, is documented in 1151. The long-range
merchants, settling in the Baltic region, are also numbered among
this wide-spread family. One of them as well is Gerhard Yborg who
is mentioned in the Lübeck charter book about 1335. Further more
there is Hermann Yborg who already in 1363 represented the town of
Visby at the Hanseatic diet in Lübeck. Around 1367, he was even
mayor of Lübeck. Another Hermann Yborg was member of the Lübeck
council between 1384 and 1408.
Before 1554, Iburg was member of the Hanseatic League, as on the
Drittelstag in Köln (1554 February 12) Osnabrück mentioned among
others the „Beistadt“ Iburg as belonging to the Hanseatic League.
There are no hints of Iburg having attended a Hanseatic diet by
itself. The borough will have always been represented by the
principal town Osnabrück.
Ulmenhof/Bad Iburg castle
The most important trading goods of the prince bishopric were cloths known as „Löwend Linnen“. Since 1402, the linen was inspected in Osnabrück. The Legge seal guaranteed the special quality of the cloth. The increase of the linen production led to another Legge to be opened in Iburg in 1770. In 1778, here nearly the same quantity of linen rolls as in Osnabrück was stamped. Therefore, side Legges were installed in the neighbouring communities Dissen and Laer. In the “French times”, all spinning shops in the district Osnabrück were closed down in 1809. Yet after 1815 (the Wiener Congress) they resurged again. About the middle of 19th century, the decline of linen trade began. First the side Legges were closed and in 1833 the main Legge in Iburg as well.
Thus the borough’s economic development again suffered a hard
setback like in 1673 when the bishop’s residence was transferred to
Osnabrück and in 1803 when the monastery was dissolved
(secularisation). When in 1932 even the district Iburg was
dissolved and the administration moved to Osnabrück, the bottom was
reached.
After World War I and the end of inflation, there were new economic
onsets. Tourist possibilities and activities of health care were
remembered. In course of time, Iburg became a summer resort, a
health resort, a Kneipp resort and at last it was acknowledged as
Kneipp spa in 1967. When Iburg was given the official title of town
(1959), more than 3.000 people lived here. Their number increased
to about 12.000 till the end of 2005. While reshaping the core of
the town, the place at the former trade route was named
“Hanseplatz”.
II. The Tradition
The Archive
There is no publicly accessible town archive. Important charters
and other written sources are available in the
NLA - Staatsarchiv Osnabrück, Schloßstraße 29, 49074 Osnabrück
Tel. 0541/331620, Fax 0541/33162,
Internet: www.staatsarchiv-osnabrueck.niedersachsen.de
E- mail: Osnabrueck@nla.niedersachsen.de
Literature and Presentation
Pohlmann, Joh. And Dölle, Johannes: Bad Iburg, vom Benediktinerkloster zum Kneippheilbad, Sassenberg 1993
Schnöckelborg, Manfred (Red.): Iburg, Benediktinerabtei und Schloß, Bramsche 1980
Simon, Wilhelm and Vollbrecht, Gerhard: Bad Iburg - Kleiner Stadtführer, Glandorf 2000
Uhrmacher, Erwin: Die Iburg, (Schnell-Kunstführer Nr. 1618), Regensburg 2004
Vollbrecht, Gerhard: Iburg und die Hanse, Glandorf 2001
Vollbrecht, Gerhard: Die Familie von Yborch in der Hansezeit, ( erscheint in Kürze)
von Winterfeld, Luise: Das Westfälische Hansequartier, Münster 1955
The local history museum Averbecks Speicher focussing „From flax to
linen“ in the textile section, the Castle Museum with its coin
cabinet and the Watch Museum present among others archaelogical,
historical and artisans’ exhibits.
In Bad Iburg the 19th Westphalian Hanseatic Days took place from
25th through 26th May 2002.
