Editing Minden (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
[[File:Alte muenze 1.jpg|thumb|150px|{{lang|de|Alte Münze}} ({{literal translation|old mint}}), dating to the 13th century and one of Westphalia's oldest secular buildings]]
[[File:Minden Weingarten 2011.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Timber framing|Timber-framed]] houses along the street {{lang|de|Weingarten}} ({{literal translation|vineyard}}) between lower and upper town centre]]
The name ''Minda'' was firstly mentioned in a [[Royal Frankish Annals]] record referring to an army assembly held by [[Charlemagne]] in {{CE|798}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Annales Regni Francorum |url=https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/annalesregnifrancorum.html |access-date=28 November 2021}}</ref> The location of the so-named settlement is supposed at the left river side, where today's ''Fischerstadt'' exists.{{sfn|Nordsiek |1979|p=13–14}} Directly neighbouring was the suspected site of a permanent frankish army camp and a royal estate, located favourably at the place where ways from the south were bundled by the Porta Westfalica gap, connected with a west–east way parallel to the Wiehen and Weser hills, and at a ford through the Weser. The region had already been converted to Christianity, when around {{CE|800}} a bishopric was founded in Minden, one of the seven diocese foundations established under the rule of Charlemagne. The first cathedral was built nearby to the older village.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nordsiek |first1=Hans |title=Karl der Große in Minden |journal=Mitteilungen des Mindener Geschichtsvereins |date=1997 |volume=69 |pages=11–55 |url=https://sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de/hd/periodical/titleinfo/4628576 |access-date=19 February 2022}}</ref> After the dissolution of the [[Duchy of Saxony]] in 1180 the bishop became sovereign of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Minden]] as a constitutional territory of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and remained in this status until 1648. During the [[Investiture controversy]] two bishops were nominated at the same time in 1080 both by the papal supporters and those of King [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]].

The [[Domfreiheit|Cathedral close]] on the lower Weser terrace was soon surrounded to the north and west by a settlement of artisans and merchants, who lived in a parish of their own. The development of the upper town began with the activities of ecclesiastical convents. A convent of [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] nuns removed from the Wiehen Hills to the northwestern edge of the town around St Mary approximately {{CE|1000}}. In 1029, the Canonical Convent of St Martin appears, and a 1042-founded Benedictine monastery removed in 1434 from the Weser shore to a new upper site, where the monastery of St Mauritius was founded.{{sfn|Nordsiek |1979|p=22–24}} The [[Dominican Order|Dominicane]] convent St Paul was established in 1236.

German medieval sovereigns governed their realms with an [[itinerant court]], travelling from town to town. [[Louis the German]] hold an imperial assembly in Minden in 852. The Emperors of the [[Ottonian dynasty|Ottonian]] and [[Salian dynasty]] visited Minden several times.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Spannhoff |first1=Christof |title=Minden – Bischofssitz |url=https://www.uni-muenster.de/Staedtegeschichte/Minden.html |publisher=University of Münster |access-date=28 November 2021}}</ref> When Henry IV came to visit in 1062, a dispute between members of his entourage and citizens caused a fire that destroyed the cathedral and parts of the town.{{sfn|Nordsiek |1979|p=18}} The imperial visit of [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] in October 1377 was the last one until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nordsiek |first1=Hans |title=Karl IV. und das Bistum Minden |journal=Mitteilungen des Mindener Geschichtsvereins |date=1978 |volume=50 |pages=71–102 |url=https://sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de/hd/periodical/pageview/4625224 |access-date=28 November 2021}}</ref>

In 1168, [[Henry the Lion]], Duke of Saxony, married his second wife [[Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony|Matilda]], daughter of [[Henry II of England]], in [[Minden Cathedral]]; with this marriage Henry maintained the continuance of the [[House of Welf]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Leschhorn |first1=Wolfgang |title=Die Hochzeit Heinrichs des Löwen mit Mathilde von England im Dom zu Minden 1168 |url=https://amtage.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Hochzeit_Heinrich-der-Loewe_1168_Rede-Leschhorn.pdf |access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref>

The rights to hold a market, to mint coins, and to collect customs duties were granted in 977 by Emperor [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]]. Until the beginning of the 13th century, the bishop appointed the {{lang|de|Wichgraf}} as secular administrator of the town. The citizens of Minden and their council obtained independence from the bishop's rule around 1230 and received a town charter in 1301. The increased self-confidence of the citizens was demonstrated by the construction of the town hall, probably adjoining the separately governed cathedral precinct.{{sfn|Nordsiek |1979|p=26–27}} As a result, the Bishop moved his official residence from Minden to [[Petershagen]] in 1307.

The economic development of Minden was influenced by its location on a navigable river and by its success in grain trading since the Middle Ages. Minden got the right to store goods and could force passing ships to unload their cargo; furthermore the town became a flourishing member of the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Minden |volume=18 |page=503}}</ref> The precise year of the first Weser bridge construction is not known. A previous wooden pedestrian bridge was replaced in the late 13th century by another one fit for wagon transport. In the early 16th century Minden got a stone [[arch bridge]].{{sfn|Nordsiek |1979|p=40}}