Dictionary:

Osnabrück

  (ŏz'nə-brʊk', ôs'nä-brük')

A city of northwest Germany northeast of Münster. On the site of an ancient Saxon settlement, it was a member of the Hanseatic League and an important center of the linen trade in the Middle Ages. Population: 163,000.

Osnabrück, Westphalian city in the Land Niedersachsen of the Federal Republic. The bishopric of Osnabrück was founded by 783, and the city is first mentioned in 1078. With its surrounding territory it became in the 13th c. an episcopal principality. During the Thirty Years War (see Dreissigjähriger Krieg) it was, with Münster, the scene of negotiations which resulted in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. From this time the principality of Osnabrück was subject to the peculiar condition that its rulers should be chosen in accordance with a rota of three categories, a Roman Catholic bishop, a Protestant bishop, and a prince of the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The principality was incorporated into Hanover in 1803 by decree of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluß (see Revolutionskriege). It next formed part of Jérôme's Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, reverting to Hanover in 1815. In 1867 it became, with Hanover, Prussian (Provinz Hannover). It was heavily damaged in the 1939-45 War, but the principal ancient buildings, including the cathedral, have been restored. Since 1971 it has had a university.