Soest, Germany

Soest (German pronunciation: [ˈzoːst] ^ⓘ, as if it were 'Sohst'; Westphalian: Saust) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Soest district.

Soest is located along the Hellweg road, approximately 23 kilometres (14 miles) south-west of Lippstadt, roughly 50 km (31 mi) east of Dortmund and roughly 50 km (31 mi) west of Paderborn.

The Norwegian Þiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital of Attila's (?–453) Hunnic Empire. The actual location of Attila's capital has not been determined.

Owing to its fertile soil (predominantly brown silty clay loam), the area around Soest is believed to have been settled well before the village is first mentioned in the Dagobertsche Schenkung in 836. Excavations in recent decades have uncovered signs of habitation stretching back more than 4000 years. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Soest grew considerably, making it one of the largest towns in Westphalia with some 10,000 citizens. It was also, until 1609, an important member of the Hanseatic League.

In the geographical work Atar Al-Belad composed by Iranian scholar Mohammad Qazvini (1203-1283), Soest is described for its salt production and referred to as a "Slavic country": "There is a salty spring, while there is no salt to be found in the surroundings. When people make salt they take water from the spring, filling a kettle and placing it in an oven made from stone, lighting a large fire underneath, turning it into a thick and murky fluid. Then it is left to cool, leaving solid white salt. In this manner, all white salt is produced in the Slavic countries." The etymology of Soest, first mentioned in 836 as "villa Sosat" ultimately "Schûschît" is derived from Slavic "sushiti", meaning "to dry" or "drying place", which relates to salt production.

An increasingly confident and powerful Soest liberated itself, between 1444 and 1449, from the Bishop of Cologne, who controlled Westphalia (the so-called Soest Feud). No longer a capital of Westphalia, Soest aligned itself instead with the Duke of Cleves. This proved to be mostly a Pyrrhic victory, however. Though it had shown itself strong enough to defy the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, the town lost much of its trade as a consequence, with a "liberated" Soest surrounded by territories with other allegiances. When the last Duke of Cleves died in 1609, his dukedom was inherited by Brandenburg and, after a short siege, Soest was incorporated into it.

The painter Peter Lely, later to win fame in England, was born in 1618 in Soest to Dutch parents, where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg.

During and after the Thirty Years' War, Soest suffered a tremendous loss of both population and influence; at its lowest point, in 1756, having merely 3,600 citizens. In the 1690s, a small commune of French Huguenots was founded in the town.