• About the Project

  The Peace of Westphalia, signed in Münster and Osnabrück, and the resulting peace order established after 1648, firmly link the history of the Thirty Years' War to Westphalia. The project “Private Letters from the Thirty Years' War – Focus Westphalia” offers a new approach to studying the war's history in this region. Private letters, defined as correspondence between relatives and acquaintances as opposed to official correspondence, allow for more immediate access to events that were still unfolding at the moment they were written. When analysing correspondence networks, the connections between these events can be viewed from multiple perspectives. Moreover, analysing a large number of private letters from a single region enables us to cautiously identify collective patterns of perception. As sources, private letters thus open up fundamentally new, regionally shaped perspectives on everyday life during the Thirty Years' War.

  The region of Westphalia is very well-suited for systematic research, offering excellent archival resources, especially in its aristocratic archives. The project therefore focuses on private letters written by members of the nobility, which can also provide information about servants, subjects, and mercenaries who served noble Westphalian war entrepreneurs. Since many letters were written by women—wives, mothers, or sisters—the material available also allows for the exploration of gender-specific issues. Furthermore, the project examines both rural and urban contexts, which is particularly valuable for comparative analyses.

  In the first phase of the project, a digital infrastructure was developed based on a pilot collection, allowing for the letters to be accessed and searched through indexing and digital reproductions, with some letters presented in full edition and others in abstracts. In a second phase of the project, relevant collections of letters will then be systematically compiled and catalogued by content.

• Project Duration

  Since 2025

• Project Team

  Project Leader

  Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ludwig

  Project Staff

  René Stülen

  Jona Moritz

  Simon Dreher

  Johanna Weiling

  Former Project Staff

  Luca Bröckelmann

  Simon Müller

  Emily Todt

Interactive Map: Westphalia in the Thirty Years' War

Funding and Coorperation

• Funding

  

• Cooperation

  In Cooperation with Landesarchiv NRW (Abteilung Westfalen), LWL-Archivamt für Westfalen, Stadtmuseum Coesfeld, LWL-Preußenmuseum Minden,  and Stadtarchiv Münster.