Germania Sacra, Neue Folge / Band 17,3 / Die Bistümer der Kirchenprovinz Köln. Das Bistum Münster.Tl.4/3

A historical and statistical account of the Church in the German Holy Roman Empire, the series Germania Sacra has created handbooks on the history of the Church in the 'Old' Holy Roman Empire.  All the available printed and unprinted source material has been processed, together with the literature from the German bishoprics, cathedral chapters, collegiate and parish churches, monasteries and other ecclesiastical institutions.  The series is organised by dioceses and archdioceses.

In general, the handbooks follow a common pattern and contain the following chapters: 1. Sources, literature and monuments, 2. Archive and library, 3. Historical survey, 4. Constitution, 5. Religious and spiritual life, 6. Property, 7. Lists of persons.

The close connection between the ecclesiastical and the secular in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age and the fact that until the Late Middle Ages documentary evidence came almost exclusively from clerical sources make the Germania Sacra the foundation for church history, the political history of the empire and the constituent states, and economic and educational history.

With the conclusion of Vol. 37.4: The Bishopric of Münster, The Diocese, the first complete description is available of a diocese (Münster) from its foundation until its dissolution in the Secularisation of 1803.