Brilon - St. Petrus und Andreas

Brilon´s first reference occurs in a deed of Emperor Otto II dated 973. He confirmed to the Cathedral of Magdeburg possessions in Westphalia, including the Villa Brilon. The estate passed later by exchange to the Archbishops of Paderborn.
In about 1220 Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne acquired the Brilon. The Archbishop laid out a fortified town and gave it municipal rights. This was followed by bloody conflicts between the Archbishops of Cologne and the Bishops of Paderborn over the rights of possession of the place. These ended when the Bishop of Paderborn, after being taken prisoner, waived his rights to Brilon (1256).

Thereafter Brilon developed into a thriving town of about 3,000 inhabitants with an active trading and mining life. As a trading town, Brilon was also a member of the Hansa. In 1350 Brilon had between 500 and 600 houses. At this time Brilon held the position of the second city of Westphalia behind Soest.

In 1655 the Gymnasium Petrinum was founded as a monastery school. It is thus one of the oldest Gymnasien ("grammar schools") in Westphalia.

Due to conflicts and military actions economic declined. After the Congress of Vienna of 1816 Brilon was transferred to Prussia, which made it the centre of the Prussian district.

The construction of "St. Petrus und Andreas" was started around 1220, shortly after the founding of Brilon. The late Romanesque hall church got consecrated in 1278, but was not completed then. The Gothic transept and the choir were created in the 14th century. The massive west tower (hidden under scaffoldings) was erected from 1250 on. The church will have been completed around 1350 but had of course renovated many times over the centuries.

After the Archbishop of Cologne Gebhard I. von Waldburg converted to Calvinism and married, he tried to secularize the archbishopric, what triggered the Cologne War, which Gebhard lost. So in 1583 the church was Protestant but only for one year.

The tower got hit by lightning a couple of times. Last time the helmet burned down in 1810. Already a year later it got equipped with a lightning rod.