Attendorn is a German town in the Olpe district in North Rhine-Westphalia. As of 2008 it had a population of 24, 801.
The town’s location was favoured by the good climate in the Attendorn-Elsper Limestone Double Basin (Attendorn-Elsper-Kalkdoppelmulde), the fruitful soil and favourable transport potential, and was already attracting people in prehistoric times. Heavier settlement, however, can be traced only as far back as the Middle Ages.
The town lies at the crossroads of two former long-distance roads, the Heidenstraße (“Heath Road”) and the so-called Königsstraße (“King’s Road”). Here, in Charlemagne’s time, arose a parish. Under the St.-Johannes-Kirche (church) are found the foundations of an old missionary church. In 1072, Archbishop Anno of Cologne endowed the Grafschaft Monastery and granted it, among other things, rights to an estate in Attendorn. Indeed, the monastery’s endowment document stands as the town’s earliest documentary mention.
In 1222, town rights, on the Soest…