Willebadessen is a town in Höxter district and Detmold region in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Willebadessen lies on the eastern edge of the Eggegebirge (the southern extension of the Teutoburg Forest) about 25 km southeast of Paderborn, and is crossed by the little river Nethe, which rises in the neighbouring community of Bad Driburg-Neuenheerse, emptying eventually into the Weser near Höxter-Godelheim. Constituent communities Altenheerse Borlinghausen Eissen Engar Fölsen Helmern Ikenhausen Löwen Niesen Peckelsheim Schweckhausen Willebadessen Willegassen History Borlinghausen Borlinghausen was first mentioned in a document on 8 December 1065 under the name Burchartinchusen in German King, later Emperor, Henry IV's (1050–1106) time, which was also marked by his "Walk to Canossa" in 1077. In the aforesaid year, Henry donated to his old teacher, the Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg-Bremen, a forested lordly estate in the gau of Engern. The document in question laid out the boundaries of the estate in question quite thoroughly, mentioning several local centres, including Burchartinchusen. It is believed that the village's founder was a man named Burchard, since its name would seem to be Old High German for "at Burchard's houses". Over the centuries, the village has undergone several name changes: Burchartinghusen (1102), Burchardinchuson (1120), Borgardinchusen (1232), Borninghusen (1584), Bornighusen, Borlinghusen, and finally Borlinghausen, locally pronounced "Burnechousen". Borlinghausen's beginnings were sometime before the first documentary mention, in Saxon times between 500 and 800, at which time it formed the western part of the "Mark Löwen". It was in this time that most places with names ending in —hausen came into being. The Mark Löwen in turn belonged to the Hessian-Saxon Gau. Emperor Charlemagne conquered the Duchy of Saxony in the years 772 to 804. The Gaue (roughly, regions) that had been in force until then were each placed under a count and were thereafter known as counties (Grafschaften). The Emperor demanded suzerainty over the marches, and the counts' power grew ever greater with their burdens. Charlemagne forced the Saxons, under threat of death, to convert to Christianity and have themselves baptized. For 800 years, Borlinghausen was part of the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn after Count Dodiko of Warburg donated his estate to Bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn about 1000. This only ended with Prussian secularization in 1803. In 1376, a knight from Epe held the Borlinghausen estate as a fief from the Counts of Waldeck. In 1411, after the lordly Spiegel family's Borlinghausen line had died out, the