The Norwegian Þiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital of Attila's (?–453) Hunnic Empire.

[3] Owing to its fertile soil (predominantly brown silty clay loam[4]), the area around Soest is believed to have been settled well before the village is first mentioned in the Dagobertsche Schenkung in 836.

When people make salt they take water from the spring, filling a kettle and placing it in an oven made from stone, lighting a large fire underneath, turning it into a thick and murky fluid.

Though it had shown itself strong enough to defy the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, the town lost much of its trade as a consequence, with a "liberated" Soest surrounded by territories with other allegiances.

The painter Peter Lely, later to win fame in England, was born in 1618 in Soest to Dutch parents,[5] where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg.

[6] During World War II, the Stalag VI-E prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, French, Belgian and British POWs was operated in the town.

Though retaken by a German counterattack shortly thereafter, destructive front-line combat continued to rage in Soest and its environs at the eastern edge of the Ruhr Pocket until the Allies ultimately gained permanent control.

The city is home to a major branch of the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)) which offers various engineering, and Business Administration programmes.

Its massive squared bell tower or steeple can be seen for many kilometres,[citation needed] rising up out of the city centre of the old town and a landmark of the Soester Boerde.