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.

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.

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".

Johann von Spiegel zu Peckelsheim, after his death in 1559, bequeathed his estate to his four sons Georg, Werner, Raban and David.

This included Schweckhausen, Borlinghausen, Holtheim and Ikenhausen, as well as farms and other agricultural lands, tithes and other rights in Peckelsheim, Drankhausen, Willegassen, Löwen and Körbecke.

This bequest was divided among the sons in 1577, and Borlinghausen passed to Werner, who had already taken his father's old position as Hereditary Marshal of the Prince-Bishop of Paderborn.

By 1755, the Hereditary Marshal was Johann Heinrich von Spiegel, who had been in the service of the Duchy of Brunswick, and who in this year founded the local shooting club.

Under the Treaties of Tilsit on 9 July 1807, Prussia had to cede all its territory west of the Elbe to the French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte.

Each community was given a maire, and the Baron was given this post in Borlinghausen, which now belonged to the Canton of Peckelsheim in the District of Höxter in the Department of Fulda.

In the Second World War, 88 Borlinghausen townsfolk joined the Nazi forces, 23 of them losing their lives and 5 going missing in action.

In that same war, the Imperial forces along with Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and Ottavio Piccolomini moved into winter quarters in the Princely Bishopric of Paderborn, bringing about hunger, illness, pestilence and death to the whole area.

In 1812, two men from Eissen lost their lives in Napoléon Bonaparte's disastrous Russian campaign after having been impressed into his Grande Armée.

On 1 April 1945, a Wehrmacht infantry company entrenched itself at the southern edge of the village, which drew fire from advancing US troops coming from Hohenwepel.

Town council's 26 seats are apportioned as follows, in accordance with the municipal election held on 13 September 2020: Willebadessen's civic coat of arms shows two figures, namely Saint Vitus and Bishop Dietrich of Paderborn.