Land Hadeln is a historic landscape and former administrative district inNorthern Germany with its seat inOtterndorf on theLower Elbe, the lower reaches of theRiver Elbe, in theElbe-Weser Triangle between the estuaries of the Elbe andWeser.
The name goes back to a place namedHaduloha in theRoyal Frankish Annals,[1] which must have been in the north ofHohe Lieth moraine range, west of present-dayCuxhaven. Enthusiastic historians of late 19th and early 20th century postulated anOld SaxonGau (district) of that name, but there is no evidence for this theory.[2]
In theMiddle Ages, the Land Hadeln was a fairly, but not perfectly, autonomous rural community, applyingSaxon Law. Nominally, it belonged to the Dukes ofSaxe-Lauenburg, whom the notables of the country almost had chosen, because they were too weak to rule strictly.
The Land Hadeln has to be consequently distinguished from theLand Wursten west of it that was a perfectly autonomous rural republic, for some centuries. It was the easternmost of the Frisian republics and appliedFrisian Law.
Today the name 'Land Hadeln' is mainly restricted to the dykedmarshes in the lowland bay south of the Elbe estuary. It was surrounding by sandymeltwater depositions andmoraines of theSaale glaciation (Pleistocene), such as thegeest ridges of theHohe Lieth to the west, theWesterberg (56 m aboveNN), and theWingst (74 m above NN) to the east. To the south, between the islands of geest, sprawl extensive areas of fen and raised bog, that have been cultivated however, apart from a small terrain remnant inAhlenmoor.
The marshland itself, forming part of theElbe Marshes, is divided in turn into the fertile sea marsh, the so-calledHochland ("highland", ca. 1–2 m above NN; comprising much of today's collective municipality ofHadeln), and theSietland on the edge of the bogs. Drainage is difficult and is handled mainly by the pumping station (Schöpfwerk Otterndorf) inOtterndorf as well as by the smalllock nearAltenbruch. At Otterndorf the waters of theMedem and its many tributaries, and the water of theHadeln Canal, andElbe-Weser Shipping Channel, is pumped into the Elbe. Hitherto the area, particularly the lower-lyingSietland which lies about 0.8 m below NN, had been chronically endangered by flooding.
The Land Hadeln lies in the Lower Elbe region. Its proximity to the Elbe estuary and theNorth Sea brings with it the danger that, in the event of a dyke breach during astorm surge the area, which lies just above sea level, will suffer major flooding.
Traditionally the land was used for agriculture, with pastureland and cattle farming on the geest and in theSietland, and arable and fruit farming in theHochland.
Following the closure of the cement works inHemmoor, the relatively small number of industrial workers decreased further. Many workers now commute to the ports ofCuxhaven,Bremerhaven andStade. The economic importance oftourism, especially in the beach resorts of Otterndorf and the bogside lakes nearBad Bederkesa, is steadily increasing.
The first written record of Hadeln is found at the end of the 10th century in the Saxon tribal chronicle (Stammessage) byWidukind of Corvey. In othermedieval chronicles, the area "where the ocean rinses Saxony" ("wo der Ozean Sachsen bespült") is calledHaduloha orHatheleria. In 797 AD,Charlemagne is supposed to have advanced to Hadeln during a campaign against theSaxons andFrisians.
During theViking invasions of the 9th to 11th centuries, Hadeln was part of the County of Lesum. In the 10th century, theUdonids established the County ofHeilangau, better known under its later name theCounty of Stade. In 1063, the Udones sold theirimperial immediacy to theArchbishopric of Bremen, but remained, as their vassals, still the direct rulers of the county. Around 1100, the development of the marshland in accordance with Holler rights (Hollerrecht) began. With the increase in cultural land and population, Hadeln was separated from the County of Stade as a county in its own right, and became an object of contention, following the death of CountRudolph II, between ArchbishopHartwig I of Bremen andHenry the Lion, who initially prevailed. After the disagreement of theWelf duke withFrederick Barbarossa and his deposition by the Emperor, the Emperor granted the ducal rights for eastern Saxony to theAscanians. In Henry's time, the Archbishop of Bremen was allied toHartwig II. After the death of Henry the Lion's son,Henry V, the County of Stade returned to the Archbishopric. The self-government of Hadeln, under Schultheißen and Schöffen, had become stronger and accepted the Ascanian, DukeBernard III as ruler in 1210/11.
After that, the state of Hadeln formed a largely independent farmers' republic under the loose overlordship of thedukes of Saxe-Lauenburg. With each change of ruler, the people of Hadeln had their liberties and privileges reaffirmed at the Warningsacker (a legal meeting place) betweenOtterndorf andAltenbruch. In contrast with the neighbouring state of Wursten, the abbey ofNeuenwalde and local aristocratic families were also able to own land within the state, without gaining any major political influence over it.
AfterRitzebüttel Castle had changed hands from theLappe family toHamburg in 1393, the influence of theHanseatic city began to take hold with the foundation of the district of Amt Ritzebüttel. (todayCuxhaven) in 1394 in the land of Hadeln. InOtterndorf, which had been granted its town charter in 1400 and where a Latin school was established early on, the citizens of Hamburg helped rebuild the castle, which had previously been destroyed by the Archbishop of Bremen, and from 1407 to 1481 the land was even a fief of Hamburg. However, when the Hamburgers tried to monopolise wheat exports, a rebellion broke out in 1456. After the conflict ended in a stalemate, a lasting compromise was finally reached between the powers of the lordlyAmtmann or count in Otterndorf and the otherwise independent authorities of the Hadlerestates (Hadler Stände).
Media related toLand Hadeln at Wikimedia Commons
53°45.18′N8°50.46′E / 53.75300°N 8.84100°E /53.75300; 8.84100
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