Duchies of Bremen and Verden | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1648–1807 1813–1823 1807-1810French military administration 1810 annexed byWestphalia and 1811-1813 annexed byFrance | |||||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||||
![Bremen-Verden in 1730 (pink), later state borders (grey) and 1977 region borders (white) with broken lines showing changes from 1731 and 1977. At the northern tip the Land of Hadeln and Cuxhaven are excluded.[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLower_Saxony_Landschaft_der_Herzogt%25C3%25BCmer_Bremen_und_Verden.svg) Bremen-Verden in 1730 (pink), later state borders (grey) and 1977 region borders (white) with broken lines showing changes from 1731 and 1977. At the northern tip theLand of Hadeln andCuxhaven are excluded.[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | States of the Holy Roman Empire,enfeoffed to 1) theSwedish Crown in 1648 2) theHanoverian Crown in 1733 | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Stade | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Low Saxon, German | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion | mostlyLutherans, someCalvinists, very fewJews andCatholics | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchies inpersonal union | ||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||||||||||
• 1648–1654 | Christina | ||||||||||||||||
• 1654–1660 | Charles X Gustav | ||||||||||||||||
• 1660–1697 •1697–1712 | Charles XI Charles XII | ||||||||||||||||
• 1715–1727 | George I Louis | ||||||||||||||||
• 1727–1760 | George II Augustus | ||||||||||||||||
• 1760–1820 | George III | ||||||||||||||||
• 1820–1823 | George IV | ||||||||||||||||
| Governor-general | |||||||||||||||||
• 1646–1663 | H. C. Königsmarck | ||||||||||||||||
• 1668–1693, de facto interrupted 1676–9 | Henrik Horn | ||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Landschaft (alsoStiftstände), convening atLandtage orTohopesaten (diets) | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Absolutism (European history) | ||||||||||||||||
| 15 May 1648 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1653–1654 1657–1658 1666 1675– 1679 | |||||||||||||||||
• Danish occupation (Gr. Northern War) • purchase byHanover from Danes and Swedes (Stockholm Treaty) •Hadeln assigned •French invasion (7 Years' War) | 1712– 1715 1715 and 1719 1731 1757 | ||||||||||||||||
• occupied byBranden-burg-Prussia (2nd Coalition ag. France) •French occupation (Conv. of Artlenburg) •Prussian occupation • French occupation (4th Coalition ag. France) • annexed byWestphalia • annexed byFrance | 1801 1803– 1805 1805–1806 1807– 1810 1810 1811–1813 | ||||||||||||||||
• Restitution (Battle of the Nations) | 1813 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1823 | |||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Rixdollar | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Bremen-Verden, formally theDuchies of Bremen and Verden (German pronunciation:[ˈfɛɐ̯dən];German:Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden), were two territories and immediate fiefs of theHoly Roman Empire, which emerged and gainedimperial immediacy in 1180. By their original constitution they wereprince-bishoprics of theArchdiocese of Bremen andBishopric of Verden.
In 1648, both prince-bishoprics weresecularised, meaning that they were transformed into hereditary monarchies by constitution, and from then on both the Duchy of Bremen and the Duchy of Verden were always ruled inpersonal union, initially by the royal houses of Sweden, theHouse of Vasa and theHouse of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, and later by theHouse of Hanover.
With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Bremen-Verden's status as fiefs of imperial immediacy became void; as they had been in personal union with the neighbouringKingdom of Hanover, they were incorporated into that state.
The territory belonging to the Duchies of Bremen and Verden covered a rough triangle of land between the mouths of the riversElbe andWeser on theNorth Sea, in today's German federal states ofHamburg andBremen (theElbe-Weser Triangle). This area included most of the modern counties (German singular:Kreis) ofCuxhaven (southerly),Osterholz,Rotenburg upon Wümme,Stade andVerden, now inLower Saxony; and the city ofBremerhaven, now an exclave of the State of Bremen. The city ofBremen andCuxhaven (an exclave of Hamburg) did not belong to Bremen-Verden. TheLand of Hadeln, then an exclave ofSaxe-Lauenburg aroundOtterndorf, was not part of Bremen-Verden until 1731.Stade was theadministrative headquarters.
Bremen-Verden's coat of arms combined the arms of thePrince-Bishopric of Verden, a black cross on white ground, with those of thePrince-Archbishopric of Bremen, two keys crossedBremen-Verden's seal), the symbol ofSimon Petrus, the patron saint of Bremen.
At the beginning of theThirty Years' War the predominantlyLutheranPrince-Archbishopric of Bremen maintained neutrality, as did most of the Protestant territories in theLower Saxon Circle, a fiscal and military subsection of theHoly Roman Empire. The neighbouringPrince-Bishopric of Verden also tried to maintain neutrality, but, being part of theLower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle, which was troubled by confrontation between Calvinist, Catholic and Lutheran rulers and their territories, Verden soon became involved in the war.
In 1623 Verden'scathedral chapter, consisting mainly of Lutheran capitulars, electedFrederick II, Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden to be the ruler of the bishopric. Since he was Lutheran, theHoly See denied him the title ofbishop. Nevertheless, he and lateradministrators were often referred to as prince-bishops. Frederick II was a son of KingChristian IV of Denmark and Norway.
In 1626, Christian IV, who was also Duke ofHolstein, and thus a vassal of the Emperor, joined the anti-imperial coalition of theRepublic of the Seven United Netherlands and theKingdom of England underJames I. After Christian IV was defeated at theBattle of Lutter am Barenberge, on 27 August 1626, by the troops of theCatholic League underJohan 't Serclaes, Count of Tilly, he and his remaining troops fled to thePrince-Archbishopric of Bremen and set up headquarters in Stade. AdministratorJohn Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, who was also Administrator of thePrince-Bishopric of Lübeck, fled to Lübeck and left the Prince-Archbishopric to be ruled by the Chapter and theEstates.
In 1626, Tilly and his Catholic League troops occupied Verden, causing the Lutheran clergy to flee. He demanded that the Chapter of Bremen allow him to enter the Prince-Archbishopric and while the Chapter declared its loyalty to the Emperor, it delayed an answer to the request, arguing that it had to consult in a diet with the Estates, which would be a lengthy procedure.
Meanwhile, Christian IV arranged for Dutch, English and French troops to land in Bremen. The Chapter's pleas for a reduction of the contributions, Christian IV commented by arguing once the Leaguists would take over, his extortions will seem little.
In 1627, Christian IV withdrew from the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, in order to fight Wallenstein's invasion of hisDuchy of Holstein. Tilly then invaded Bremen and captured its southern parts. The city of Bremen shut its city gates and entrenched behind its improved fortifications. In 1628, Tilly besieged Stade with its remaining garrison of 3,500 Danish and English soldiers. On 5 May 1628 Tilly granted them safe-conduct to England and Denmark-Norway and the whole of ecclesiastical Bremen was in his hands. Now Tilly turned to the city ofBremen, which paid him a ransom of 10,000rixdollars in order to save itself from a siege. The city remained unoccupied.
The populations in both prince-bishoprics were subjected to measures of "re-Catholicisation" within the scope theCounter-Reformation, with Lutheran services suppressed and Lutheran pastors expelled. In July 1630, Tilly and most of the Catholic occupants were withdrawn, since on 26 JuneGustavus Adolphus of Sweden had landed with 15,000 soldiers atPeenemünde, opening a new front in theThirty Years' War. He had been won by French diplomacy to join a new anti-imperial coalition, soon also joined by theUnited Netherlands.
In February 1631 John Frederick, the exiled Lutheran administrator of the Prince-Archbishoprics of Bremen and Lübeck conferred with Gustavus II Adolphus and a number ofLower Saxon princes inLeipzig, all of them troubled byHabsburg's growing influence wielded by virtue of theEdict of Restitution in a number ofNorthern German Lutheran prince-bishoprics. John Frederick speculated to regain the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and therefore in June/July 1631 officially allied himself with Sweden. For the war being John Frederick accepted Swedish overlordship, while Gustavus Adolphus promised to restitute the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen to its exiled elected Administrator.
In October, an army newly recruited by John Frederick started to reconquer the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and — supported by Swedish troops — to capture the neighboured Prince-Bishopric of Verden, de facto dismissing Verden's intermittent Catholic Prince-BishopFrancis of Wartenberg who ruled 1630–1631, and causing the flight of the Catholic clergy wherever they arrived. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden was then subjected to Swedish military administration.
The reconquest of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, helped by forces from Sweden and from the city of Bremen, was completed by 10 May 1632. John Frederick was back in his office, only to realise what Swedish supremacy meant. The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen continuously suffered frombilleting and alimenting soldiers. The relation between the Estates, who had to maintain administration under Catholic occupation, and the returned Administrator were difficult. The Estates preferred to directly negotiate with the occupants, this time the Swedes.
After John Frederick's death in 1634 Chapter and Estates regarded the dismissal ofthe Danish Prince Frederick ascoadjutor bishop byEmperor Ferdinand II by virtue of theEdict of Restitution illegitimate. But the Swedish occupants had to be persuaded first, to accept Prince Frederick's succession. So Chapter and Estates ruled the Prince-Archbishopric until the conclusion of the negotiations with Sweden. In 1635, he succeeded as Lutheran AdministratorFrederick II in the sees of Bremen and of Verden. But he had to render homage to the minor QueenChristina of Sweden.
In 1635–1636 the Estates and Frederick II agreed with Sweden upon the prince-bishoprics' neutrality. But this didn't last long, because in the Danish-SwedishTorstenson War of 1643–1645 the Swedes seized de facto rule in both prince-bishoprics.Christian IV of Denmark and Norway had to sign theSecond Peace of Brömsebro on 13 August 1645, and a number of Danish territories, including the two Swedish occupied prince-bishoprics, were ceded into Swedish hands. So Frederick II had to resign as Administrator in both prince-bishoprics. He succeeded his late father on the Danish throne asFrederick III of Denmark in 1648.
With the impendingenfeoffment of the military great power ofSweden with the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, as under negotiation for theTreaty of Westphalia, the city ofBremen feared falling under Swedish rule as well. Therefore, the city beseeched an imperial confirmation of its status of imperial immediacy from 1186 (Gelnhausen Privilege [de]). In 1646Emperor Ferdinand III granted theFree Imperial City of Bremen the requested confirmation (Diploma of Linz [de]).
The political entities of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden were transformed by thePeace of Westphalia in 1648 into theDuchy of Bremen and thePrincipality of Verden, however, colloquially the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, without changing the territories' status of imperial immediacy andimperial estate. Every imperial estate, thus Bremen and Verden separately, was represented in theDiet (German:Reichstag) of theHoly Roman Empire. The formerlyFree Imperial City ofVerden upon Aller wasmediatised by the Peace of Westphalia and incorporated into the Duchy of Verden.
The two neighbouring territories could not unite in areal union without finding support by the emperor and a majority among the imperial estates, which never happened. They were parts of two differentimperial circles. From 1500 on the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and thus its successor Duchy of Bremen belonged to theSaxon Circle (later the Lower Saxon Circle;German:Sächsischer or later Niedersächsischer Kreis), a fiscal and military substructure of the Empire. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden and thus its successor, the Duchy of Verden, on the other hand, belonged to theLower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle (German:Niederrheinisch-Westfälischer Kreis, colloquially Westphalian Circle).
The Holy Roman Empire's taxes were collected and armies recruited and financed along the lines of the imperial circles. Bremen and Verden sent their representatives to the circle diet (Kreistag) of their respective imperial circle. The circle diet decided how to share the burden of the taxes to be levied among the member territories. Thus Bremen and Verden even conflicted on the border between each other — i.e. on who may levy taxes where — which were not solved, even though the two fiefs were ruled in personal union by Sweden.[2]
Emperor Ferdinand III at first enfeoffed the Queen regnantChristina of Sweden and her legal heirs with the duchies, as Sweden's reward from its participation in theThirty Years' War. Bremen-Verden provided Sweden a strategic advantage, because it would participate with them in recruiting and financing armies in two imperial circles already covering all of the northern and north-western parts of the Holy Roman Empire, withSwedish Pomerania, a member in theUpper Saxon Circle, covering the Empire's North East.
The Swedes installed a new authority,Bremen-Verden's General Government (German:Brem- und verdensches Generalgouvernement), and choseStade to be the new seat of government, withBremervörde being the former Bremian capital, andRotenburg upon Wümme being the former capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden.
The Swedish takeover in 1648 became a milestone for Bremen-Verden's interior constitution. Bremen-Verden turned from two elective monarchies into a hereditary double monarchy, with a personal rule of the prince-(arch)bishop or administrator exchanged for a viceregent government bound by Swedish instructions. The lax administrative structures were replaced with strictly hierarchic authorities with fixed competences. The co-rule of the Estates was curtailed. Bremen and Verden declined from independent territories of imperial immediacy to a collectively governeddominion of a European great power with all the pertaining restrictions and opportunities.[3]
For her new fief, the Duchy of Bremen, the Queen regnantChristina of Sweden, ruling from 1644 to 1654, from 1648 on simultaneously Duchess of Bremen and Verden, sought after annexing the Free Imperial City of Bremen for it would be an important taxpayer. Earlier the city of Bremen had de facto participated in the Diets of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. The latter's successor state, the Swedish Duchy of Bremen, tried to regain the city, arguing theTreaty of Westphalia named the city of Bremen as part of the to-be-established Duchy.
As Duchess of Bremen and Verden Christina of Sweden installed her residence in the former BenedictineZeven Convent [de]. She abolished witch-burning in Bremen-Verden. In 1650Charles Gustav, Hereditary Duke of the Palatinate of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, since 1649 declared and 1650 recognised heir to the Swedish throne and thereby simultaneously to Bremen-Verden's dukedoms, came toStade for interlocutions of unknown content. In 1650 the Lutheran clergy was subjected to aconsistory, the new leading body after there was no Prince-Archbishop or Prince-Bishop anymore.
As to pastoring the tiny Catholic diaspora in Bremen-Verden the Holy See establishedapostolic vicariates (Vicariate of Nordic Missions, competent for Verden and Bremen since 1669 and 1670, respectively, until 1721, and again between 1780 and 1824,Vicariate of Upper and Lower Saxony, in charge between 1721 and 1780).
Bremen-Verden's Swedish government tried tomilitarily defeat the Free Imperial City of Bremen, provoking two wars. In 1381 the city of Bremen had captured de facto rule in an area aroundBederkesa and westwards thereof up to the lowerWeser stream nearLehe (aka Bremerlehe). Early in 1653 Bremen-Verden's Swedish troops captured Lehe. In February 1654 the city of Bremen achieved that the Emperor granted it a seat and the vote in the Holy Roman Empire's Diet, thus accepting the city's status asFree Imperial City.
Ferdinand III ordered QueenChristina of Sweden, who was his vassal as Duchess, to compensate the city for the damages caused and to restitute Lehe. When in March 1654, the city started to recruit soldiers in the area of Bederkesa, in order to prepare for further arbitrary acts by Swedish Bremen-Verden, the latter'sgovernor general,Hans Christoffer von Königsmarck enacted theFirst Bremian War (March to July 1654), arguing to act in self-defence. The Free Imperial City of Bremen had meanwhile urged Ferdinand III for support.
In July 1654, the emperor ordered his vassal, as duke,Charles X Gustav of Sweden, who had succeeded Christina after her abdication, to cease the conflict, which resulted in theFirst Stade Recess [de] in November 1654. This treaty left the main issue, accepting the city of Bremen's imperial immediacy, unresolved. But the city agreed to pay tribute and levy taxes in favour of and cede its possessions around Bederkesa and Lehe to Swedish Bremen-Verden.
Sweden and Swedish Bremen-Verden protested sharply, when in December 1660 the city council of Bremen rendered homage toLeopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1663, the city gained seat and vote in theImperial Diet, strongly opposed by the representatives of the Swedish Duchies of Bremen and Verden therein. In March 1664, theSwedish Diet came out in favour of waging war on the Free Imperial City of Bremen. Right after, Leopold I, busy withwars against the Ottoman Empire, had enfeoffed the minor KingCharles XI of Sweden with Bremen-Verden, and with the neighbouringBrunswick and Lunenburg (Celle line) being paralysed by succession quarrels and France being not opposed, Sweden started from its Bremen-Verden theSecond Bremian War (1665–1666).
The siege of the city by the Swedes underCarl Gustaf Wrangel broughtBrandenburg-Prussia, Brunswick and Lunenburg (Celle), Denmark-Norway, Leopold I and the United Netherlands to the scene, all in favour of the city, with Brandenburgian, Brunswickian, Danish and Dutch troops at Bremen-Verden's borders ready to invade. So Sweden had to sign on 15 November 1666 theTreaty of Habenhausen, obliging it to destroy the fortresses built close to Bremen while banning the Free City of Bremen from sending its representative to the Diet of theLower Saxon Circle. From Bremen-Verden, no further Swedish attempts to violently capture the city sprang out. Asked in 1700 what to do byCharles XII of Sweden, Bremen-Verden's General Government recommended to concede Bremen's status as a Free Imperial City.
A Danish attempt to conquer Bremen-Verden during theDano-Swedish War (1657–1658) failed. But the Danish threat to Bremen-Verden turned more virulent in 1667. In that year the local branch of theHouse of Oldenburg ruling in theCounty of Oldenburg, adjacent to Bremen-Verden's western border, died out withAnton Günther, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. Therefore,Christian Albert, Duke of Schleswig and Holstein at Gottorp inherited the county, but ceded it to his father-in-lawFrederick III, King of Denmark and Norway,[4] Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden from 1635 until he had been expelled by the Swedish occupants in 1645.
So the Danes ruled territories clung around Bremen-Verden at its northern and western border. Both powers entered into a dangerous competition for the exclusive opportunity to levy the lucrative tolls from ships heading forHamburg andBremen, with the former at that time being a ducal Bremian and the latter a comital Oldenburgian privilege.
After a stay inHamburg (1666–1668) with the administrators of her Swedish estates,Diego Texeira de Sampayo [de] and his sonIsaac Chaim Senior Teixeira [de], in order to reorganise her revenues, in 1668 Christina of Sweden (after her Catholic conversion in 1655 Christina Alexandra), stopped by in Stade on her way home to Rome.
The rise of Swedish centralisation and absolutism found its way partially into Bremen-Verden's practise. Bremen-Verden wasn't streamlined as to its jurisdiction and its military system, but the latter strictly subjected to Stockholms generalty. Especially in jurisdiction, Bremen-Verden's Estates maintained their stake. But Bremen-Verden's tax-levying department, almost entirely manned with Swedes and using Swedish as administrative language, was directly subordinated to the finance ministry in Stockholm.
From 1675 to 1676, troops fromBrandenburg-Prussia,Lüneburg-Celle,Denmark-Norway, and thePrince-Bishopric of Münster captured Bremen-Verden in the course of aReichsexekution during theScanian War. The allied forces occupied Bremen-Verden, until they withdrew — under French influence — according to theTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1679 and the favourableTreaty of Celle. By the latter BaronFerdinand II of Fürstenberg [de], the Prince-Bishop of Münster, granted Sweden a loan amounting to 100,000rixdollars, for which in return Swedish Bremen-Verden had to pawn itsexclave of the town ofWildeshausen and the pertaining adjacence to thePrince-Bishopric of Münster. In the 1690s, the usual practise, that tax laws had a certain maturity, was abolished, so that the Swedish and Bremen-Verden's Estates had no chance any more to demand any concessions in return for a renewal of tax laws.
As inSweden proper, the constitutional and administrative bodies in the Swedish dominions gradually lost de facto importance due to ever growing centralisation. Bremen-Verden's Estates lost more and more influence, they less and less often convened. After 1692, the estates' say had almost vanished.[5] This led to considerable unease among the Estates, so that in May 1694 representatives of the General Government of Bremen-Verden and the Estates met at the formerconvent ofZeven to confer on the status of the Duchies.
In 1700, Bremen-Verden introduced — like all Protestant territories of imperial immediacy — theImproved Calendar, as it was called by Protestants, in order not to mention the name ofPope Gregory XIII. So Sunday 18 February, Old Style, was followed by Monday 1 March,New Style, while Sweden proper only followed suit in 1753.
In 1712, in the course of theGreat Northern War (1700–1721) against the Swedishsupremacy in the Baltic,Denmark-Norway occupiedplague stricken Bremen-Verden.
In 1715,Frederick IV of Denmark, still fighting in theGreat Northern War, gained a new ally in the anti-Swedish coalition,George I, King of Great Britain since 1714, andElector of Hanover. In return for George I's aid, Denmark-Norway sold to him Bremen-Verden, which it kept under occupation since 1712. So thePrince-Electorate of Brunswick and Lunenburg, or colloquially called after its capital, the Electorate of Hanover; (German:Kurfürstentum Braunschweig und Lüneburg, or Kurhannover) took de facto possession of Bremen-Verden and stipulated in theTreaty of Stockholm of 1719, settling the war with Sweden, to compensate the latter by 1 millionrixdollars.
In 1728, EmperorCharles VI enfeoffedGeorge II Augustus, who in 1727 had succeeded his father George I Louis, with the reverted fief ofSaxe-Lauenburg. By a redeployment of Hanoverian territories in 1731, Bremen-Verden was conveyed the administration of the neighbouredLand of Hadeln at the Northern tip of Bremen-Verden, since 1180 an exclave, first of the younger Duchy of Saxony and from 1296 on of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg. It took George II until 1733 to get the emperor to also enfeoff him with the Duchies of Bremen and Verden.
At both feoffments George II of Great Britain swore that he would respect the existing privileges and constitutions of the Estates in Bremen-Verden and in Hadeln, thus confirming 400-year-old traditions of Estate participation in their governments. Being aPrince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and represented in its Diet by virtue of his Electorate of Hanover, George II Augustus didn't bother about Bremen-Verden's status of imperial estate.
Since Bremen-Verden had turned Hanoverian, it never again sent its own representatives to a Diet.
In 1730, Bremen-Verden's government was reorganised and retitled asRoyal British and Electoral Brunswick-Lunenburgian Privy Council for Governing the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, which colloquially turned into the "Royal Government".[6]Stade remained the capital. InHanover, the electoral capital, thePrivy Council of Hanover installed a new ministry in charge of theImperial Estates ruled inpersonal union by the electors, it was called theDepartment of Bremen-Verden, Hadeln,Lauenburg andBentheim.
In the course of the Anglo-French and Indian War (1754–1763) in the North American colonies, Britain feared a FrenchInvasion of Hanover. Thus George II formed an alliance with his cousinFrederick II of Brandenburg-Prussia, combining the North American conflict with the Austro–Brandenburg-PrussianThird Silesian or Seven Years' War (1756–1763).
In the summer of 1757, the French invaders defeatedPrince William, Duke of Cumberland, son of George II and leading the Anglo-Hanoverian army. The French troops drove him and his army into remote Bremen-Verden, where in the former convent ofZeven he had to capitulate on 18 September with theConvention of Klosterzeven. But King George II denied his recognition of the convention. In the following year, the British army, supported by troops fromBrandenburg-Prussia,Hesse-Kassel and thePrincipality of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Wolfenbüttel) expelled again the occupants. Bremen-Verden remained unaffected for the rest of the war and after its end peace prevailed until theFrench Revolutionary Wars started.
TheWar of the First Coalition against France (1793–1797) with Britain and the Hanover Electorate and other war allies forming the coalition, didn't affect Bremen-Verden's territory, since theFrench First Republic was fighting on several fronts, even on its own territory. But also in Bremen-Verden men were drafted in order to recruit the 16,000 Hanoverian soldiers fighting in theLow Countries under British command against Revolutionary France. In 1795, the Holy Roman Empire declared its neutrality, which of course included the BritishElectorate of Hanover, and a peace treaty with France was under negotiation until it failed in 1799.
By this time theWar of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802) started andNapoléon Bonaparte urged Brandenburg-Prussia to occupy Hanover. In theTreaty of Basel of 1795 which Brandenburg-Prussia and France had stipulated, Brandenburg-Prussia would ensure the neutrality of the Holy Roman Empire in all the latter's territories north the demarcation line of the riverMain, including Hanover. To this end also Hanover had to provide troops for the so-calleddemarcation army maintaining the armed neutrality. But in 1801, 24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded Hanover, which surrendered without a fight.
In April 1801, Brandenburg-Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verden's capital of Stade and stayed there until October the same year. TheUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first ignoredBrandenburg-Prussia's hostility, but when Brandenburg-Prussia joined the pro-French coalition of armed 'neutral' powers such asDenmark-Norway and theRussian Empire, Britain started to capture Brandenburg-Prussian sea vessels. After theBattle of Copenhagen in April 1801, the coalition fell apart and Brandenburg-Prussia withdrew its troops.
After Britain — without any ally — had declared war on France on 18 May 1803, French troops invaded theElectorate of Hanover on 26 May and installed — among others — two occupation companies in Bremen-Verden's capital Stade on 18 June. According to theConvention of Artlenburg from 5 July 1803, confirming the military defeat of Hanover, the Hanoverian army was disarmed and its horses and ammunitions were handed over to the French. The Privy Council of Hanover, with ministerFriedrich Franz Dieterich von Bremer holding up the Hanoverian stake, had fled to the trans-Elbian Hanoverian territory of Saxe-Lauenburg on 30 May, taking seat in Lauenburg upon Elbe.[7] In the summer of 1803, the French occupants raised their first war contribution with 21,165rixdollars alone levied in Bremen-Verden. In 1803, the Duchy of Bremen had 180,000 inhabitants and an area of 5,325.4 square kilometres, the Principality of Verden 1,359.7 square kilometres and 20,000 inhabitants in 1806, while Hadeln comprised 311.6 square kilometres and had about 14,000 inhabitants.[8]
In the autumn of 1805, at the beginning of theWar of the Third Coalition against France (1805–1806) the French occupational troops left Hanover in a campaign against theArchduchy of Austria (End of theFirst French Occupation of Hanover, 1803–1805). British, Swedish and Russian coalition forces captured Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. In December, theFirst French Empire, since 1804 France's new form of government, ceded Hanover, which it didn't hold anymore, to Brandenburg-Prussia, which captured it early in 1806. But when theKingdom of Prussia,[9] after it had turned against France, was defeated in theBattle of Jena-Auerstedt (11 November 1806), thePrivy Council of Hanover returned from Lauenburg to Hanover City for a month, only to have to flee again from theSecond French Occupation of Hanover (November 1806-January 1810), including Bremen-Verden.[10]
In 1807 France replaced the Privy Council and the Hanoverian estates of the realm, as announced on 20 September, by its own occupational government, theCommission du Gouvernement (German:Commission des Gouvernements) under Governor GeneralJean Jacques Bernardin Colaud de La Salcette [fr], and further installed a subdelegate, Peter Christian Dodt, replacing Bremen-Verden's deputation (decision-taking body), however, allowing Bremen-Verden's government (executive body) to work on.[11] Napoleon I especially confiscated the Hanoverian electoral demesnes in order to enfeoff veterans with them.[11] He retained exclusive access to the domains and their earnings, when on 1 March 1810 he allowed his brother KingJérôme Bonaparte to incorporate Bremen-Verden into his short-livedKingdom of Westphalia, forming itsDépartement Nord,[12] only to annexe Bremen-Verden to the French Empire with effect from 1 January 1811, forming theArrondissement Stade in theDépartementBouches-de-l'Elbe and several cantons in theDépartementBouches-du-Weser.[13]
In 1813, the Duchies of Bremen and Verden were restored to the Electorate of Hanover, which transformed into theKingdom of Hanover in 1814. Even though Bremen-Verden's status as a territory of imperial immediacy had become void with the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Duchies were not right away incorporated in areal union into the Hanoverian state. Since the Hanoverian monarchs had moved toLondon, Hanover had become a state of very conservative and backward rule, with a local government recruited from local aristocrats adding much to the preservation of outdated structures.[14] The administrative union with Hanover only followed in 1823, when a local government reform united Bremen-Verden and Hadeln to form theHigh-Bailiwick of Stade, administered according to unitarian modern standards, thereby doing away with various traditional government forms of Bremen, Verden and Hadeln.
For the further history seeStade Region (1823–1977), which emerged by the establishment of the High-Bailiwick of Stade in 1823, comprising the territories of the former Duchies of Bremen and Verden and the Land of Hadeln.
For the consorts seeList of consorts of Bremen-Verden.
| Dukes of Bremen and Verden (1648–1823) | |||||
| Reign | Portrait | Name | Birth and death with places | Reason for end of reign | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House of Vasa (1648–1654) | |||||
| 1648–1654 |  | Christina | Stockholm *18 December [O.S. 8 December] 1626[15] –[N.S.] 19 April 1689*, Rome | abdicated | |
| House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (1654–1719) | |||||
| 1654–1660 |  | Charles X Gustav | Nyköping Castle *8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1622 – 4 November [O.S. 25 October] 1660*,[15] Gothenburg | death | |
| 1660–1697 | .jpg) | Charles XI | Tre Kronor Castle, *4 December [O.S. 24 November] 1655 – 15 April [O.S. 5 April] 1697*,[15] Tre Kronor Castle | death | enfeoffed byEmperor Leopold I in 1664 |
| 1697–1718 |  | Charles XII | Stockholm Palace,Stockholm *17 June [O.S. 7 June] 1682 – 30 November [O.S. 19 November] 1718*,[15] Fredrikshald | de facto deposed by Danish occupants, who sold Bremen-Verden toElectoral Hanover in 1715, death | |
| 1718–1719 | _c_1725_by_Georg_Engelhard_Schr%25C3%25B6der.jpg) | Ulrika Eleonora | Stockholm Palace,Stockholm *23 January [O.S. 13 January] 1688 – 24 November [O.S. 13 November] 1741*,[15] Stockholm | de facto inhibited by Hanoverian takeover, waived claim to dukedom byTreaty of Stockholm | only by claim, never enfeoffed by the Emperor, sister of the preceding |
| House of Hanover (1719–1823) | |||||
| Reign | Portrait | Name | Birth and death with places | Reason for end of reign | Notes |
| 1715–1727 |  | George I Louis | Hanover *7 June [O.S. 28 May] 1660[16] –[N.S.] 22 June 1727*, Osnabrück | death | de facto ruling, but never enfeoffed by the Emperor |
| 1727–1760 |  | George II Augustus | Herrenhausen Palace,Hanover, *20 November [O.S. 10 November] 1683[16] –[N.S.] 25 October 1760*, Kensington Palace,London | death | enfeoffed byEmperor Charles VI in 1733 |
| 1760–1820 |  | George III | Norfolk House, *4 June [O.S. 24 May] 1738[17] –[N.S.] 29 January 1820*, Windsor Castle | de facto temporarily deposed 1803–1805, 1806–1813 by various occupations and annexations during theNapoleonic Wars, death | became sovereign duke through the end of the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, mentally unfit since 1811 and represented by his eldest sonRegent George (later No. IV) in Bremen-Verden his younger 6th sonPrince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge officiated asViceroy of Hanover from 1816 |
| 1820–1823 |  | George IV | St. James' Palace, [N.S.] *12 August 1762 –[N.S.] 26 June 1830*, Windsor Castle | title had turned void and the duchies were deleted as administrative entities in 1823, when merged into theKingdom of Hanover | only pro forma, son of the preceding, Regent 1811–1820, represented in Bremen-Verden by his younger brother Viceroy Adolphus |
From 1739 on the presidents were inpersonal unionreeves (German:Greve orGräfe) of theLand of Hadeln:
Source[18]
Luneberg Mushard [de],Bremisch- und Verdischer Ritter-Sahl Oder Denckmahl Der Uhralten Berühmten Hoch-adelichen Geschlechter Insonderheit der Hochlöblichen Ritterschafft In Denen Hertzogthümern Bremen und Verden. 1720[1]
A list of interesting people whose birth, death, residence or activity took place in Bremen-Verden.
Source:Lebensläufe zwischen Elbe und Weser: Ein biographisches Lexikon[20]
| Ecclesiastical |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Secular | ||
| Cities | ||
1 until 1648. 2 until 1701. 3 from 1648. 4 until 1731. 5 until 1705. 6 until 1596. 7 from 1708. 8 until 1773. 9 until 1640. 10 until 1695. 11 from 1701. 12 until 1734. Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||
| Prince-bishops |  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince-abbots | |||||||
| Secular | |||||||
| Counts /Lords |
| ||||||
| Cities | |||||||
1 from 1648 2 until 1648 3 without seat inImperial Diet ? status uncertain Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon
| |||||||
53°36′3″N9°28′35″E / 53.60083°N 9.47639°E /53.60083; 9.47639
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
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