Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen

In 1186 Frederick I Barbarossa recognised the city of Bremen as a political body by the Gelnhausen Privilege. With the consent of Prince-Archbishop Hartwig II, of Uthlede the emperor declared the city to be governed by its burghers and the emperor, with the Prince-Archbishop waiving his say. The city of Bremen regarded and still regards this privilege to be constitutive for its status as a Free imperial city of imperial immediacy.

Through the history the respective rulers of the Prince-Archbishopric and its successor state Bremen-Verden often denied the city's status. And also the city could and did not always cling to its claim of imperial immediacy, which made the city's status somewhat ambiguous. Through most of the history the city participated in the Prince-Archbishopric's Diets as part of the

After the Bremen Cathedral chapter, overlooking the three enfranchised Hamburg capitulars, had elected

The Chapters of Bremen Cathedral (see below) and part of the administration were located within the city boundary in a district of immunity and extraterritorial status (German: Domfreiheit, literally: Cathedral Liberty) around the Cathedral of St. Peter, where the city council would refrain to interfere. The Hamburg Concathedral with chapterhouse and capitular residential courts formed a Cathedral Immunity District of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen too.

The key, the epithet symbol of the Saint Simon Petrus, has become the symbol of the city of Bremen (see Coat of arms of Bremen), the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (two criss-crossed argent (silver) keys on a gules (red) background, see in the left part of the Bremen-Verden's seal) and of the Bremian city of Stade.

The territory of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen consisted of a number of sub-entities. The only thing they all had in common was, that the prior archbishops or capitulars or the Chapter as a collective obtained some secular power in them by way of purchase, application of force, usurpation, commendation, pledge, donation etc. The prior archiepiscopal authorities didn't have succeeded in almost any of the sub-entities to gain all the power, be it judicial, patrimonial, parochial, fiscal, feudal or else what. Almost everywhere the rule was to be shared with one or more competing bearers of authority, e.g. aristocrats, outside ecclesiastical dignitaries, autonomous corporations of free peasants (German: Landsgemeinden) or chartered towns and the like. Therefore, the archiepiscopal authority used to refer to each sub-entity by different terms like county, parish, shire, bailiwick or patrimonial district, each according to the particular power, which the archiepiscopal authority had achieved in them.

The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen's former territory consists about of today's following Lower Saxon counties (

In 1542/1547 - 1549 Chapter and Estates managed to dismiss the autocratic and prodigal Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel. Especially the Chapter used its power to elect very old candidates, to minimise the time a ruler can be harmful, or to elect minors, which it hoped to dress and tame in time. Once in a while the Chapter took up time and protracted elections for years, being itself the ruler for the time of sede vacante. During the dismissal of Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift the chapter ruled together with the Estates which had gained at that time substantial power.

In relation to the outside the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen had the status of an

By the time he died (1558), in the Prince-Archbishopric nothing was left of the old denomination apart from a few monasteries – such as Harsefeld, Himmelpforten, Lilienthal, Neuenwalde, Osterholz as well as Zeven under the jurisdiction of the Bremian archdiocese and Altkloster [nds] as well as Neukloster under the jurisdiction of Verden's See – and the districts served by them. While between 1523 and 1551 the cities of Bremen and Stade had dissolved all the urban monasteries, except of St Mary's in Stade, which transformed until 1568 into a Lutheran convent, and conveyed their buildings to uses by schools, hospitals, alms houses and senior homes.

The constitution of the Holy Roman Empire provided, that the Emperor may only enfeoff a prince-bishop elect with the

Many princely houses, such as the

In his election capitulations Henry III covenanted to accept the privileges of the Estates and the existing laws. Due to his minority he agreed, that Chapter and Estates would rule the Prince-Archbishopric. In this time he should work towards a papal confirmation. De facto he ascended the See in 1568, gained an imperial liege indult in 1570, while de jure still represented by the Chapter until 1580, in order not to complicate a papal confirmation, which never materialised.

While

So Sixtus V tested Henry III once in a while, demanding the succession of Catholic candidates for vacancies in the Bremian Chapter - which it sometimes accepted, sometimes denied -, while Henry succeeded to be also elected by the Chapters of the prince-bishoprics of

In November 1619 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein stationed Danish troops in the Bremian city of Stade, officially on behalf of his son the provided to be Administrator successor, suppressing an unrest of its burghers.

In 1620

In May 1625 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein was elected – in the latter of his functions – by the Lower Saxon Circle's member territories commander-in-chief of the Lower Saxon troops. More troops were recruited and to be billeted and alimented in the Lower Saxon territories, including the Prince-Archbishopric. In the same year Christian IV joined the Anglo-Dutch war coalition. In 1625 Tilly warned the Prince-Archbishop John Frederick to further accept the stationing of Danish troops and Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, demanded the immediate end of his and Verden's alliance with Denmark, with Verden being already ruled by Christian's son Frederick, being as well the provided successor of John Frederick. He declared again his loyalty to the Emperor and neutrality in the conflict. But all in vain.

Now Christian IV ordered his troops to capture all the important traffic hubs in the Prince-Archbishopric and entered into the

In 1626 Tilly and his troops occupied the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, which caused a flight of Lutheran clergy from that territory. He demanded the Bremian Chapter to allow him to enter the Prince-Archbishopric. The Chapter, now holding the baby, declared again its loyalty to the Emperor and delayed an answer to the request, arguing that it had to consult with the Estates in a Diet first, which would be a lengthy procedure.

Meanwhile, Christian IV ordered Dutch, English and French troops for his support to land in the Prince-Archbishopric, while extorting from the latter high war contributions to finance his war. 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.

By 1627 Christian IV had de facto dismissed his cousin John Frederick from the Bremian See. In the same year Christian IV withdrew from the Prince-Archbishopric, in order to fight Wallenstein's invasion of his Duchy of Holstein. Tilly then invaded the Prince-Archbishopric and captured its southern parts. The city of Bremen shut its city gates and entrenched behind its improved fortifications. In 1628 Tilly beleaguered 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 and the whole Prince-Archbishopric was in his hands. Now Tilly turned to the city of Bremen, which paid him a ransom of 10,000 rixdollars in order to spare its siege. The city remained unoccupied.

Wallenstein had meanwhile conquered all the

Administrator John Frederick, exiled in the

The Leaguist takeover enabled Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, to implement the Edict of Restitution, decreed on 6 March 1629 within the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden. The Bremian monasteries still maintaining Roman Catholic rite – Altkloster Convent, Harsefeld Archabbey [nds], Neukloster, and Zeven – became the local strongholds for a reCatholicisation within the scope of Counter-Reformation.

Under the threat of the Edict of Restitution John Frederick consented to

In many territories, where the majority of the population adopted

The reconquest of the Prince-Archbishopric – helped by forces from Sweden and from the city of Bremen – was interrupted by Leaguist forces under Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, coming as a relief to Stade, where they joined the Catholic imperial and Leaguist forces still holding out. On 10 May 1632 they were granted safe-conduct and left a desperately impoverished city of Stade after its siege by John Frederick's forces. John Frederick was back in his office, only to realise the supremacy of Sweden, insisting on its supreme command until the war's end. The Prince-Archbishopric continuously suffered from billeting 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. John Frederick wanted to secularise the monasteries in favour of his budget, but the opposing Estates prevented that.

After John Frederick's death in 1634 Chapter and Estates regarded

In the same year Pope Urban VIII provided the Catholic coadjutor Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria, imposed in 1629 by his father Ferdinand II, with the Archdiocese of Bremen, but due to its persisting occupation by the Swedes he never gained de facto pastoral influence let alone the power as administrator of the prince-archbishopric.

In 1635/1636 the Estates and Frederick II agreed with Sweden upon the prince-archbishopric's neutrality. But this didn't last long, because in the Danish-Swedish Torstenson War (1643–45) the Swedes seized de facto rule in both prince-bishoprics. Christian IV of Denmark had to sign the Second Peace of Brömsebro on 13 August 1645, a number of Danish territories, including the two prince-bishoprics, being 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 as Frederick III of Denmark in 1648.

With Bremen

With the impending enfeoffment of the Prince-Archbisporic of Bremen to the political Great Power of Sweden, as under negotiation for the Treaty of Westphalia, the city of Bremen searched for an imperial confirmation of its status of imperial immediacy from 1186 (Gelnhausen Privilege), which Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, granted to the city in 1646 (Diploma of Linz).

For the further history see the article about the collectively ruled Duchy of Bremen and Principality of Verden (1648–1823). Then see Stade Region (1823–1978), 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 Hadeln.

In 1824 Bremen's former diocesan territory was distributed among the still-existing neighbouring dioceses of

See:

1. Benedictine Old Nunnery of Ss. Mary's and Lawrence, existed from 1197 to 1648, subject to the Diocese of Verden
2. Bremen: Dominican St. Catherine's Friary, Bremen, existed from 1225 to 1528, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
3. Bremen: Franciscan St. John's Friary [de], existed from 1225 to 1528, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
4. Bremen: Benedictine St. Paul's Friary [de], existed from 1050 to 1523, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
5. exempt
6. Hemmingstedt: Benedictine St. Mary's Nunnery, existed from 1502 to 1537, subject to Bremen Archdiocese, Hamburg subchapter; after 1526 not part of the secular prince-archiepiscopal rule any more
7. Porta Coeli Nunnery
   , existed from before 1255 to 1647, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
8. Lilienthal: Cistercian St. Mary's Nunnery in the Valley of Lillies [de], existed from 1232 to 1646, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
9. Lunden: Franciscan Friary, existed from 1517 to 1536, subject to Bremen Archdiocese, Hamburg subchapter; after 1526 not part of the secular prince-archiepiscopal rule any more
10. Meldorf: Dominican Marienau Friary, existed from 1380 to 1540, subject to Bremen Archdiocese, Hamburg subchapter; after 1526 not part of the secular prince-archiepiscopal rule any more
11. Neuenwalde: Benedictine Convent of the Holy Cross, exists since 1219, till 1648 subject to Bremen Archdiocese
12. Neukloster [nds]: Benedictine New Nunnery, existed from the 1270s to 1647, subject to Verden Diocese
13. Osterholz: Benedictine Nunnery in the Osterholz, existed from 1182 to 1650, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
14. Stade: Benedictine Our Lady's Friary [de], existed from 1141 to 1648, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
15. Stade: Franciscan St. John's Friary, existed from the 13th to the 16th century, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
16. Stade: Premonstratensian St. George's Friary, existed from 1132 to about 1527, subject to Bremen Archdiocese
17. Zeven: Benedictine Zeven Nunnery [de], existed from before 986 to 1650, subject to Bremen Archdiocese

A list of interesting people whose birth, death, residence or activity took place in the Archdiocese or Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Not included are persons mentioned above in the list of incumbents of the see.

• Adam of Bremen (before 1050 - c. 1081), Roman Catholic canon and historiographer
• Albert of Bexhövede (c. 1165–1229), Roman Catholic Bishop of Riga and Terra Mariana, seated in Riga, which he founded in 1201
• chronicler
• Bonaventura Borchgreving (died latest 1596), upper Kapellmeister at the court in Copenhagen
• Johann Bornemacher [de] (died 1526), Roman Catholic, then Lutheran theologist, martyr
• Gertrud von dem Brake (died second half of 15th century), Roman Catholic Prioress of Neukloster
• Emma of Lesum (also Imma von Stiepel; c. 975-980 – 1038), benefactor of the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic saint
• København
• Gerhard Halepaghe [de] (c. 1430–1485), Roman Catholic priest, church and monastic reformer
• Christoph von Issendorff (1529–1586), Lutheran heritable Cup-bearer of the Prince-Archbishopric, Burgmann of Vörde
• Henry of Zutphen [de], (1488–1524), Roman Catholic Augustine monk, later Protestant Reformator in the city of Bremen

Source^[10]

• Grote, Hermann (1877). Stammtafeln: mit Anhang Calendarium medii aevi. Leipzig: Hahn. p. 506.
• Adolf Hofmeister, "Der Kampf um das Erbe der Stader Grafen zwischen den Welfen und der Bremer Kirche (1144–1236)", in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995;
  ISBN 3-9801919-9-0
  ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 105–157.
• Kai Mathieu, Der Hamburger Dom, Untersuchungen zur Baugeschichte im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert (1245 - 1329) und eine Dokumentation zum Abbruch in den Jahren 1804 - 1807, Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1973.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication in the
  New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help
  )
• ISBN 3-931879-23-2
  .
• Heinz-Joachim Schulze, "Die Grafen von Stade und die Erzbischöfe von Bremen-Hamburg vom Ausgang des 10. bis zur Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts", in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995;
  ISBN 3-9801919-9-0
  ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 43–104.
• Heinz-Joachim Schulze, "Geschichte der Geschichtsschreibung zwischen Elbe und Weser vom Mittelalter bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts", in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995;
  ISBN 3-9801919-9-0
  ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 1–21.
• Michael Schütz, "Die Konsolidierung des Erzstiftes unter Johann Rode", in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.), Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995;
  ISBN 3-9801919-9-0
  ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 263–278.