History of Hadeln and Sausages
The Land Hadeln and the Land Wursten are two marshlands in the north of the Elbe-Weser triangle , which in the Middle Ages were rural communities with a high degree of autonomy. Politically, they have always been two different communities. Spatially they were separated by Geest areas under partly feudal, partly ecclesiastical rule. Although the political stories of the two marshlands have certain similarities, they should not be mixed up.
Today's district of Cuxhaven combines the two areas of different pasts and extends well beyond that in the south and east. Between them lie geest areas, which in the Middle Ages were partly under feudal rule and partly church property.
Names
The name Haduloha (the name is usually interpreted as "Kampfwald", although it is perhaps just a folk etymology ) stood in the 8th and 9th centuries for a place ( Franconian Reichsannalen : locus Haduloha ) in the north of the Hohe Lieth , probably at today's Altenwalde . There is no evidence for the Gau Haduloha postulated by local historians Eduard Rüther and Heinrich Rüther . The name Wigmodia can be found in writings from the 9th century for the entire area between Bremen and the Lower Elbe . This name later referred to part of the region, ultimately only the marshland on the right bank of the Lower Weser . In the 11th century Haduloga or Hathleria was used as a landscape name for the north of the Elbe-Weser triangle. After the development of the coastal marshes began at the beginning of the 12th century, the meaning of the word narrowed increasingly to the new land on the south bank of the Elbe estuary, essentially the later land of Hadeln . Due to this development of importance, the area north of the Geeste lowlands is sometimes called "Althadeln" or even "Großhadeln".
The name Wursten derives from the terps or wards on which the inhabitants of the coastal marshes first built their settlements before the dike and then after the dike because of the many breaches of the dike.
differences
The differences begin with the settlement: the Elbe-Weser triangle has belonged to the core area of the Saxon tribe since the dissolution of the Chauken tribe. Wursten was also settled by Saxons until the great emigration to Britain , but in the 8th century Frisians settled in the depopulated coastal strip. Since then it has belonged to the Frisian Lands , whether as part of Rüstringen or as the eighth Zealand is not entirely clear. Accordingly, Frisian law applied in Wursten until the 16th century, while in Hadeln Saxon law, which, however, differed from the Saxon mirror, as is expressly mentioned in the work.
Today's district of Cuxhaven combines the two areas of different pasts and extends well beyond that in the south and east.
Similarities
The medieval history of Hadeln, Wursten and other coastal areas was particularly shaped by the conflict between the independence strivings of the local farmers and the claim to rule of the feudal lords . In modern times , the newly emerging territorial states fought for supremacy. After the secularization of the Archdiocese of Bremen-Verden and the extinction of the Ascanian dukes, the region largely shared the fate of the Duchy of Bremen-Verden , with only the Land of Hadeln able to maintain a certain special role. The first urban center was Otterndorf , which received town charter in 1400 and a little later its Latin school . Today's urban centers Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries as offshoots of the large trading cities of Bremen and Hamburg .
prehistory
Occasional finds of hand axes and flint axes occupy a settlement of the region by hunter-gatherers of the Old and Middle Stone Age . In the Geest areas still many find today megalithic the Neolithic as dolmens and chamber tombs of agriculture driving Funnel Beaker Culture . Some of these large stone graves were cleared out in prehistoric times and relocated by members of the individual grave culture .
The transition to the Bronze Age was slow and fluid. During the 2nd millennium BC The imports of copper and bronze daggers from central and southern Germany increased. On the other hand, the flint deposits in the surrounding chalk rocks near Hemmoor continued to be systematically mined. The settlement density ( scattered settlement ) in the region reached a peak in the Bronze Age . In the subsequent pre-Roman Iron Age (around 750 BC to 0) a decline in settlement became noticeable, which only turned into an almost explosive development shortly before the birth of Christ.
Many names of places and waters that are difficult to interpret, such as Wingst or Medem, are possibly very old. The root uil- in Wilster (today only a small, straightened inflow of the Medem) is not explained with certainty, and the suffix -str is probably of pre-Germanic origin.
Early history
The clustered villages with the typical, common Germanic place names on -stedt are almost exclusively on the Geest. Until the conquest of the land, the population center was in the marshes. The first settlements on the coasts were on the beach walls around the birth of Christ. Later they were raised with artificial mounds of dung and clay ( Wurten ) because of the rising storm surge level.
According to Widukind von Corvey ( Res gestae Saxonicae , 967/968) the Saxons are said to have landed with ships on the shores of Hadeln ( Hadolaun ), whereupon they expelled or subjugated the resident Thuringians with cunning and violence. During archaeological excavations on the Feddersen Wierde and other sites, however, no signs of an enemy invasion were found. It is more likely that various related tribes such as the Chauken and Angrivarians (Engern) merged with the Saxones north of the Elbe to form a new tribal association. An important find from this period is the Old Saxon urn cemetery on Gravenberg near Wanna . The two hill forts Heidenschanze near Sievern and Heidenstadt near Sievern (today part of the municipality of Langen near Bremerhaven) apparently protected the southern entrance to Hadeln.
However, in the 5th century, many Saxons emigrated to England from the confluence of the Elbe and Weser (see: Anglo-Saxons ). Other groups migrated to the south and west, where they advanced the Franconia , which was withdrawing from what is now Westphalia . The abandoned areas on the North Sea, north of the mouth of the Weser (later called Land Wursten), have been repopulated by Frisians since the 8th century . Saxons returned to the abandoned Wurten in the Elbmarsch.
The place names with the ending -worth , -wierde , -warden , -wörden go back to this time . The general classification of place names on -um (from -heim ) as Carolingian is questionable, since such names also exist in England and Scandinavia. The attribution of the name Odisheim to Odin , the North Germanic version of the divine name Wodan, is also disputed .
In the Annales regni Francorum (before 829) a campaign by Charlemagne against the Saxons is reported for the year 797 , which is said to have led him as far as Hadeln ( et rex de Haduloha regressus - hoc enim loco nomen, ubi oceanus Saxoniam alluit - tota Saxonum gente in deditionem […] accepta : “and on the march back from Hadeln - that's the name of the area where the ocean washes Saxony - the king took the entire Saxon tribe into his submission”) After the subjugation of the Saxons and Frisians became the missionary work of the Elbe-Weser triangle , begun around 780 by Willehad (the first bishop of Bremen), was completed. The former Altenwalder castle was probably built in 797.
In the Vita Willehadi (around 860) his mission area on the Lower Weser (up to Dithmarschen ) is referred to as Wigmodia . It is not clear whether the two names are synonyms, whether Hadeln was part of Wigmodia, or whether they were two separate districts from the start. In this context, a word with the double name Midlistan-Fadar was mentioned. This includes both Misselwarden and Feddersen Wierde. A man is said to have come from there, who was healed after Willehad's death in 789 through his miraculous bones. The expansion of Carolingian power is reflected in the place names on -burg and -büttel .
Viking incursions
Adam von Bremen reported in his Gesta Hammaburgensis (around 1075) that the area was infested in 994 by a fleet of Vikings ("Ascomans"). A contingent that penetrated the Weser and Geeste was slain down to the last man by the locals in Glindesmoor, not far from what would later become Bremervörde .
The county of Lesum was established in the Wigmodia-Haduloha area to ward off the Norman threat . This was an imperial fiefdom, to which 700 Hufen belonged in the entire area between Bremen and the later Land Hadeln. Counts from the Billunger family were probably enfeoffed with Lesum . After the death of Emma von Lesum , the county returned to the empire in 1038.
As landowners, the free farmers were initially obliged to do military service. Only later did they buy themselves free from military service with the "Wehrpfennig". During this time the walls of the " Pipinsburg " near Sievern were raised. The local researcher Eduard Rüther therefore considered it to be the original ancestral home of the later Lords of Bederkesa. It seems that the Vikings also established a permanent establishment near Sahlenburg on the north-western tip of Hadeln. This would explain why a young leader who was captured in 1040 and brought to Bremen was treated extremely graciously and benevolently by the archbishop. The Viking who left with a rich gift was Sven Estridsson , who later became King of Denmark (1047-1076).
High Middle Ages
Hadeln
Rule and self-government
Archbishop Adalbert von Bremen , as guardian of the young King Heinrich IV., Received the 700 hooves of the court of Lesum , which was subordinate to the Billungers and which were in the county of Margrave Udo and in the Gau Wigmodien . After Adalbert's loss of power in the empire, these Billungian goods initially fell to the Counts of Stade .
After the fall of the Guelph Duke Heinrich the Lion , Hadeln probably fell to the Ascanian dukes around 1211 . The reasons for this are not clear. Possibly this happened through voluntary recognition of the parishes of the country Hadeln . However, the Ascanians always claimed the neighboring geest areas. On the other hand, the Grafschaft Stade came to the Archdiocese of Bremen from Guelph hand in 1236, which had held feudal sovereignty over the immediate sovereigns since 1063. Thus the archbishops could also assert claims to all areas between the Lower Elbe and the mouth of the Weser. Apart from Hadeln, the Lauenburg branch line of the Ascanians only owned the Duchy of Lauenburg east of Hamburg . Control of the area on the Lower Elbe began to slip away from the distant and destitute dukes early on. The Land Hadeln had its freedoms and privileges (especially the lower jurisdiction , the parish constitution , as well as the election of mayors and lay judges ) reaffirmed with each change of government. For this purpose, people gathered in the open air on the Warningsacker , the old thing site between Otterndorf and Altenbruch . The result was a state community that was based on a system of cooperative self-government and had its own seal as Terra Hadhelerie (Land Hadeln) since around 1300 . The parishes and parish courts, which had been occupied since the 13th century, were responsible for local self-government. Although their judges and mayors of the state of Hadeln recognized the sovereignty of the dukes of Saxony-Lauenburg in 1300 , in 1304 they accepted a small annual fee ( nummus ) to the archbishop of Bremen in order to ward off further claims that the archbishops enforce with repeated military campaigns had tried.
Inland colonization and dyke construction
One of the main pillars of the state constitution was the special rights of the colonists , who had settled the sea and river marshes of the Elbe-Weser region since the 12th century. Although hardly any written evidence has survived, it is assumed that the colonization in the Land of Hadeln was probably initiated by the Archbishops of Bremen. The reclamation was mainly carried out by the Dutch , and the parishes of Altenbruch , Lüdingworth and Nordleda were therefore given their own “ Hollerrecht ”, ie more self-administration and lower taxes than established farmers. Their right of inheritance also deviated from the old Saxon, "engric" law. In the Land of Hadeln, typical Dutch hooves can still be seen in Osterbruch and in the Westerende of Ihlienworth , in the Land of Kehdingen in Bülkau , Kehdingbruch and Cadenberge . The place names -bruch , -brock , brook , -braak in the march go back to this time , as well as the clearing of -walde , -wohlde , -holz and -hain on the Geest. The long-established population and the knight families from the surrounding Geeste participated in the reclamation, which they hoped for new sources of income. It is not known whether the sea dykes were built during this time. The newly won land was particularly fertile, but there were repeated setbacks due to severe storm surges in which hundreds of people often drowned.
In the late phase of the medieval internal colonization the names belong to -hörn , angles , -kamp and -koop were reclaimed as the last remaining corners in the transition areas of the march to the edge of moors.
Before the sea dykes were built, the options for farming were limited ( barley , oats , flax , horse beans ). Animal husbandry, hunting and fishing, on the other hand, remained important industries. After the dykes were dyed, wheat and rye could also be grown , which provided the basis for later prosperity in the marshes.
After the so-called Marcellus flood of 1219, the Hadlers were given the right to build locks on the Medem as they saw fit .
Administration of justice
At the beginning of the 13th century, Hadler law was mentioned in the Sachsenspiegel as a separate law that deviated from Saxon law, but was not presented.
From 1238, a contract between the Land Wursten and the Hanseatic City of Hamburg has been preserved, which deals with beach law. As is already common practice in Hadeln, the goods on stranded ships should be kept for the owner as long as at least one man is still alive on board. This well-intentioned regulation seems to have led to the fact that the entire crew of stranded ships often died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Beach law subsequently remained a frequent cause of disagreement. It should be noted that the marches made such agreements with the Hanseatic cities without the slightest involvement of any sovereigns. At that time the duke had neither a permanent house nor a count in the country.
Sausages
Self-management
The sausage friezes maintained their political independence throughout the High Middle Ages. At the head of their self-government, as in other Frisian regional communities, were sixteen counselors .
In 1255 and 1256 the Knights of Bederkesa undertook two raids to Wursten. The second failed completely. Some noblemen and many knights perished. There are also reports of Wurster raids on neighboring geest areas.
In 1310, the provost of Hadeln-Wursten was able to usurp the important right to elect a pastor, which had previously been held by the 16 advisors .
Coastal protection and land reclamation
In the land of Wursten , as in Dithmarschen and in the Frisian marshes, there are no signs of a planned, externally controlled elder colonization . Here the reclamation took place exclusively by established farming families. Instead, the individual phases of dyke construction and land reclamation can be seen much more clearly in Wursten than in Hadeln. The oldest line of the dike ("Oberstrich") dates back to the 11th to 12th centuries. This was followed by the construction of the “Niederstrich” in the 12th to 13th centuries. The so-called "old dike" was created in the High Middle Ages . Obviously the planning and maintenance of such extensive coastal protection measures already required a high degree of local self-government. It is noticeable that all these dike lines run parallel and push themselves further and further into the old tidal flats in the northwest of the country. South of Sölthörn, however, the old dyke lines are all cut off from today's dyke. Here once diked areas have been lost again due to the relocation of the river bed of the Weser. In the Wremer Watt you can still find remains of sunken villages when the water is low .
Bederkesa and Elm
The castle Bederkesa was founded in the 12th century as the seat of a local knight. The lords of Bederkesa mostly regarded themselves as ministers of the archbishop, sometimes as feudal men of the Guelph dukes, i.e. the direct competitors of the Ascanians. They founded the church in Bederkesa and endowed it with rich benefices . They also claimed jurisdiction in the country of Wursten , but only in the Debstedt and Lehe districts they prevailed. Only here did real feudal relations develop early on between the landed nobility and the more or less dependent peasantry.
In 1321 the Lords of Elm ( Elmlohe ) declared themselves to be castle men of the Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg and of the Counts of Hadeln. In the event of a conflict between the Duke and their relatives, the Lords of Bederkesa, they vowed neutrality. In 1326 the city of Bremen allied itself with the Wurstern against Lehe, from where (apparently from Bederkesa) "great sacrilege and mischief " were inflicted on them. In general, feuds and robberies, on land and at sea , increased in the region .
In 1343 the lords of Bederkesa left the old and now hardly usable walls of the Pipinsburg to the archbishop. In 1346 they founded the church in Elmlohe , because the inhabitants could no longer get to their mother church in Debstedt because of the "mortal enmity between them and the (Wurster) Frisians" .
Ritzebüttel
In 1286 the Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg left half of the island "O" off the north-western tip of Hadeln to the city of Hamburg. There, in 1299, the people of Hamburg built a defense tower, the Neue Werk , after which the island was renamed Neuwerk . Opposite on the mainland, however, the knight family of the Lappes still held the Ritzebüttel Castle as the duke's liege .
Neuenwalde Monastery
The Lords of Diepholz that in Midlum had a larger land, donated there in 1219, a nun convent for the maintenance of unmarried daughters of the nobility, but already in 1282 it moved to the archbishop of Bremen (perhaps because of the hostile Wurster) to Altenwalde . Only then was it managed according to the strict rules of the Benedictine women.
In 1334 the Altenwalde monastery was relocated again with the approval of Archbishop Burghardt Grelle ( Archbishopric Bremen ), this time to Neuenwalde. While the monastery in the Land of Hadeln was wealthy in several parishes, it did not have a single farm in the Land of Wursten. Nor do we have any knowledge of a Wurth Frisian nun; this, too, can be interpreted as an indication of the ongoing opposition of the Wursters to episcopal power.
Church administration
Despite the various secular rulers, the north-west of the Archdiocese of Bremen was ecclesiastically united to the Hadeln Propstei , later called the Hadeln-Wursten Archdeaconate with increasing separation from the other areas .
Late Middle Ages
The great plague epidemic of the " Black Death " of 1350 also claimed many victims in Hadeln and Wursten. A severe storm surge (the Second Marcellus Flood , called the "Grote Manndränke") hit the coasts in 1362. Another flood on All Saints' Day in 1436 terrified the inhabitants of the coast, as a solar eclipse occurred at the same time .
Decline of the nobility
In 1382 the Archbishopric of Bremen and the Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg bought the von der Lieth brothers' share in Bederkesa Castle . The original lords of Bederkesa had already been ousted, perhaps moved to Elmlohe .
After a lengthy feud with the Lappes the city of Hamburg captured together with the allied Wurstern 1393 the castle Ritzebüttel in the storm, which from now on under the management of the 1394 the Hamburg based office Ritzebüttel came. The Lappes also lost the associated villages Döse , Duhnen and Stickenbüttel as well as the parishes of Altenbruch and Groden . The Ritzebüttel office thus became an important base in Hamburg in the fight against beach robbers and pirates .
After the loss of their castles, the von Bederkesa and the Lappes families slowly faded from history. Their heirs were the Kuhles, von Luneberg, von der Lieth and Laues, who also owned estates in Hadler Sietland and in the Marsch. However, these families gradually rejoined the large farming population. Above all, the Neuenwalde monastery office , an important base of episcopal power, benefited from inheritances and donations . The inhabitants of the so-called “Heidedörfer” in the Ritzebüttel office almost without exception became dependent Meiers of the monastery. The archbishops also gained control of the old Ostegau , which later became the Neuhaus office , including the Lamstedt district . Here the Geest farmers became the marvels of the noble landlords.
Rise of the cities and the Archdiocese of Bremen
In 1400 the stains got Otterndorf the town charter . The castle, which had previously been destroyed by the archbishop, was rebuilt and expanded with significant help from Hamburg. From 1407 to 1481 the land of Hadeln was even in Hamburg lien. The Hamburgers were mainly interested in fixed bases along the Elbe to protect their trade and hardly interfered in the country's internal affairs. The dukes, on the other hand, did not fail to have their legal titles over Lauenburg, Hadeln, Wursten, the Bederkesa office and the Ritzebüttel office confirmed by the German king as a precautionary measure. Even at this time there is evidence of a Latin school in Otterndorf . At that time, the name Land Hadeln only referred to the wealthy parishes of the highlands: Altenbruch , Lüdingworth , Nordleda , Neuenkirchen , Osterbruch and Otterndorf. As once before, in 1420 rebellious Hadler and Kehdinger destroyed the archbishopric Neuhaus Castle.
1444 the whole was Wursten to the beach for harvesting from Hamburger goods spell occupied. The ban was tightened twice as a result and only released again in 1451. Apart from the emotional pressure (under the spell, most spiritual acts such as church services, marriages, or funerals were strictly forbidden; the Lord's Supper was only given to the sick) the situation was not without danger. The submission of the Stedinger by the Archbishop of Bremen in 1234 was initially preceded by a church ban.
In 1445, the eternally destitute duke pledged the Bederkesa Bailiwick to Hamburg, although half of the castle and the jurisdiction had belonged to the Bremen council for a long time . The five parishes of Hadler Sietland belonged to the Bailiwick of Bederkesa as early as 1388: Ihlienworth , Steinau , Odisheim , Süderleda and Wanna .
After Duke Johann von Sachsen-Lauenburg had finally released the Land Hadeln from the Hamburg lien, he began a feud with the city of Bremen in 1484 over the possession of Bederkesa Castle and Elm Castle. At the same time he carelessly tried to win back the land of Wursten for his rule by force of arms. But his Bohemian mercenaries were wiped out by the angry Wurstern, and the duke had to flee to the Bederkesa moated castle. When the Wurster set out for the siege, he was supposedly only able to save himself with the help of the Ihlienworther, who secretly smuggled him out on a boat. Badly prepared, the castle soon surrendered and, in fact, never again came under the control of the dukes. The actual owner of the Bederkesa and Lehes office was now finally the city of Bremen. The five parishes of Sietland seem to have fallen back to Hadeln at this time. A year later, a Bremen army appeared, which, with the support of the Wurster, destroyed Elm Castle. The Duke's finances were so shattered after these unfortunate feuds that he had to pledge the fresh income from the Land of Hadeln to Hamburg and Bremen immediately.
Peasant Wars
Hadeln between Hamburg and Sachsen-Lauenburg
As early as 1456, the Hadlers had their first violent uprising against the Hamburgers. The Hamburgers not only tried to monopolize the wheat trade, but had also begun to intervene in the traditional freedoms of the Hadlers through their bailiff in Otterndorf . The Hadlers, on the other hand, not only demanded the unhindered export of wheat to Holland , but even full jurisdiction and the choice of the Grafen, i.e. complete independence, but in vain. While the Hamburgers deployed their cavalry from Ritzebüttel, the Hadlers entrenched themselves in their churches. Through the mediation of various councils, there was an armistice and an exchange of prisoners. The compromise found between the interests of the contending parties then became the constitutional basis for the entire later development of the country.
Ritzebüttel
In 1462 and 1466 revolts flared up against the occupation of Ritzebüttel, which had been part of Hadeln until the city of Hamburg had bought it from the Lappes .
Sausages at the intersection of expansion efforts
In 1499 it was still fermenting in the country of Wursten . At the same time, the desires of both clerical and secular princes were directed towards the country. The residents refused to obey the Archbishop of Bremen Johann Ro (h) de . As proof that the Wurster Archbishop also in secular matters subject are, however, the annual charge of was Nummus 1304 cited. In an episcopal memorandum it says: “The Wursters like their march neighbors do not want to be guessed because they do not fear the Lord, do not honor their authorities, do not obey the churches. Therefore they will be miserable slaves of the princes of darkness. ” Incidentally, the latter did not mean the apocalyptic hosts of Gog and Magog, or something similar, but the new regent of Hadeln, Duke Magnus , and Count Johann von Oldenburg .
After the military subjugation of the marshes of Butjadingen and Stadland west of the Weser by Count Johann von Oldenburg , the council of Bremen tried to incite the Frisians to revolt against Oldenburg, but in vain. At a meeting at Bederkesa Castle between the Archbishop and Duke Magnus, the 16 counselors of the Land Wursten appeared and turned to the Archbishop for protection. The latter graciously accepted the "submission" and promptly sent 1,300 soldiers into the country. Both Lauenburger and Oldenburger then refrained from any invasion plans that might have been cherished. Instead, the archbishop turned the tables. Together with the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, who were concerned about the possession of their offices in Ritzebüttel and Bederkesa, he occupied the land of Hadeln.
Duke Magnus then hired a feared elite troop, the " Black Guard ", and received two "snake cans" ( cannons ) and two tons of gunpowder from the Dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . At the end of the year Magnus moved from Lehe against Wursten, but was surprisingly beaten by the residents at Weddewarden without the help of their allies . On the retreat, however, he took Bederkesa Castle by surprise and at least recaptured the land of Hadeln. Apparently the Neuenwalde monastery was also devastated. On New Year's Day 1500, however, the dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg appeared with their soldiers in front of Bremen. These convinced the warring parties to restore the status quo before hostilities began. The Black Guard withdrew and entered the service of the King of Denmark, who used them against the rebellious Dithmarscher north of the Elbe. There the mercenaries were defeated shortly afterwards near Hemmingstedt . The Wurster's status was now quite similar to that of the Hadler. Although it was under the rule of a sovereign, the old self-government was still in force. In 1505 the country even adopted its own constitution : the "Wurster Arbitrariness".
Submission of parts of Kehdingen by the Archbishop of Bremen
Archbishop Johann's successor was Christoph von Braunschweig-Lüneburg , the last strictly Catholic Archbishop of Bremen. He thought about expanding his worldly domain. Immediately after taking office, in 1512 he subjugated parts of the likewise autonomous state of Kehdingen with the parishes of Oppeln (Wingst) , Bülkau , Kehdingbruch and Belum . They were now attached to the archbishopric Neuhaus. From then on, noble landowners dominated the economic and political development of this area. The taxes in the country of Wursten were collected under threat of severe penalties.
Submission of the state of Wursten by the Archbishop of Bremen
In 1464 the Cirksena were enfeoffed as Counts of East Frisia , in 1498 Albrech III was. of Meissen by I. King Maximilian to Erzstatthalter of Friesland been appointed. In 1514, Count Johann V had incorporated the peasant republics of Butjadingen and Stadland on the left bank of the Weser estuary into his county. With that, only the land of Wursten remained of the self-governing Frisian communities.
After Archbishop Christoph had reassured himself with his Guelph relatives and with the estates of the archbishopric (the cathedral chapter , the Bremen knighthood , as well as the state parliament of the collegiate cities of Bremen, Stade and Buxtehude), he began in December 1517 with 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers, 1,000 horsemen and The Archbishop's mobilization of around 8,000 men finally launched the first war of conquest against Wursten. After a first victory at Weddewarden, the Wurster at Wremer Siel lost to a skillful pincer movement of the archbishop's troops. A few weeks after the victory, the archbishop gave the order to build a fortress (the so-called “morning star”) near Weddewarden. He repealed the constitution and claimed both high and low jurisdiction. The Wurster had now for the first time in its history Frondienst afford. At the church of Imsum the bishop accepted the homage. In order to legitimize his rule, Archbishop Christoph requested the land of Wursten from the emperor as a fief at the Reichstag in Augsburg and received it.
The fortress was ready in the spring of next year. When two envoys of the archbishop asked for the Weddewarden field mark in the summer, the measure was full. It came to the "envoy murder on the Klenckenhamm". In the ensuing uprising, the lands of the Neuenwalde monastery were devastated. Bederkesa Castle was stormed unsuccessfully, and the Debstedt, Lamstedt and Ringstedt Börden were devastated. The Neuhaus office was jointly plundered by Wurstern and Hadlern. Afterwards, the Wursters paid homage to their former enemy, Duke Magnus, to whom or whose predecessors the Hadlers had submitted centuries before. This confirmed their old privileges and had the new fortress destroyed.
The Welf relatives of the archbishop initially brokered a truce between Archbishop Christoph and his uncle and brother-in-law (!) Duke Magnus. After that, however, the former were involved in the Hildesheim collegiate feud and suffered a heavy defeat. The revenge on the "faithless" Wurstern had to be postponed first.
It was not until 1524 that 8,000 to 9,000 soldiers and 1,500 horsemen appeared again, who were supposed to conquer the lands of Hadeln and Wursten for the Archbishop. In August they penetrated Wursten via Sievern and hired the defense attorneys in the Mulsum churchyard . Although the Wurster had guns and hook rifles, they could not handle them. They suffered great losses and the land was sacked. Allegedly only 7 houses in all of Wursten remained intact, and even the churches were not spared. After that, the mercenaries penetrated neighboring areas such as Hadeln without encountering any resistance. A large part of the population fled the country of Wursten.
The following year, the last, desperate Wurster rebels turned to Duke Magnus I of Lauenburg , the sovereign of Hadeln. This then recruited around 1800 soldiers from East Friesland . In Wursten, however, they could no longer find enough food because of the severe devastation. Meanwhile, the Archbishop's contingent gathered in Lehe. The nocturnal attack by the ducal troops on Lehe failed because the starved mercenaries began to plunder. Then their retreat was cut off and most surrendered without a fight. The archbishop's troops crossed the land of Hadeln again.
After the final victory, the archbishop placed his rebels in all Wurster parishes. The 16 advisors were dismissed. This sealed the end of the more than 300-year self-determination of the State of Wursten forever.
The downfall of the last Frisian peasant republic took place at the same time as the German Peasants' War in Upper Swabia and Central Germany, during which subservient peasants rebelled against their landlords.
Reformation in Hadeln
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As early as 1521 a preacher named Gerhard had announced the new teaching of Martin Luther in Otterndorf.
During the two years of the war, the Vicar von Altenbruch refused to pay the rent to the Provost von Hadeln-Wursten. The provost himself enjoyed the incomes of the parish of Altenbruch, but did not exercise the pastoral office. In 1526 he therefore cited his poorly paid representative, the vicar, to Neuhaus. The congregation objected to this and instead asked the provost to come to Altenbruch to preach the word of God “louder and clearer” to them. After all, the “good shepherd” wants to use the milk and wool of his “sheep”. The provost's angry reply was not long in coming. He bluntly threatened to bring in befriended or foreign princes. In addition, he can certainly teach the elderly the gospel better than "the dishonorable, escaped monk who perverts and misleads the people."
With the permission of Duke Magnus, who himself remained a Catholic, Andreas Garding then gave an evangelical sermon in Altenbruch. As sovereign ruler, the duke hoped that this would primarily weaken the archbishop's influence in his territories. At the same time, the archbishop had to deal with the council of the city of Bremen, which was looking for connections with Protestant princes and cities of the Schmalkaldic League . In Hadeln, however, people were well aware of the risks. Therefore, the sacraments continued to be distributed in German and Latin. In a diplomatic balancing act, the Hadlers formally recognized the provost's claims without actually fulfilling them. The last Catholic priest left Lüdingworth as early as 1529.
In 1535 marauding mercenaries invaded Hadeln under the command of a certain Colonel Ovelacker . They moved on with rich booty. Magnus accused the archbishop (probably not entirely wrongly) of incitement. But this undermined the provost's claims. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the provost's right of patronage expired and fell to a separate consistory in Otterndorf.
Although the church in Hadeln was organizationally separated from the Archdiocese of Bremen, some taxes were still paid to it for a long time, albeit often reluctantly and with some correspondence.
When the land of Hadeln was dissolved in the 19th century, the consistory was supposed to outlive the political institutions by a few months.
Reformation in sausages
The Wurster began their Reformation at a time when they had already lost their political independence and the archbishop and cathedral chapter were still strictly Catholic as their now secular authority.
In the churches of the state of Wursten, church services began to deviate from the customs of Catholic masses in 1528/29, which in 1530 led to an admonition by Archbishop Christoph . Following the example of the city of Bremen, the Wurster elected a superintendent, Pastor Bertram Schramm from Dorum . Together with another pastor, he drew up a church ordinance for the Wurster in 1534 (Agenda Wursatorum ecclesiastica), which was copied for another parish but never printed. Apparently he did not suffer any serious disciplinary measures, because 59 years later he was buried at the place where he worked.
Further developments in Hadeln
Even the Hadlers were not always helpless militarily. At Easter 1541 they bloody repulsed the incursion of 10 soldiers.
After the death of Duke Magnus in 1543, his energetic son Franz I accepted the tribute of the Hadler estates . He confirmed their privileges and had the Hadler land law written down . This land law remained in force well into modern times, but was only partially applied in the city of Otterndorf because the count or bailiff, who was now permanently present, exercised high jurisdiction as the duke's governor. Incidentally, the three estates of Hadeln were not, as usual, clergy , nobility and citizens , but rather the “Erbland Hadeln” (= the wealthy farmers of the highlands), the “Five Parishes” (= the less wealthy farmers of the Sietlands) and the "Weichbild Otterndorf" (= citizens and town farmers ). The Hadler Estates constitution is therefore likely to be unique in European history.
In the precursors and foothills of the Schmalkaldic War , Hadeln also suffered again from the looting and extortion of mercenaries passing through. Since the heavily indebted archbishop had meanwhile been almost disempowered by the mostly Lutheran Bremen estates and the cathedral chapter, the Wurster dared to send 300 volunteers to support the Schmalkaldic League.
It was not until 1567 that Francis I officially renounced all claims to Bederkesa, Lehe and the land of Wursten. In return, his son Heinrich was elected archbishop by the Bremen cathedral chapter. He tied the land of Hadeln all the more closely to his rule. From now on, contracts between the country and the outside world were no longer possible without the consent of the sovereign. The government was, however, characterized by an unrestrained debt economy and lavish feasts, which had to be paid by the Hadlers with additional taxes and duties, as well as by the family scandal surrounding Franz's expensive mistress. With these one-off payments, the Hadlers also bought their extensive internal self-administration. Otherwise, Franz I tried a little to drain the Hadler Sietlands. He promised his son Heinrich the land of Hadeln in the event of his death, bypassing the older brothers. For this he also had to pay paternal debts. When Franz I died in 1581, as was predictable, long and bitter inheritance disputes broke out among his sons.
The Protestant archbishop accepted the Hadler's homage. Finally, the long efforts of the Archbishops of Bremen to gain possession of the land seemed to be paying off. But already in 1585 Heinrich died in Bremervörde after falling from his horse. Even before the news of his death reached the Land of Hadeln, his younger brother Moritz occupied the Otterndorf Castle. The residents, however, surrounded the castle and no longer let any food in. When the ruling Duke of Lauenburg appeared to Franz II , Moritz fled. Soon afterwards, Francis II was able to receive the homage from the Hadler estates .
Around Easter 1590, Franz II began building the “Franzenburg”, practically under the eyes of the Hamburg castle Ritzebüttel, which had only recently been elevated to a fortress. Despite, or perhaps because of, this obvious threat, his rule was peaceful. The relationship with the Hadler estates was acceptable, even if the duke often interfered with the administration of justice and church order with new ordinances.
Witch trials
Although there had been no particular signs of the witchcraft rampant in Central Europe in the country of Hadeln , a total of 13 people were burned for sorcery in 1601 , while three others died in prison. The Duke's personal beliefs appear to have played a major role in the outcome of the trial. In the same year, the Archbishop of Bremen Johann Friedrich (1579-1634), the youngest son of Duke Adolph I of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp , founded a Latin school in Dorum . The latter recommended that his judges and bailiffs in the country of Wursten, however, carefully examine the evidence in magic matters, since frivolous accusations against alleged witches are often made.
Warring entanglements sausage
To alleviate his financial needs, the aged archbishop concluded a secret agreement in 1557 with a mercenary leader named Wrisberg. This should collect taxes for him in the country of Wursten. Compared to the Bremen estates, however, he claims that the mercenaries are threatening the archbishopric and himself. Although the deception became known and the estates protested against the plundering of their own territory by their own sovereign, the campaign took place. The Wurster tried to negotiate, but were defeated after a brief but unsuccessful defense in the Mulsum churchyard. In this opaque affair, the Landdrost of the Archbishopric Heinrich von Salza played a double game: in the event that the estates against the mercenaries became too strong, he asked for help from Franz I, the archbishop's opponent. In return, however, he promised to support the Lauenburg claims on the land of Wursten.
In the 70s of the 16th century, many Frisian boatmen from the Wurster Sielhäfen participated as privateers in the battles of the Dutch Geusen against the monarchy of the Spanish Habsburgs . Often, however, they also sell out on goods in neutral cities such as Hamburg and Emden .
Natural disasters and land reclamation
In 1565 the plague raged. In 1570 the “All Saints Flood” caused great damage. In 1606 the plague raged again.
In 1618, 916 acres of land were newly diked at the Ritzebüttel office . A small fishing village, the Koogshafen, also developed in this Koog . This was the nucleus of the later city of Cuxhaven . The Wurster sea dike, which still exists today, was built between 1618 and 1636. The Mardi Gras flood of 1625, again combined with a solar eclipse , caused damage in both areas.
Thirty Years' War
After the death of Franz II, Duke August 1619 took over the rule. While the first years of the war had little effect on Hadeln, the administrator of Magdeburg marched in 1626 on behalf of the King of Denmark Christian IV against Ritzebüttel Castle, which was taken by surprise. Even with this action it was no longer a question of a denominational conflict, but of a customs dispute. Danish soldiers lay in hadels and sausages for several months.
After the victory of the Catholic League over the Danes in the Battle of Lutter am Barenberge , Catholic troops invaded the Archbishopric of Bremen, plundered Ritzebüttel, occupied Franzenburg and forced high cash payments. Because of their excesses, the imperial family soon made themselves hated. The archbishop, a nephew of King Gustav Adolf of Sweden, was hesitant. He asked Tilly for peace and offered an alliance with the emperor. Tilly himself quartered in the fortress there in 1628 after the siege of Stade. The re-Catholicization of the Archbishopric of Bremen began.
After Gustav Adolf's victory over Tilly near Breitenfeld , the tide turned. Now the Archbishop of Bremen also took action against the imperial ones. The Franzenburg was besieged by Hadlers and Wurstern and conquered in December 1631. The next year the Swedes occupied Hadeln for a short time. The Wurster and Hadler held the Ostedeich against the imperial forces in the ensuing battles. In July 1632 the Swedes evacuated the country.
By and large, the state of Hadeln, like most of today's Lower Saxony, got off quite lightly in the course of the war. The last Archbishop Friedrich, a son of King Christian VI. of Denmark, guaranteed the archbishopric's neutrality. However, there seems to have been a marked brutalization of morals. In 1634 the mayor of Oster-Ihlienworth was stabbed to death by his colleague from Odisheim in a dispute. The vice of tobacco smoking was taken over by the Swedes. The repair of storm surge damage on the Wurster sea dike was delayed for several years because the interested parties could not pay their contributions because of the war burden.
Towards the end of the war there was a conflict between Denmark and Sweden over hegemony in Northern Europe. In 1645 the Swedish Count Hans Christoph von Königsmarck occupied the Bremen and Verden monasteries. Billing and requisitions were due again. In the southern country of Wursten, many houses were set on fire. Koenigsmark is said to have replied to the Hadler's complaints: “You have to take the silver plows from the Hadlers, they can drive there with iron plows to do the field work.” (However, his granddaughter Aurora, who later became lover of August II the Strong, became known , and his grandson Phillipp Christoph, an adventurer who was probably murdered after his improper liaison with Sophie Dorothea von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (the "Princess of Ahlden").)
After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the diocese of Bremen was secularized and fell to Sweden. The Swedes also raised a claim to Lehe and the Bederkesa office. After a long dispute with the city of Bremen, Königsmark took the castle by storm in 1654 and had the castle wall razed. The small country Hadeln was completely surrounded by Swedish territory.
In the second half of the 17th century the importance of peat cutting increased. Since the surrounding geest had largely been cleared by the growing population, dried peat was increasingly used as fuel. In the row villages around the Ahlenmoor in particular, peat had been cut for personal use for a long time, but now the peat began to be shipped in large quantities on boats to the end users. At the same time, the Land Wursten founded a joint dike association Land Wursten in order to evenly distribute the dyke loads across all parishes.
Nordic Wars
The "side effects" of the Swedish-Polish war
After Duke August's death in 1656, his half-brother Julius Heinrich came to power. Although this was a Catholic and had stood on the side of Wallenstein during the Thirty Years War , he confirmed the Hadlers all of their privileges and the old church order. The following year the Danes tried again to dispute the Swedes for their newly formed principality of Bremen-Verden. ( Swedish-Polish War , 1655–1660) A Danish navy from Glückstadt landed at Belumer Schanze, but was soon driven out again by the Swedes approaching from Pomerania . The Swedes also recaptured the Leher Schanze, which was occupied by Danes, and the city of Bremervörde. Duke Julius Heinrich applied for soldiers to be recruited , but the Hadler estates preferred self-defense by the Landwehr.
In 1666 Duke Julius Franz paid homage to Hadeln. When he died in 1689 after largely peaceful rule without male heirs, the Ascanian house of Saxony-Lauenburg went extinct.
Although there was an inheritance contract with the Guelph Duke Georg Wilhelm von Celle-Lüneburg and the envoys from Kur- Brandenburg , who made claims on behalf of the Principality of Anhalt , were rejected by the Hadler estates , both Swedish riders and troops from the Electorate of Saxony were quartered in the Land of Hadeln a.
After the county of Oldenburg west of the Weser fell by inheritance to Denmark, King Karl XI. of Sweden start work for the planned fortress town Carlsburg in 1672 near the Leher Schanze . But just three years later she was trapped and starved by the Danes and their allies from Münster and Brunswick-Lüneburg. After that, the land of Wursten was occupied and looted. For a few years the Braunschweig-Lüneburgers took possession of the Principality of Bremen-Verden. It was not awarded to Sweden again until 1680.
In order to avoid internal turmoil in Germany during the war of the Palatinate Succession against France, Emperor Leopold I placed the Duchy of Lauenburg and the Land of Hadeln under his direct administration. The imperial commissioner confirmed to the estates all their ecclesiastical and secular privileges. After that, the new governors and counts rarely stayed in the country. A small Swedish guard stayed in Hadeln.
The end of Swedish hegemony
While the Swedes spent themselves in Poland and Russia in the course of the Great Northern War (1700–1721), the Danes seized the opportunity and occupied the Swedish principality of Bremen-Verden once more. But in 1712 the plague broke out among the soldiers and spread to the surrounding area the following year. To the displeasure of the Hadler estates , a Catholic mass was now constantly held in Otterndorf, which was well attended by the imperial war people and other foreigners.
In 1715 King Friedrich IV of Denmark sold the duchies of Bremen and Verden to George I , Elector of Hanover and King of England. This then declared war on Sweden. Towards the end of the year a company of Hanoverians moved into Hadeln to disarm the Swedish guard. The Hadler opposed this with the support of the imperial. The Hanoverians withdrew without having achieved anything.
The great "Christmas flood" of 1717 caused terrible damage to the entire North Sea coast. Almost 200 people drowned in the land of Wursten.
In 1719 the Queen of Sweden also accepted compensation for the duchies of Bremen and Verden. With that they definitely passed into Hanoverian ownership. In the land of Wursten, members of the old Bremen nobility were mainly employed as bailiffs. The north wood office developed from a noble jurisdiction in the north of the country . Meanwhile, in the country of Hadeln, displeasure about the increasing "gifts" and "honorary fees" to the imperial commissioner increased. When George II, as ruler of the Duchy of Lauenburg, demanded homage from the Hadlers, they would have been happy to accommodate him, since such practices were allegedly subject to severe penalties in Kurhannover. But it was not until 1731 that Emperor Karl VI. the land of Hadeln to the elector. With this, all parts of Althadeln (except Ritzebüttel) were reunited under a single sovereign for the first time in more than 500 years. The self-administration of the Hadler estates remained unaffected.
Hadeln and sausages united under the Guelphs
In the Electorate of Hanover
The privy councilor Philipp Adolf von Münchhausen was appointed count, but resided in Stade, and in 1746 moved entirely to Hanover. At the Hadler stands he successfully solicited contributions for the establishment and maintenance of the new university in Göttingen , which was founded in 1737 by his brother Gerlach Adolph Freiherr von Münchhausen .
Four years after the homage, George II released Bederkesa from the pledges of Count Königsmark and established a royal office there.
Soon after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) between Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and most of the German principalities on the one hand, and Prussia, Great Britain and Hanover on the other, the entire Electorate of Hanover was occupied by French troops ( Convention of Zeven Monastery ) . Many Hadlers and Wursters fled from the French dragoons to Hamburg or Holstein. But already at the beginning of 1758, Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig was pushing the French back across the Rhine.
In the further course of the war troops were raised several times, of which 143 were recruits from the country of Wursten. The Hadler estates , however, oppose their old privileges. They only accepted one-off war taxes and the provision of trainee servants . It was not until 1762 that a regiment of Hanoverian infantry, with the support of cavalry and two guns, forced the drafting of 300 recruits. Just a year later the war was over.
From 1778 to 1782 Johann Heinrich Voss worked as the principal of the Latin school in Otterndorf. It was during this time that his authoritative translation of the Odyssey into German took place.
During the coalition wars (1792–1797; 1798–1802) against revolutionary France there were billeting again and war taxes were levied on Hanover and Prussia. However, recruiting is still being bypassed.
In the meantime there were tensions between Prussia and Great Britain. In 1800 the conflict over a Prussian ship that had been captured by the British and was now anchored in Cuxhaven escalated. The Hamburg Senate captured the English occupation at great sacrifice, but two Prussian battalions nevertheless advanced into Ritzebüttel. A year later, 24,000 Prussian soldiers marched into Kur-Hannover to close the ports at the mouths of the Elbe, Weser and Ems. So one tried to weaken the maritime rule of Great Britain and to vote favorably the rising French general Napoléon Bonaparte . In contrast to Land Wursten, there was great outrage in Hadeln over this arbitrary Prussian act, even if the occupation lasted only a few months.
French occupation
In 1803 Great Britain resumed the war against Napoleon. As a result, the whole of Kur-Hannover was occupied by French troops. In 1805 the French withdrew to fight in Austria and the Prussians, who remained neutral in the conflict, returned. After the invasion of England was finally averted by the destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar , English troops landed in Cuxhaven and the Hanoverian government was quickly restored.
In 1806 the Prussians had Napoleon "give" them to the Electorate Hanover. But that same year he offered the British the same bait. The Prussians allowed themselves to be provoked and presented France with a fateful ultimatum. After the defeats of Jena and Auerstedt , the Prussians had to withdraw and the French occupied Kur-Hannover a second time. Any trade with England was strictly prohibited by the continental blockade. The small sewage ports in Wursten were very suitable for smuggling . Neuwerk developed into an important transshipment point until the island was suddenly occupied in 1808. Hadeln had to make enormous war contributions.
In 1809, English troops captured Cuxhaven and the battery on the Carlsburg. But soon afterwards they were evicted by a Danish corps on behalf of the French.
In 1810, Kur-Hannover was incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia under the government of Napoleon's brother Jérôme . However, the entire German coastal area was separated, divided into departments, arrondissements, cantons and mairies, and declared part of the French Empire. The civil code was introduced. Work services had to be performed for the construction of two forts off Cuxhaven. Several thousand seamen and infantrymen were raised in the three coastal departments. Of these, the Stader regiment, which also includes recruits from Hadeln and Wursten, took part in Napoleon's campaign to Russia . Of the 1366 men in this regiment, only 67 men and 16 officers returned.
When the news of the downfall of the “ Great Army ” reached Germany, uprisings against the French occupiers broke out in the Elbmarschen in March 1813. The resistance in Bederkesa was led by Heinrich Böse , a merchant who became rich as a result of stock market speculation and as a sugar manufacturer in Bremen, known as "Captain" Böse. The Dorum people drove out the French customs officers and gendarmes. The uprising in Lehe, supported by the British, was bloodily suppressed. The war contributions were then collected by force. In the end, however, the French withdrew to Hamburg and Ritzebüttel. In November the crew of Ritzebüttel had to surrender after heavy bombardment by Russian troops and an English flotilla.
After the King of England had set up a provisional military administration in Hanover, the residents again had to deliver large quantities of provisions and provide workers for the fortress construction, but this time for the Russian and Allied troops. The trauma of the French era also promoted the development of a German national feeling in Hadeln and Wursten. On the other hand, there was also a strong distrust of the Prussian hegemony efforts.
In the Kingdom of Hanover
In 1814 Georg III opened the state parliament in Hanover. The electorate, which had gained new territories, was elevated to a kingdom. After the constitutional reform of 1819, Hanover received a state assembly with two chambers , one knightly and one civil. Among the 20 deputies of the free rural landed property, the Land of Hadeln was well represented with two deputies, the Land Wursten with only one. In the disputes that followed between the king, the nobility and the people, the Marching Deputies almost always took a liberal position. However, the wet summers and harsh winters over the next few years made reconstruction difficult. Organized robber gangs even attacked in Hadeln and Wursten.
After his stay in the seaside resort of Cuxhaven in 1823, Heinrich Heine wrote his “North Sea Pictures”, with which he was the first German poet to discover the sea and the coast as a subject. Until then, romantic writers had viewed this landscape as boring and boring, because it lacked the picturesque mountain peaks, waterfalls, castle ruins, etc.
In February 1824 a devastating spring tide broke through the dikes in several places during a full moon, thunderstorms and snowstorms. Donations for the needy were received from all parts of Germany and England. The sea dike was repaired and significantly increased.
In 1827 Hanover ceded several acres of the Leher outer dike at the mouth of the Geeste to the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Here was Bremerhaven founded. The first port basin was excavated near the old Carlsburg.
In 1833 the parishes of Hadeln had their old constitution confirmed for the last time by the sovereign ( Wilhelm IV ). Then the new constitutional law came into force, but it left both the judiciary and the provincial landscapes untouched.
After repeated severe floods in Sietland, the respected Captain Böse from Bederkesa promoted a major drainage project, the Hadelner Canal , which had been planned several times in the past but never realized. In 1834 the Landdrostei Stade ordered the construction, but the farmers of the highlands again achieved a delay, as they did not benefit from the drainage themselves, but should share in the costs.
Around the middle of the century, the merchant Heinrich Böse , also known as Captain Böse, who had become rich through stock market speculation and as a sugar manufacturer in Bremen , founded an aid association with the mayors from Steinau, Odisheim and Ihlienwort to alleviate the need. He had grain distributed and pigs slaughtered so that the population could eat.
In 1837 the personal union between Great Britain and Hanover ended. Soon after his accession to the throne, Ernst August , the new King of Hanover, dissolved the Assembly of Estates and the Basic Law. This absolutist breach of the constitution aroused such indignation in Hadeln as if the king had torn up the old privileges. Since many Hadlers had a close relationship with the University of Göttingen, the dismissal of the Göttingen Seven aroused great outrage.
In the following year a new constitution was discussed in Hanover. The Hadlers, who had previously boycotted the new elections for the assembly of estates, rejected the planned amalgamation of their land with the duchies of Bremen and Verden because of the predominance of knights there. Many wealthy Hadlers followed the example of Hauptmann Böse and refused to pay taxes. There were police surveillance, punishment billeting and punitive transfers of officials.
After his return from Heligoland , where he had composed the “Deutschlandlied”, Hoffmann von Fallersleben visited the country of Hadeln in 1842. In Cuxhaven, his numerous supporters organized a banquet for him. In 1845 he repeated his visit, but was expelled from the government in protest of the Hadlers.
March Revolution and the Consequences
While there was an overthrow in Berlin and Vienna in March 1848, King Ernst August von Hanover fulfilled the liberals ' demands for freedom of the press , civil arming, freedom of association, jury courts, and especially for elections for a German parliament with almost no resistance . The supremacy of the nobility was also broken in the first chamber of the Hanoverian assembly of estates. However, a dispute broke out among the Hadler Liberals, between the supporters of a united Germany around Hauptmann Böse, and the advocates of Hanoverian particularism . In Wursten, supporters of the Baden people's leader Friedrich Hecker agitated , who also seemed far too revolutionary to the liberals. Many pub names still in use today, such as “Deutsches Haus” or “Stadt Frankfurt”, go back to these eventful times.
In the middle of the 19th century, the Hanoverian government sought to unify the law through several reforms of the criminal, procedural, judicial and constitutional law. Many Hadler special regulations were thereby pushed back.
The Frankfurt parliament designated Bremerhaven, which had already developed into an important trading center, as the base of the newly formed German imperial fleet. But after the conservative reaction against parliamentary democracy prevailed, the fleet was disbanded in 1852. Instead of black, red and gold , the German states again displayed their own flags, with only Prussia and Austria maintaining a navy.
Bremerhaven also became the main emigration port in the region, especially for ships to North America. In the 1840s, most of the emigrants came from the meager Geest areas. In the 1950s, families from the marshes joined in, who had heard of the agricultural opportunities in the newly developed areas west of the Mississippi. In the 1960s and 1970s, the proportion of unmarried young men who wanted to evade Prussian military service increased. The population fell noticeably in the marshes.
From 1843 to 1856 the Chaussee Stade-Ritzebüttel was laid out (today's federal road 73 ); the Chaussee Bremerhaven-Ritzebüttel between 1850 and 1855 (later part of Bundesstraße 6 , meanwhile downgraded to L 243). Until then, traffic was almost exclusively limited to the drainage canals and waterways. With the construction of the highway, the foundations for the economic development of the urban centers of Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven were laid.
After the death of Ernst August, the last King of Hanover ascended the throne in 1851, the blind, not very popular Georg V.
With a delay of around 20 years, the construction of the Hadler Canal began in 1853, a little later with the Neuhaus-Bülkau Canal, which led the bog waters of the Balksees into the Oste. The frequent floods, which particularly hit the Sietland almost every winter and, after heavy rainfall, also in summer, were finally put to an end. Hadler Sietland, which was quite back then, experienced a considerable economic boom. Likewise, by draining the moors, the previously rampant malaria (“marsh fever”) was contained. In 1859, the Geeste-Weser Canal was also opened, so that an important inland connection for freight traffic between the Elbe and Weser was created via the Bederkesaer See . At the end of the 19th century there was also an important structural change in agriculture: due to cheap grain imports from overseas, arable farming declined in the highlands and grassland management (cattle fattening) gained in importance.
In 1855 there was a new breach of the constitution. The second chamber was subsequently dissolved several times for a long time and in the first chamber the knighthood was again the sole representative of the free landowners. The marshlands were of course extremely dissatisfied with the reaction of the nobility. Despite the government's enormous election campaign promises, oppositional, i.e. liberal, MPs continued to be elected in Hadeln und Wursten.
In 1862 Geestemünde was connected to the railway line to Bremen.
During the German-Danish War of 1864, three Danish frigates easily blocked shipping in the Elbe and Weser estuaries because there were practically no German warships opposing them. It was only when an Austrian squadron from the Mediterranean under Wilhelm von Tegetthoff united with Prussian ships that were just returning from a foreign assignment that the Danes were driven out after a battle near Heligoland.
After the previous diplomatic disputes over Schleswig-Holstein and the German constitution, Prussia unceremoniously annexed the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866. There was hardly any resistance from the population, as a better future could be imagined in a unified Germany, even if it were under Prussian rule. Only conservative supporters of small states wanted the Guelphs back. The area of the Prussian districts Hadeln and Lehe largely coincides with the old Hadeln-Wursten Provostry, and in 1871 became part of the unified German Empire . In 1879 the Prussian judicial administration took away a large part of its remaining tasks from the Hadler parish courts. In 1884 the Hadler estates were dissolved, in 1885 the consistory (church court), whose tasks were taken over by the Stade Consistory of the General Diocese of Bremen-Verden . Herewith the last remnants of the Hadler self-government came to an end. However, some police functions of the Hadler parish courts survived until the Prussian district reform of 1932. After that, the parishes were finally converted into normal rural communities.
For further development see the district of Cuxhaven .
literature
Publications of the "Men from the Morning Star", Heimatbund at the mouth of the Elbe and Weser:
- Eduard Rüther: “Hadler Chronicle. Source book for the history of the country Hadeln. ”1932. Newly published in Bremerhaven 1979.
- Erich von Lehe : “History of the Land of Wursten.” With a contribution by Werner Haarnagel, Bremerhaven 1973.
Yearbooks of the "Men of the Morning Star" 1898 ff.
- Yearbook 77/78 "1998/99" ISBN 3-931771-77-6 .
- Yearbook 80 "2001" ISBN 3-931771-80-6 .
- Yearbook 81 "2002" ISBN 3-931771-81-4 .
- Yearbook 82 "2003" ISBN 3-931771-82-2 .
"Guide to prehistoric and early historical monuments", Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1976:
- Volume 29: "The Elb-Weser Triangle I. Introductory Articles." ISBN 3-8053-0144-8 .
- Volume 31: “The Elb-Weser Triangle III. Excursions. Bremerhaven. Cuxhaven. Worpswede. ” ISBN 3-8053-0146-4 .
Publications of the regional association of the former duchies of Bremen and Verden: Eckhard Danneberg, Heinz-Joachim Schulze: "History of the country between Elbe and Weser." Stade 1995.
- Volume I: “Pre- and Early History” ISBN 3-9801919-7-4 .
- Volume II: "Middle Ages" ISBN 3-9801919-8-2 .
- Norbert Fischer : In the face of the North Sea - On the history of the dykes in Hadeln. Stade 2007.
- Michael Ehrhardt: "Always towards the great water - On the history of the dikes in the Wursten region". Stade 2007.
Rudolf Lembcke (Ed.): "District Land Hadeln" past and present. Otterndorf 1976.
Individual evidence
- ^ Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Volume 13, p. 271, 1999.
- ↑ Hans-Ulrich Hucker: The problem of rule and freedom in the regional communities of the Middle Ages in the Lower Weser area (dissertation, Münster 1978), available u. a. in the State Archives Bremen (No. 538 U) and in the library of the men from the morning star
- ^ Annales Regni Francorum
- ↑ Bremer Urkundenbuch I, p. 21/22, No. 21 of June 27, 1062, "... curtis Liestemunde ..."
- ↑ Bremerhaven city side: Morgenstern castle and restaurant
- ^ German biography: Garding, Andreas
- ↑ Fatherland Archives of the Historical Association for Lower Saxony, year 1840, III: The ducal church camp that existed in the country of Hadeln in the 16th century , p. 38
- ^ Annual report of the men from the morning star No. X (1907/08), p. 32 ff., E. Rüther, The constitution and legal development of the country Hadeln in the Middle Ages .
- ↑ Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund, From the beginning of the Reformation in the Bremen ore monastery and the Verden monastery ... , p. 34
- ↑ General German biography: Heinrich III. Duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg / Archbishop of Bremen
