History of Hamburg

Replica of the oldest known city seal from 1241

The history of Hamburg deals with the formation and development of the German city and the state of Hamburg and goes back to the 8th century AD. The city emerged from a fortification, the Hammaburg , which was used for trade. In the Middle Ages , Hamburg became one of the most important trading centers in Europe .

In addition to the favorable location of the Port of Hamburg, centuries of political independence as a Free and Hanseatic City strengthened Hamburg's development into the second largest city in Germany after Berlin .

prehistory

After the melting of the ice sheet, which covered the area around today's Hamburg during the last cold period of the current Ice Age , hunters and gatherers presumably nomadic hunters and gatherers followed around 17,000 years ago and settled in the glacial valley of the Elbe . There are numerous archaeological finds of tools from the Stone Age , for example the Ahrensburg and Hamburg culture from the Stellmoorer tunnel valley on the border of Rahlstedt and Ahrensburg, as well as finds from the Fischbeker Heide southwest of Harburg , which prove nomadic settlement in the area. The oldest evidence of permanent settlement was dated to the 4th century BC. Megalithic tombs in the Sachsenwald also bear witness to an early settlement.

Antiquity

The advance of Roman expedition troops into the Hamburg area is not archaeologically proven and probably belongs to the area of legend. The Romans, however, knew a place at the mouth of the Alster, which they called Treva and which may be on the site of the present-day city. However, there are numerous material evidence from the Hamburg area that testify to lively trade contacts with the Roman sphere of influence, such as Roman gold coins from Eppendorf or Lokstedt . From the 1st to 5th century there was evidence of intensive settlement activity for Hamburg-Farmsen-Berne , where traces of numerous houses and iron smelting sites were excavated.

The northern Albingian Saxons settled in the northern Elbe region since the 4th century . Are occupied settlements on the ridge of at Alster mouth and a Saxon burial in Hamburg-Schnelsen , with the tab of grave Schnelsen as one of the outstanding burials there. The influx continued into the 6th century.

middle Ages

Early Middle Ages - Hamburg as a mission center

The Hammaburg was built in the 8th century. In 810, after his Franks had conquered the area from the Saxons with the support of the Slavic Abodrites , Charlemagne had a baptistery built between the rivers Bille and Alster . The main task of Priest Heridag, to whom the church was subordinate, was the Christianization of the pagan north, which included Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark and Scandinavia. The Hammaburg offered refuge for 40 to 50 people, was about 130 mx 130 m in size, the walls were 5 to 6 m high and 15 m wide. It served as protection against hostile Saxons and Slavs . The name "Hammaburg" was first documented by name in 832. The exact origin of the name is not clear. One version traces the name back to the fact that the castle was built on the ruins of the Saxon village of Hamm. The latest research results, however, also allow the conclusion that the name is derived from the old German "Hamme". Hamme stands for a protected geest slope surrounded by impassable terrain (moor). In the case of the first Hamburg settlement, this geest slope was so well protected by natural conditions that the residents referred to it as "Hammaburg". An actual castle would not have existed at all at first.

In 831 Ludwig the Pious founded a diocese in the Hammaburg , which was raised to an archbishopric in 832 by Pope Gregory IV . The deed of foundation was awarded on May 15, 834 by the Frankish Emperor Ludwig the Pious . The first coins were minted in Hamburg in 834 . First bishop was the Benedictine monk Ansgar of Bremen , who built the mother church for the mission, a St. Mary's Church, which was a simple timber and yet the very beginning of the great Hamburg Cathedral should be (Dom). There were also schools and monasteries - it is disputed whether there was even a library for collecting handwritten books. The income from the Turholt Abbey in Flanders was available to him to cover the not inconsiderable expenses, but after the division of Verdun in 843 it had to be ceded to the West Franconian King Charles the Bald. This division of the empire, which was a sign of the dwindling power of the Carolingians , meant that Danish Vikings and Normans destroyed the German settlements at the mouth of the Elbe in 845 and did not stop at Hamburg, the religious buildings went up in flames and the Hammaburg itself Leveled the ground.

Ansgar fled to Ramelsloh (about 30 km south of the Hammaburg). After the death of Bishop Leuderich von Bremen, it was decided at a synod in 848 to return the northern Elbe, previously ceded to Verden, to Bremen with the ore seat in Hamburg. The Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen was created. As a result, Bremen was separated from the Metropolitan Association of Cologne . This led to the protest of the newly elected Archbishop Gunthar of Cologne in 850, who, however, tolerated the practical regulation while maintaining his claims. This initially led to a standstill. But when Gunthar was excommunicated because of his divorce Lothar II , Pope Nicholas I issued the founding bull for the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen on May 31, 864 . However, he wrote to the king that the Bremen bishop and his successor in Bremen should have the power and honor of an archbishop over the Danes and Swedes.

As early as 915, the settlement was reduced to rubble during the first documented attack by the Slavic Abodrites . In the following years, Archbishop Adaldag restored the archbishopric, had a new castle built, the settlement inhabited by craftsmen and small traders expanded, gave Hamburg market rights and thus laid the foundation for Hamburg's later status as a trading city. Various dioceses were subordinate to him: Schleswig, Ripen , Aarhus and Oldenburg . From 964 onwards, Pope Benedict V spent his twilight years in exile in Hamburg after he was expelled from Rome. After his death in 966 his bones were buried in the Cathedral of Mary until they were transferred to Rome in 999. Also in 966 the Roman-German Emperor and Saxon Duke Otto I transferred secular rule to his deputy and Prince of Saxony, Hermann Billung . Nevertheless, Adaldag was able to work independently, also because he took part in Otto I's coronation as emperor (962). After Otto II's defeat in Calabria and the ensuing military weakening, there was a general uprising of changes and attacks by the Danes. The Abodrite Prince Mistui razed Hamburg to the ground in 983.

High Middle Ages - from mission center to trading city

Billunger time

The reconstruction of the old town lasted until the beginning of the 11th century. Archbishop Bezelin Alebrand had the construction of St. Mary's Church, the monastery and the archbishop's palace from ashlars begin in 1037 - the first stone buildings in the region. The city was fortified by a curtain wall with twelve defense towers. A permanent castle was built on the south side of the cathedral, the Wiedenburg (= Weidenburg), then from 1024 to 1025 the Billunger Bernhard II built the so-called Wasserburg, also called New Castle , in the area of today's Nikolai ruins / Hopfenmarkt. The market square, the center of life at that time, was located opposite today's Petri Church. During the tenure of Archbishop Adalbert , who was not only a friend of Heinrich III , but also the educator and advisor of his son Heinrich IV and, according to a rumor, rejected the papal office, Hamburg flourished between 1043 and 1072. Around 1060, Hamburg was divided into the archbishop's old town and the ducal new town, as the city recorded enormous growth. Hamburg again became the central starting point for the missionary work of the Scandinavian countries and the first trade relations to the north and east were established, which reached as far as Iceland, Greenland and Finland. An expansion of the fortifications was planned, but Archbishop Adalbert (a glass mosaic picture was on the Kaiser-Karls-Brunnen) was overthrown at the Reichstag in Tribur in 1065. Due to the power struggles for the succession, the Obodrites saw a chance under their prince Kruto and invaded northern Albingia. In 1066 and 1072 Hamburg was again attacked by the Obodrites, which is why the archbishops left Hamburg and resided in Bremen from then on; Hamburg lost its ecclesiastical supremacy in the north.

Schauenburg time

Hamburg 1150, reconstruction of the 19th century; Engraving by Chr. And P. Suhr

In 1106 the Billunger dynasty died out and Adolf I von Schauenburg was appointed by the Saxon Duke Lothar as the successor to Gottfried, who was slain by the Abodrites , as Count of the Counties Stormarn and Holstengau , thereby also of the ducal part of Hamburg. He had Elbe marshes and islands dyed, drained and settled. In 1124, under Adolf I, the Alster was dammed for a grain mill on the Great Burstah for the first time . His son and successor Adolf II hardly set any accents in Hamburg himself, but enabled a period of calm growth, although he was in conflict with the emperor over the counties and also founded Lübeck . Under Adolf III. (Term of office 1164–1203) the new town for merchants, who were under the influence of the count , was built in the area of the Neue Burg . The Count's commissioner for the organization of this new city was Wirad von Boizenburg .

In 1189, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa is said to have given the city the license , allegedly in gratitude for Hamburg's support in the crusade in the Holy Land. The charter contained four important points for Hamburg: Hamburg no longer had to pay any tariffs up to the North Sea , the military obligation was lifted, Hamburg citizens were only obliged to protect Hamburg, no further castle was allowed to be built around Hamburg within 15 kilometers, and hamburgers were allowed to raise cattle, catch fish and clear trees. In the absence of an authentic document, the still existing Barbarossa license, which was probably also falsified in terms of content, was issued around 1265. Another reading is that the license was deliberately forged from Hamburg merchants from the start. In 1190 the episcopal old town and the count's new town elected an aristocratic council, favored by the absence of Adolf III, who was taking part in the Third Crusade . This freedom resulted in the construction of two town halls (1200). In the 13th century Hamburg was marked by wars. In 1201 Duke Waldemar II attacked Hamburg, occupied the city and region and took Adolf III. captured. Friedrich II. King of Staufen ceded the lands north of the Elbe to the Kingdom of Denmark in 1214 in order to secure an alliance against the Guelphs . Hamburg was administered by a Danish governor. The foreign occupiers let both parts of the city grow closer together. Hamburg was united under a town hall, council and court.

On July 22, 1227, a north German coalition of princes with the participation of Hamburg citizens defeated the Danes in the battle of Bornhöved . The city submitted to Adolf IV von Schauenburg , who ruled the entire city from 1228. Even before he ruled the city (1227), he founded Hamburg's first monastery, the St. Maria Magdalenen Franciscan Monastery (on the site of today's stock exchange, was demolished in 1837). Adolf IV left Hamburg almost to itself and its positive development. Due to the privileges of the charter, trade and commerce (especially the brewery ) could develop freely. Merchants' guilds and foreign trading houses were established. In 1239 Adolf IV withdrew to the monastery he had founded and was later ordained a priest in Rome (1244).

From 1240 a new line of fortifications was laid out, which surrounded most of Hamburg's old town as early as 1250 and whose layouts and names still shape the cityscape today (Lange Mühren, Kurz Mühren, Steintor , Millerntor , Alstertor). In this phase of construction, a number of monasteries and hospitals were built.

In 1270 the “Ordeelbook” (judgment book) written by Jordan von Boizenburg came into force with its provisions for civil, criminal and procedural law. The term "free city" used in it was at least unusual at the time.

On August 5, 1284, Hamburg was struck by a devastating fire that hit the population at the time (approx. 5,000) hard.

In 1286 the Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg gave the city of Hamburg half of the island "O" off the north-western tip of Hadeln . There, in 1299, the people of Hamburg built a defense tower , the "New Plant", after which the island was renamed Neuwerk . The tower, built on Neuwerk in 1367, was important to secure the mouth of the Lower Elbe against Hamburg's enemies. Around 1388 Neuwerk also conquered the neighboring Ritzebüttel Castle and kept it permanently occupied by Hamburg. In 1394, Hamburg established the Ritzebüttel office and moved the headquarters of the captain from Neuwerk to Ritzebüttel.

From 1292 the council of Hamburg had legislative power.

In 1350 the “ Black Death ”, the great European pandemic of the plague , reached Hamburg and claimed 6,000 lives.

A wooden Roland statue existed in Hamburg from the middle of the 14th century, but it was destroyed in 1389 when it was sunk into the Elbe.

Late Middle Ages - one of the most important partners of the Hanseatic League

Hamburg's way into the Hanseatic League

In the 12th and 13th centuries, trade in northern Germany was networked and strengthened, and newly founded port cities on the Baltic coast flourished (see Lübeck , Rostock , Wismar , Stralsund ). Merchants from these cities as well as from Hamburg and Lüneburg increasingly often represented their interests together outside of northern Germany (e.g. in the Stalhof in London, in Bruges or in Bryggen in Bergen ), the Hanseatic League came into being. Hamburg's stops on the way to the Hanseatic League were the adoption of the Luebian law in 1188, a treaty to secure the land route between Lübeck and Hamburg in 1241, the acquisition of trade privileges in Flanders in 1252, England in 1266, Sweden in 1261, Norway in 1283 and France in 1294, and one common currency with Lübeck from 1255. Low German replaced Latin as Hamburg's official language, a land register and a debt register were introduced, and some merchants began their own bookkeeping (“Handlungsbuch”). In the course of time, merchants 'interests and council policy were also identified in Hamburg, and the Hanseatic League as a whole changed from merchants' to cities.

The period of prosperity and the fight against piracy

With the strengthening of maritime trade, there was a boom in piracy. Hamburg initially suffered (from 1265) particularly under the Dithmarschers , who regularly brought up and plundered ships on the Elbe. Only a contract between the Count of Holstein and the Dithmarschers defused the situation in 1323. From 1390, attacks by former Vitalien brothers on Hamburg ships in the North Sea are documented. After heavy losses through capture, Hamburg and Lübeck armored warships against the Likedeelers in 1400 and in 1401 brought in first the fleet of Klaus Störtebeker , and later that of Gödeke Michels . After the execution, the pirates' heads were nailed to stakes and displayed. It was not until 1525 that Claus Kniphoff, the last North Sea pirate, was caught.

The Hanseatic League brought Hamburg previously unheard of prosperity. Among other things, it was used to acquire important properties for Hamburg from people and institutions from the surrounding area, for example the Alster in three transactions in 1306, 1309 and 1310, 23 villages on the Alster and five on the Elbe. In addition, all important sacred and secular buildings were (re) built, expanded or completed. Including the Mariendom (until 1329) and the churches of St. Petri (1342–1418), St. Katharinen (until 1450), St. Jacobi (until approx. 1400) and St. Nikolai (from 1335). In addition, a new town hall and a city fortification made of bricks were built. Bourgeois, representative residential buildings were built. Elbe islands were acquired and / or diked.

15th century

Hamburg city and country around 1465 (schematic)

The rise of the territorial princes began in the 15th century. They increasingly threatened the privileges of the Hanseatic cities. In Germany, the volume of maritime trade also shrank, while land trade increased, and so the Hanseatic League increasingly lacked the financial means for an independent policy. In addition, the Dutch and British successfully participated in the emerging overseas trade. The decline of the Hanseatic League had begun. Trade with Iceland began at the beginning of the century. The first boat trip was mentioned in 1423. These seafarers were initially members of the Englandfahrergesellschaft and later, when they had become separate companies, went to Iceland, the Shetlands and the Faroe Islands.

After political unrest in Lübeck, Hamburg led the Hanseatic League from 1410–1416. In 1410 the council in Hamburg issued a recess for each parish in which the rights of the citizens are documented. However, this first Hamburg constitution was only in force for seven years. In 1420, troops from Hamburg and Lübeck conquered Bergedorf Castle to secure the land route between the two cities and, according to the Treaty of Perleberg , placed the village under "two-city administration". The holk began to replace the cog as the most common design for merchant ships. In 1450 the council had the Elbe fairway marked with barrels for the first time . With the death of the last Schauenburg count in 1459, a long time began for Hamburg in which the privileges gained had to be regularly defended against the neighboring territorial princes. The city experienced internal political unrest in 1458 and 1483, but these were settled by concessions from the council in the second and third recesses. In 1479, Germany's first public library was established in Hamburg from an estate . 14 years later, the first Hamburgers started printing. According to tradition, the library was hardly used and the printers had to give up their business in Hamburg under pressure from the clergy. In 1500, Hamburg became part of the Lower Saxony Imperial Circle as part of the Imperial Reform .

Modern times

Reformation and its consequences

1503 papal legate in Hamburg

After various currents of the Reformation had initially prevented an unification, mayor Johann Wetken († 1538) asked Luther in 1528 to send Bugenhagen , under whose leadership a church constitution was drawn up. In 1529 Hamburg became Protestant. With the Hamburg religious reversal against Pietism , the Lutheran ministry tried for the last time in 1690 to enforce the denominational unity of the city.

In 1567 and 1611 the Merchant Adventurers came to Hamburg with a wide range of trading privileges. After severe persecution in the course of the Counter-Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands, the first Dutch emigrants arrived in Hamburg and Altona in 1567. Sephardic Jews came to Hamburg around 1600 . They were first expelled from Spain and later from Portugal. See also: History of the Jews in Hamburg .

There was a brotherhood of the Skåne drivers and in 1500 the St. Anna Brotherhood of Iceland drivers was formed at the Dominican monastery of St. Johannis.

This strong Portuguese presence or the 'natio lusitana', as it was called in the documents of the time, was the largest community of foreigners in Hamburg with around 600 souls, which then had 30,000 inhabitants. With two percent of the total population, the Portuguese of the 17th century were even proportionally more represented than the approximately 7,000 Portuguese who live in Hamburg today.

Today the 'Hamburger Portugaleser ', medals of honor for deserving Hanseatic people, remember these refugee Portuguese Jews. The Hamburgers were very fascinated by the large pieces of gold at the time, so that the city's treasury soon had similar large gold commemorative coins minted.

1529, 1548, 1562, 1570, 1579, 1582 fourth to ninth recesses

The Hamburg Stock Exchange is opened in 1558

Hamburg 1588

Witch persecutions in Hamburg

Memorial stone in the women's garden for the victims of the witch trials

In the witch persecutions in Hamburg and its districts from 1444 to 1738 at least 101 proceedings against suspected witches , magicians and fortune tellers were carried out in accordance with Hamburg city law . Since the files on witch persecution in Hamburg are not good, far more cases must be assumed. At least 81 of the witch trials (80%) resulted in the death of the accused. Only 14 of the cases found ended with a release. Almost all witch trials in Hamburg were carried out after the Reformation entered Hamburg and a new church order was introduced in 1529 with the help of Johannes Bugenhagen . As the first victim of the witch hunt, Katharina Hanen was burned as a sorceress ( incantatrix ) in 1444 . There were waves of witch trials in the years 1544–1545 (11 defendants), 1555–1556 (17 defendants), 1575–1583 (23 defendants) and 1610 (5 defendants in Harburg ), most of which were executed. One of the last witch trials in Hamburg took place in 1642: Cillie Hemels was burned for apostasy from God, her sorcery and murder committed against her own husband . In Hamburg-Bergedorf , Margareth Uhler, wife of Sven Uhler, was imprisoned in 1676 on charges of sorcery. She was in custody (temporarily in chains) for 21 months. The acquittal did not take place until 1678, it was the last witch trial in Hamburg. On June 7, 2015, the Association of Women’s Garden in the presence of the second mayor of Hamburg, Ms. Katharina Fegebank , inaugurated a memorial stone in the Ohlsdorf cemetery for all those women who were victims of the early modern witch hunt in Hamburg. See also: witch hunt in Hamburg .

17th century

Hamburg and the surrounding area (Map Stormarn 1650 by Johannes Mejer )

Between 1600 and 1700 the strengthening of the territorial powers against the free cities continued; the Hanseatic League became meaningless and Hamburg had to position itself repeatedly between the new great powers from Scandinavia and the German Empire in terms of foreign policy for decades.

Through profitable trade with the emerging colonial powers Spain and Portugal, the city is able to buy itself out regularly with payments from access attempts by the neighbors in the north (1632, 1679 substantial payments to Sweden, 1694 to Denmark), a recognition of the status as a free city of the German empire through the northern neighbor was not reached.

Unlike most German cities, Hamburg experienced neither devastation nor permanent economic decline during the Thirty Years' War. On the contrary, Hamburg benefited from the immigration of Dutch people on the one hand and from the modern Danish reign in the nearby Altona on the other. The unpopular settlement in the west outside the gates of Hamburg grew extremely in the beginning of the Enlightenment and gave Hamburg new economic impetus. In Hamburg itself, a prudent and open policy was required to prevent companies from moving to the Freedom District (from 1611) of Altona, for example . In Elbmarschen and Vierlanden a flourishing agriculture developed in the second half of the century.

politics

Dr. med. J. Jungius, Rector of the Hamburg School of Academics 1628–1657

At the beginning of the century, the 11th Recess in 1603 restored trust between the citizens of Hamburg and the authorities. Six years later, a delegation from the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Danzig was in Madrid for 19 months, where a commercial agreement was successfully concluded. From 1616 to 1625, the Hamburg city council had Dutch master builders built massive ramparts to protect the city from the ravages of the Thirty Years' War . In December 1641, the so-called Hamburg Preliminaries laid down the conditions for a peace congress with the participation of all warring powers in Münster and Osnabrück. For some time, Hamburg and Lübeck were also discussed as congress locations.

Christian IV of Denmark founded and expanded Glückstadt from 1616 to compete with Hamburg. In 1618 the Reich Chamber Court ruled in the long-pending legal dispute over the status of Hamburg as a Free Imperial City , in which the court confirmed Hamburg's status as the “Free City” of the German Empire. This saying was not recognized by Denmark, which continued to regard Hamburg as part of Holstein. The appeal against the judgment, later filed by the Duchy of Holstein, was not allowed by the Reich Chamber of Commerce. The Duke of Celle and the Elector of Brandenburg tried in 1661 to establish Harburg as a competitor to Hamburg. Eight years later, the last Hanseatic Day was held in Lübeck . In addition to Hamburg and Lübeck: Bremen, Danzig, Rostock, Braunschweig, Hildesheim, Osnabrück and Cologne were represented.

Towards the end of the century the citizens' displeasure with the behavior of the council increased. The main allegations were nepotism and creeping curtailment of civil rights. In 1684 Mayor Heinrich Meurer (1643–1690) was arrested because he had campaigned for the suspended councilor Krull with the emperor. Meurer fled to Lüneburg-Celle and the spokesmen for the citizenship Cord Jastram (1634–1686) and Hieronymus Snitger (1648–1686) de facto ruled the city for two years. When they asked the Danish King Christian V for assistance against the cellic threat, he demanded an immediate tribute, 400,000 Reichstaler contribution, the handover of the city keys and tolerance of a 2,000-strong Danish crew. As a result, the mood in the city turned overnight in favor of an alliance with Lüneburg-Celle, and with their help the attack by the Danes on August 26, 1686 was repelled. Jastram and Snitger were charged and executed for alleged treason. Meurer returned to the mayor's chair on November 10th. The domestic political crisis was only finally resolved through a recession 13 years later. Since then the council has been dependent on the citizenry.

Hamburg 1682. Large church towers from left to right: Sankt Michaelis , Sankt Nicolai , Sankt Katharinen , Sankt Petri , Alter Mariendom , Sankt Jacobi .

economy

In 1619 the Hamburger Bank was founded purely as a giro bank for merchants. Deposits in silver and similar values could be made in order to be able to conduct cashless business with one another. The Mark Banco was created as the unit of account . With this, the council and citizens reacted to the devaluation of cash in the course of the war economy.

On the recommendation of the merchants, the Admiralty College was founded in 1623 to pursue pirates. In the course of time, the college also grew to oversee the port and pilotage, as well as judicial powers in shipping and insurance matters. The Hamburg consuls abroad were also appointed by the college. In 1639 the compulsory pilotage was introduced on the Elbe. In the second half of the 17th century, Hamburg and the neighboring Altona developed into the center of German whaling . In 1665 the Commerzdeputation (from 1867 Chamber of Commerce) was founded to represent the interests of sea merchants. The Friedrich Wilhelm Canal in Brandenburg was opened in 1668 ; it enabled shipping to Silesia and played an important role in long-distance trade.

Schematic parishes around 1700

Social

On the initiative of Dutch immigrants, the city's first orphanage was founded on Rödingsmarkt in 1604 and the first factory and penitentiary at Alstertor in 1620 . From 1611 on there was freedom of religion and trade in neighboring Altona in the " Freiheit " district , craftsmen were able to settle here regardless of guilds , as was the case with the Reepschläger from St. Pauli in 1626 . With the publication of the first regular newspaper from 1618, Hamburg began to develop into a media city.

At that time the city had around 40,000 inhabitants and, along with Cologne , Nuremberg , Augsburg and Vienna, was one of the largest cities in Germany. The parish of St. Michaelis was built in the 17th century on the meadows, which have been enclosed by the new ramparts since 1625 . It was not until 1685 that the Michaelites were put on an equal footing with members of the four older parishes. The parish verse comes from this time: " St. Petri de Rieken - Nikolai desglieken, Kathrinen de Sturen - Jacobi de Buren, Michaeli de Armen - that may want to have mercy on God" ( St. Petri the rich, Nikolai likewise, Kathrinen the noble , Jacob the farmers, Michael the poor ).

The Academic Gymnasium (founded in 1613) accepted the first students in 1615. Joachim Jungius taught here from 1628 to 1657 . In 1665 the Jungfernstieg was converted into a promenade. Eight years later, the first public street lighting with 400 Tran lamps was introduced. On November 30, 1676, the world's first fire insurance , the Hamburger Feuerkasse, was founded as an insurance against fire damage by the city council and the city council. It still exists today. Two years later, Germany's first citizens' opera opened on Gänsemarkt . Around 1678 Admiral Karpfanger was at the height of his fame. In 1693 Arp Schnitger completed his St. Jakobi organ .

18th century

City center around 1735 (copper engraving by Christian Fritzsch)

In the so-called " main recession " in 1712, the council and the citizenship agreed on a fundamental constitutional reform. In 1716 a Hamburg-French trade agreement was concluded. In 1725, the Hamburg Courantbank was founded. In 1731 the Hamburgische Correspondent appeared for the first time , a newspaper that was respected far beyond Germany. From 1736, the commerce deputation gave the weekly price Courant True in factions out a goods price tag , which recorded the prices of traded goods.

In 1737 the first German Masonic lodge "Loge d'Hambourg" (later: Absalom to the three nettles ) was founded. In 1740 the last Hamburg convoy ship, the " Wapen von Hamburg ", was launched. The first navigation school in Hamburg was founded in 1749 by the math and drawing teacher Gerlof Hiddinga. In 1750 the Michaeliskirche was destroyed by a lightning strike. On February 28, 1751, a peace treaty was signed between Hamburg and the Bey of Algiers, which, however, was lifted a year later - under pressure from Spain. In 1762 the ceremonial inauguration of the new Michaeliskirche took place. The reconstruction was carried out according to plans by the architect Ernst Georg Sonnin .

In 1765, the founding meeting of the Hamburg Society for the Promotion of the Arts and Useful Trades (Patriotic Society) took place. The first members include the architect Ernst Georg Sonnin , who later became head of the commercial academy Johann Georg Büsch, and the doctor and author Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus . In 1768 the commercial academy was founded; Johann Georg Büsch took over management from 1771. Also in 1768 the Gottorp Treaty was signed , in which Denmark recognized the imperial immediacy of Hamburg and independence from the Duchy of Holstein in return for a cash payment or debt relief . In addition, several former Danish Elbe islands (including Finkenwerder , Veddel , Peute ) fell to Hamburg as a result of the contract. In 1769 Hamburg became a free imperial city now also recognized by Denmark (which had already been confirmed by the Imperial Court of Justice in 1618). In the same year a trade agreement was signed between Hamburg and France.

In 1770 the taxable citizens of Hamburg were classified in the so-called "Reglement because of the head money". In 1771 the poet Matthias Claudius took over the publication of the Wandsbeck Bothen . In 1785 the Hamburg Edict of Tolerance was passed, in which the rights of religious minorities are strengthened. In 1785 the merchant Caspar Voght acquired an estate in Klein-Flottbek, which he later expanded into a model estate based on the English model. On July 23, 1786, Jean-Pierre Blanchard undertook his second balloon ride in Germany over the rooftops of Hamburg. In 1787 Hamburg had over 100,000 inhabitants for the first time. In 1788 Caspar Voght reformed the Hamburg poor system by founding a general poor institution.

The successful businessman and admirer of the French Revolution, Georg Heinrich Sieveking , initiated a “ freedom festival ” in 1790 on the anniversary of the storm on the Bastille. The following year, the strike of the Hamburg journeyman craftsmen led to the first major (but ultimately unsuccessful) uprising by supporters of the revolution in Germany.

Settlement schematically around 1800

French Revolution to the establishment of an empire

The period from the French Revolution to the founding of the Empire led Hamburg slowly at first, then faster and faster from the Middle Ages to the modern age. The class-based, absolutely sovereign and neutral city-state from 1800 made way for a booming federal state with separation of powers, freedom of religion and a new constitution by 1871. As in no century before, people poured into the city from the countryside to participate in the newly burgeoning prosperity through industrialization and economic liberalism after the Napoleonic wars . However, only a few became rich; most of them lived in miserable conditions. Hamburg was already a big city in 1806 with 130,000 inhabitants, but by 1860 the population had already grown to 300,000. The public infrastructure, which - mostly on private initiative - had been built since the French Revolution, was further expanded; numerous aid associations were founded. New political currents such as the labor movement emerged in Hamburg and both the democracy movement and nationalism grew stronger. In the booming city, there were more frequent strikes or hourly riots on the streets, while the council and the citizenry struggled to modernize the state. Hamburg's foreign policy had to take note of the increasing political dominance of Otto von Bismarck , who successfully promoted German unity under the leadership of Prussia. Hamburg first became an ally of Prussia, then a member of the German Confederation , a federal state in the North German Confederation and finally a federal state in the German Empire . On the way from the Middle Ages to the modern age, Hamburg had arrived “in the middle of Germany”. But even in 1871 there were still enough tasks: the political currents were neither reconciled by equal, free and secret suffrage, nor was an end to massive immigration and the social problems associated with it in sight.