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Osterholz is a district ( Landkreis ) in Lower Saxony , Germany . It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Wesermarsch , Cuxhaven , Rotenburg and Verden , and by the city of Bremen .

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96-732: Originally the prince-archbishops of Bremen ruled the area comprising today's district. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen , which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. In 1807 the ephemeral Kingdom of Westphalia annexed the Duchy, before France annexed it in 1810, there comprising a part of the département Bouches-du-Weser . In 1813

192-458: A degree of autonomy in the rule of their territories. In their pastoral and religious capacity as Roman Catholic cleric the archbishops led their archdiocese as the hierarchical superior of all Roman Catholic clergy, including the suffragan bishops of Oldenburg-Lübeck , Ratzeburg and Schwerin . The Prince-Archbishopric often suffered from military supremacy of neighbouring powers. Having no dynasty, but prince-archbishops of different descent,

288-541: A papal confirmation. De facto he ascended the See in 1568, gained an imperial liege indult in 1570, while de jure still represented by the Chapter until 1580, in order not to complicate a papal confirmation, which never materialised. While Maximilian II regarded Henry III a true Catholic, Pope Sixtus V remained a skeptic. Henry III was raised Lutheran, but educated Catholic and served before his election as Catholic canon of

384-541: A political body by the Gelnhausen Privilege . With the consent of Prince-Archbishop Hartwig II, of Uthlede the emperor declared the city to be governed by its burghers and the emperor, with the Prince-Archbishop waiving his say. The city of Bremen regarded and still regards this privilege to be constitutive for its status as a Free imperial city of imperial immediacy . Through the history

480-747: A sizeable minority of the population, though Lower German is far more widespread. A half-million Frisians in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands speak West Frisian . Several thousand people in Nordfriesland and Heligoland in Germany speak a collection of North Frisian dialects. A small number of Saterland Frisian language speakers live in four villages in Lower Saxony , in the Saterland region of Cloppenburg county, just beyond

576-544: The Bishop Elect of Bremen , to gain the see of Bremen , with part of the diocesan territory being upgraded to form the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen ( German : Erzstift Bremen ). Thus the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen became one of the successor states of the old Duchy of Saxony , holding only a small part of its former territory. In 1186 Frederick I Barbarossa recognised the city of Bremen as

672-475: The Catholic League already operating in the neighboured Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle and dangerously approaching their region. The concomitant effects of the war, debasements and dearness, had already caused an inflation also in the region. The population suffered from billeting and alimenting Baden-Durlachian , Danish, Halberstadtian , Leaguist , and Palatine troops, whose marching through

768-629: The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (north of Elbe), the Lower Saxon counties of Aurich (northerly), Cuxhaven , Diepholz (northerly), Frisia , Nienburg (westerly), Oldenburg in Oldenburg (easterly), Osterholz , Rotenburg upon Wümme (northerly), Stade (except of an eastern tract of land), Wesermarsch , Wittmund , the Lower Saxon urban counties Delmenhorst and Wilhelmshaven ,

864-687: The Holy Roman Empire in order to stay with Henry II of England . Frederick I Barbarossa partitioned Saxony in some dozens of territories of Imperial Immediate status allotting each territory to that one of his allies who had conquered them before from Henry the Lion and his remaining supporters. In 1168 the Saxon clan of the Ascanians , allies of Frederick I Barbarossa , had failed to install their family member Count Siegfried of Anhalt , on

960-491: The Holy Roman Empire . A prerequisite for being an imperial estate was imperial immediacy ( German : Reichsunmittelbarkeit , or Reichsfreiheit ) of the rulers or ruling bodies, meaning that they had no other authority above them except of the Holy Roman Emperor himself. Furthermore, such rulers or ruling bodies (such as Chapters or city councils) possessed several important rights and privileges, including

1056-580: The Land of Wursten as well as to the district of Bederkesa and abandoned the lawsuit, which he had brought to the Imperial Chamber Court to this end. In his election capitulations Henry III covenanted to accept the privileges of the Estates and the existing laws. Due to his minority he agreed, that Chapter and Estates would rule the Prince-Archbishopric. In this time he should work towards

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1152-659: The Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck , fled to the latter and left the rule in the Prince-Archbishopric to the Chapter and the Estates. Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe . Stretching along the Wadden Sea , it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany . Wider definitions of "Frisia" may include the island of Rem and

1248-578: The Schleswig-Holsteinian counties of Ditmarsh , Pinneberg , Rendsburg-Eckernförde (southerly), Segeberg (easterly), Steinburg , Stormarn (easterly) as well as the Schleswig-Holsteinian urban counties of Kiel and Neumünster . The see of Hamburg-Bremen attained its greatest prosperity and later had its deepest troubles under Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg (1043–1072). He was after Hamburg-Bremen's upgrade to

1344-599: The hereditary aristocracy , the service gentry , non-capitular clergy , free peasants and burghers of chartered towns. The modus vivendi of interplay of the Estates and the archiepiscopal authority, being in itself divided into the Prince-Archbishop and the Chapter , became the quasi constitution of the Prince-Archbishopric . However, the interplay was not determined by fixed standards of behaviour. While

1440-599: The "second apostle of the north," was troubled by onslaughts first by Normans and then by Wends , and by Cologne's renewed claims to supremacy. At Archbishop Adalgar 's (888–909) instigation Pope Sergius III confirmed the amalgamation of the Diocese of Bremen with the Archdiocese of Hamburg to form the Archdiocese of Hamburg and Bremen , colloquially called Hamburg-Bremen , and by so doing he denied Cologne's claim as metropolia over Bremen. Sergius prohibited

1536-458: The 840s, until these were expelled between 885 and 920. Recently, it has been suggested that the Vikings did not conquer Frisia, but settled peacefully in certain districts (such as the islands of Walcheren and Wieringen ), where they built simple forts and cooperated and traded with the native Frisians. One of their leaders was Rorik of Dorestad . During the 12th century Frisian noblemen and

1632-563: The Anglo-Dutch war coalition. In 1625 Tilly warned the Prince-Archbishop John Frederick to further accept the stationing of Danish troops and Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , demanded the immediate end of his and Verden's alliance with Denmark , with Verden being already ruled by Christian's son Frederick , being as well the provided successor of John Frederick . He declared again his loyalty to

1728-580: The Bremen Chapter again ignored the Hamburg capitulars, fearing their Danish partisanship and elected Gebhard of Lippe archbishop. In 1223 Archbishop Gebhard reconciled the Hamburg chapter and confirmed that three of its capitulars were enfranchised to elect with the Bremen chapter, to wit the provost , presiding the chapter, the dean (Domdechant) and the scholaster , in charge of the education at

1824-667: The Bremian Chapter to elect his son John Adolphus of Schleswig-Holstein at Gottorp (*1575-1616*) to the See. To this end, Adolf paid 20,000 rixdollars and promised to work towards the restitution of Ditmarsh to the Prince-Archbishopric. In 1585 John Adolf covenanted at his election in the obligatory election capitulations , that he would accept the privileges of the Chapter as well as the existing laws and that he would work - at his own expense - towards gaining either papal confirmation or - in default thereof - an imperial liege indult . From 1585 to 1589 Chapter and Estates ruled

1920-860: The Bremian city of Stade , officially on behalf of his son the provided to be Administrator successor, suppressing an unrest of its burghers. In 1620 Christian, the Younger , titular duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel , the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric Halberstadt requested that the Lutheran Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen would join the war coalition of the Protestant Union . The Administrator and

2016-490: The Bremian see. When, after the death of Bishop Leuderich (838–45), the see was given to Ansgar , it lost its independence, and from that time on was permanently united with the Archdiocese of Hamburg . The new combined see was regarded as the headquarters for missionary work in the Nordic countries , and new sees to be erected were to be its suffragans , meaning subject to its jurisdiction. Ansgar's successor, Rimbert ,

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2112-615: The Chapters of the prince-bishoprics of Osnabrück (1574–1585) and Paderborn (1577–1585), without ever gaining papal confirmation. In 1575 Henry III and Anna von Broich (Borch) married in Hagen im Bremischen . As to the interior Henry III still had to repay debts from his pre-predecessor Christopher the Spendthrift . In 1580 Henry introduced a Lutheran church constitution for the Prince-Archbishopric. Thus Henry III would not exercise

2208-689: The Danish author of Knútsdrápa celebrating the 11th-century Canute the Great used "Frisians" as a synonym of "English". The historian and sociologist George Homans has made a case for Frisian cultural domination in East Anglia since the 5th century, pointing to distinct land-holdings arrangements in carucates (these forming vills assembled in leets ), partible inheritance patterns of common lands held in by kin, resistance to manorialism and other social institutions. Some East Anglian sources called

2304-776: The Duchy was restored to the Electorate of Hanover , which - after its upgrade to the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814 - incorporated the Duchy in a real union and the Ducal territory became part of the Stade Region , established in 1823. In 1866 the Kingdom of Hanover fell to Prussia , forming the Province of Hanover . The Prussian administration established districts in 1885, among them the district of Osterholz. The southern part of

2400-704: The Emperor and neutrality in the conflict. But all in vain. Now Christian IV ordered his troops to capture all the important traffic hubs in the Prince-Archbishopric and entered into the Battle of Lutter am Barenberge , on 27 August 1626, where he was defeated by the Leaguist troops under Tilly . Christian IV and his surviving troops fled to the Prince-Archbishopric and took their headquarters in Stade . Administrator John Frederick , in personal union also Administrator of

2496-566: The Estates (1566–1568), and considered the opportunities. In 1524 the Prince-Archbishopric had subjected the autonomous farmers' republic of the Land of Wursten , but the Wursteners still hoped for a liberation and support from the neighbouring Saxe-Lauenburgian exclave of the Land of Hadeln . Thus on 17 February 1567 the Chapter elected Duke Henry III of Saxe-Lauenburg (*1550-1585*, ruled from 1568 on) prince-archbishop. In return his father Francis I waived any Saxe-Lauenburgian claim to

2592-404: The Estates of the Prince-Archbishopric met in a Diet and declared for their territory their loyalty to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , and their neutrality in the conflict. With Danish troops within his territory and Christian the Younger's request Administrator John Frederick tried desperately to keep his Prince-Archbishopric out of the war, being in complete agreement with the Estates and

2688-569: The Frisian trade network played a significant role in maintaining regional peace during the late Middle Ages . While interpersonal violence was on the rise almost everywhere else in Europe, Northern Europe and especially Frisia managed to maintain low levels of violence due in part to its well-developed society and established rule of law , which were results of extensive trade. The Frisian coastal areas were partly occupied by Danish Vikings in

2784-660: The Frisians lived along a broader expanse of the North Sea (or "Frisian Sea") coast. At this time, Frisia comprised the present-day provinces of Friesland , Groningen , North Holland and parts of South Holland . Frisian presence during the Early Middle Ages has been documented from North-Western Flanders up to the Weser River Estuary. According to archaeological evidence, these Frisians were not

2880-893: The Frisians of Roman times, but the descendants of Anglo-Saxon immigrants from the German Bight , arriving during the Great Migration . By the 8th century, ethnic Frisians also started to colonize the coastal areas North of the Eider River under Danish rule. The nascent Frisian languages were spoken all along the southern North Sea coast. Today, the whole region is sometimes referred to as Greater Frisia ( Latin : Frisia Magna ). Distant authors seem to have made little distinction between Frisians and Saxons. The Byzantine Procopius described three peoples living in Great Britain: Angles, Frisians and Britons, and

2976-523: The Holy Roman Empire provided, that the Emperor may only enfeoff a prince-bishop elect with the regalia , if the Pope would have confirmed his election to the respective See. In default thereof the Emperor could grant a liege indult ( German : Lehnsindult ), often restricted to some years only, and then notwithstanding enfeoff the prince-bishop elect with the regalia of restricted legitimacy to

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3072-608: The Prince-Archbishopric became a pawn in the hands of the powerful. The establishment of a constitution, which would bind the conflicting Estates, failed. Schisms in Church and State marked the next two centuries, and in spite of the labours of the Windesheim and Bursfelde congregations, the way was prepared for the Reformation , which made rapid headway, partly because the last Roman Catholic prince-archbishop, Christopher

3168-513: The Prince-Archbishopric had adopted Lutheranism and partially Calvinism, as did the city of Bremen and the territories under its influence downstream the Weser and in the district of Bederkesa , also most capitulars, recruited from burghers of the city of Bremen and rural noble families, turned out to be Calvinists and Lutherans. Thus the capitulars preferred to elect Protestant candidates. The Bremian prince-archbishop elects could only occasionally gain

3264-586: The Prince-Archbishopric had to tolerate in order to prevent entering into armed conflict. In 1623 the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , diplomatically supported by James I, King of England and of Ireland and as James IV King of Scotland , the brother-in-law of Christian IV of Denmark , started a new anti- Habsburg campaign. Thus the troops of the Catholic League were bound and the Prince-Archbishopric seemed relieved. But soon after

3360-604: The Prince-Archbishopsric in custodianship for the minor John Adolf. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War the Prince-Archbishopric maintained neutrality, as did most of the territories in the Lower Saxon Circle . After 1613 King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway , being in personal union Duke of Holstein within the Holy Roman Empire , turned his attention to gain grounds by acquiring

3456-571: The Saint Simon Petrus , has become the symbol of the city of Bremen (see Coat of arms of Bremen ), the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (two criss-crossed argent (silver) keys on a gules (red) background, see in the left part of the Bremen-Verden's seal ) and of the Bremian city of Stade . The territory of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen consisted of a number of sub-entities. The only thing they all had in common was, that

3552-481: The Saxon leader Widukind . The Carolingians laid Frisia under the rule of grewan , a title that has been loosely related to count in its early sense of "governor" rather than " feudal overlord ". During the 7th to 10th centuries, Frisian merchants and skippers played an important part in the international luxury trade, establishing commercial districts in distant cities as Sigtuna, Hedeby, Ribe, York, London, Duisburg, Cologne, Mainz, and Worms. The establishment of

3648-476: The Spendthrift , was in permanent conflict with the Chapter and the Estates . Being simultaneously the Prince-Bishop of Verden , he preferred to reside in the city of Verden . By the time he died (1558), in the Prince-Archbishopric nothing was left of the old denomination apart from a few monasteries – such as Harsefeld , Himmelpforten , Lilienthal , Neuenwalde , Osterholz as well as Zeven under

3744-407: The autocratic and prodigal Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift , Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel . Especially the Chapter used its power to elect very old candidates, to minimise the time a ruler can be harmful, or to elect minors, which it hoped to dress and tame in time. Once in a while the Chapter took up time and protracted elections for years, being itself the ruler for

3840-685: The boundaries of traditional East Frisia . Many Frisians speak Low Saxon dialects which have a Frisian substratum known as Friso-Saxon , especially in East Frisia, where the local dialects are called Oostfräisk ("East Frisian") or Oostfräisk Plat ( East Frisian Low Saxon ). In the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, and in North Frisia, there are also areas where Friso-Saxon dialects are predominantly spoken, such as Gronings . In West Frisia , there are West Frisian-influenced dialects of Dutch such as West Frisian Dutch and Stadsfries . While

3936-608: The cathedral in Cologne . The schism wasn't so definite, as it looks in retrospect. The Holy See still hoped the Reformation would be a merely temporary phenomenon, while its protagonists still expected all the Roman church to reform, so that there would be no schism. So Sixtus V tested Henry III once in a while, demanding the succession of Catholic candidates for vacancies in the Bremian Chapter - which it sometimes accepted, sometimes denied -, while Henry succeeded to be also elected by

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4032-438: The cathedral school. Pope Honorius III confirmed this settlement in 1224, also affirming the continued existence of both chapters. The fortified city of Bremen held its own guards, not allowing prince-archiepiscopal soldiers to enter it. The city reserved an extra very narrow gate, the so-called Bishop's Needle (Latin: Acus episcopi , first mentioned in 1274), for all clergy including the Prince-Archbishop. The narrowness of

4128-779: The chapter at Hamburg's Concathedral to found suffragan dioceses of its own. After the Obodrite destruction of Hamburg in 983 the Hamburg chapter was dispersed. So Archbishop Unwan appointed a new chapter with twelve canons, with three each taken from Bremen Cathedral chapter, and the three colleges of Bücken , Harsefeld and Ramelsloh . In 1139 Archbishop Adalbero had fled the invasion of Count Rudolph II of Stade and Count Palatine Frederick II of Saxony , who destroyed Bremen, and established in Hamburg also appointing new capitular canons there by 1140. Hamburg-Bremen's diocesan territory covered about today's following territories: The Bremian cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven ,

4224-419: The city boundary in a district of immunity and extraterritorial status ( German : Domfreiheit , literally: Cathedral Liberty ) around the Cathedral of St. Peter , where the city council would refrain to interfere. The Hamburg Concathedral with chapterhouse and capitular residential courts formed a Cathedral Immunity District of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen too. The key, the epithet symbol of

4320-470: The city of Bremen . When in 1623 the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , fighting in the Eighty Years' War for its independence against Habsburg 's Spanish and imperial forces, requested its Calvinist co-religionist of the city of Bremen to join, the city refused, but started to enforce its fortifications. In 1623 the territories comprising the Lower Saxon Circle decided to recruit an army in order to maintain an armed neutrality, with troops of

4416-475: The city of Groningen founded the Upstalsboom League under the slogan of " Frisian freedom " to counter feudalizing tendencies . The league consisted of modern Friesland , Groningen , East Frisia , Harlingerland , Jever and Rüstringen . The Frisian districts in West Friesland West of the Zuiderzee did not participate, neither did the districts North of the Eider River along the Danish North Sea coast ( Schleswig-Holstein ). The former were occupied by

4512-582: The consecutive Archbishops worked on discarding the bishopric's Estates from the political landscape, the latter fought for the enforcement of the modus vivendi to become a real constitution. The Chapter often swung between increasing its influence by fighting the Estates jointly with the Prince-Archbishop and repelling his absolutist intentions by making common cause with the Estates . All parties made use of means like bluffing, threat, obstructionism, corruption, horse-trading and even violence. In 1542/1547 - 1549 Chapter and Estates managed to dismiss

4608-405: The count of Holland in 1289, and the latter were governed by the Duke of Schleswig and the king of Denmark . The same holds true for the district of Land Wursten East of the Weser River . The Upstalsboom League was revived in the early 14th century, but it collapsed after 1337. By then, the non-Frisian city of Groningen took the lead of the independent coastal districts. The 15th century saw

4704-425: The demise of Frisian republicanism. In East Frisia , a leading nobleman from the Cirksena-family managed to defeat his competitors with the help of the Hanseatic League. In 1464 he acquired the title of count of East Frisia. The king of Denmark was successful in subduing the coastal districts North of the Eider River. The Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen remained independent until 1498. By then Friesland

4800-409: The destruction of the Hanseatic League . In May 1625 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein was elected – in the latter of his functions – by the Lower Saxon Circle 's member territories commander-in-chief of the Lower Saxon troops. More troops were recruited and to be billeted and alimented in the Lower Saxon territories, including the Prince-Archbishopric. In the same year Christian IV joined

4896-409: The different historical struggles for expansion of territory or privileges and the concerned and disfavoured entity's defence against such annexation or usurpation, plenty of documents have been completely forged or counterfeited or backdated, in order to corroborate one's arguments. "These forgeries have drawn a veil before the early history of the [archbishopric of] Hamburg-Bremen." The foundation of

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4992-403: The diocese belongs to the period of the missionary activity of Willehad on the lower Weser . It was erected on 15 July 787 at Worms , on Charlemagne 's initiative, his jurisdiction being assigned to cover the Saxon territory on both sides of the Weser from the mouth of the Aller , northwards to the Elbe and westwards to the Hunte , and the Frisian territory for a certain distance from

5088-402: The district is part of the Bremen metropolitan area. In the north there is the Teufelsmoor ("dead moor" (lit. "devil's moor")), one of the largest existing fens in Germany. Large marshes extend on both sides of the River Hamme , which runs through the district from north to south to join the River Wümme . The Wümme forms the southern border and is a tributary of the Weser ; the Weser forms

5184-406: The early 16th century, the pirate and freedom fighter Pier Gerlofs Donia (Grutte Pier) challenged Saxon authority in Friesland during a prolonged guerrilla war, backed by the Duke of Guelders. He had several successes and was feared by Hollandic authorities, but he died as a farmer in 1520. According to the legend he was seven feet tall. A statue of Grutte Pier by Anne Woudwijk  [ fy ]

5280-416: The effect that the elect could rule with princely power within the prince-bishopric, bearing only title of Administrator , but would be banned from participating in the Diets . Lacking papal confirmation and imperial liege indult could bring a prince-bishop elect into the precarious situation to be dismissed by the Emperor or by any of his vassals powerful enough and keen to do so. Once the inhabitants of

5376-401: The gate made it technically impossible to come accompanied by knights. Therefore, the Prince-Archbishops rather preferred to reside outside of the city, first in Bücken and later in the Vörde Castle , which became the principal fortress of Prince-Archbishop Gerhard II, Edelherr zur Lippe in 1219. The Chapters of Bremen Cathedral (see below) and part of the administration were located within

5472-407: The imperial liege indult . Many princely houses, such as the House of Guelf ( Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel ), the House of Nikloting ( Mecklenburg-Schwerin ), the House of Wettin ( Electorate of Saxony ), and the House of Ascania ( Saxe-Lauenburg ) applied for the See. Before electing a new prince-archbishop the Chapter took its time, ruling the Prince-Archbishopric in accordance with

5568-409: The imperial troops under Albrecht von Wallenstein headed for the North in an attempt to destroy the fading Hanseatic League , in order to subject the Hanseatic cities of Bremen , Hamburg and Lübeck and to establish a Baltic trade monopoly, to be run by some imperial favourites including Spaniards and Poles. The idea was to win Sweden 's and Denmark 's support, both of which since long were after

5664-478: The jurisdiction of the Bremian archdiocese and Altkloster  [ nds ] as well as Neukloster under the jurisdiction of Verden's See – and the districts served by them. While between 1523 and 1551 the cities of Bremen and Stade had dissolved all the urban monasteries, except of St Mary's in Stade, which transformed until 1568 into a Lutheran convent, and conveyed their buildings to uses by schools, hospitals, alms houses and senior homes. The constitution of

5760-425: The kings Aldegisel and Redbad , had its centre of power in the city of Utrecht . Its ancient customary law was drawn up as the Lex Frisionum in the late eighth century. Its end came in 734 at the Battle of the Boarn , when the Frisians were defeated by the Franks , who then conquered the western part up to the Lauwers . Frankish troops conquered the area east of the Lauwers in 785, after Charlemagne defeated

5856-439: The latter. In 1260, with effect from 1296 on, its rulers split the younger Duchy into the Duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg ( German : Herzogtum Sachsen-Wittenberg ) and Saxe-Lauenburg ( German : Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg ), the latter holding the unconnected two northern territories, belonging both to the archdiocese of Bremen . Otto and Bernhard helped their second brother Siegfried , who since 1168 had called himself

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5952-412: The mainland inhabitants Warnii , rather than Frisians. During the 7th and 8th centuries, Frankish chronologies mention the northern Low Countries as the kingdom of the Frisians. According to Medieval legends, this kingdom comprised the coastal seelande provinces of the Netherlands , from the Scheldt River to the Weser River and further East. Archaeological research does not confirm this idea, as

6048-444: The majority of the inhabitants. In East Frisia, the idea of "Frisian freedom" became entangled with regional sentiments as well, though the East Frisian language had been replaced by Low German dialects as early as the 15th century. In Groningen, on the other hand, Frisian sentiments faded away at the end of the 16th century. In North Frisia, regional sentiments concentrate around the surviving North Frisian dialects, which are spoken by

6144-408: The manner of serfs , but in later times might buy their freedom. The basic land-holding unit for assessment of taxes and military contributions was – according to Homans – the ploegg (cf. "plow") or teen (cf. tithing , cf. " hundred "), which, however, also passed under other local names. The teen was pledged to supply ten men for the heer , or army. Ploegg or teen formed a unit of which

6240-429: The members were collectively responsible for the performance of any of the men. The ploegg or East Frisian rott was a compact holding that originated with a single lineage or kinship, whose men in early times went to war under their chief, and devolved in medieval times into a union of neighbors rather than kith and kin. Several, often three, ploeggs were grouped into a burar , whose members controlled and adjudicated

6336-435: The modern Archdiocese of Hamburg , founded in 1994 — was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Duchy of Bremen ( German : Herzogtum Bremen ). The prince-archbishopric, which was under the secular rule of the archbishop, consisted of about a third of the diocesan territory. The city of Bremen

6432-450: The mouth of the Weser. Willehad fixed his headquarters at Bremen , though the formal constitution of the diocese took place only after the subjugation of the Saxons in 804 or 805, when Willehad' s disciple, Willerich , was consecrated bishop of Bremen, with the same territory. The diocese was conceivably at that time a suffragan of the archbishops of Cologne , this is at least how they later corroborated their claim to supremacy over

6528-406: The other Danish Wadden Sea Islands . The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians , a West Germanic ethnic group. The contemporary name for the region stems from Latin Frisii , an ethnonym used for a group of ancient tribes in modern-day Northwestern Germany , possibly being a loanword of Proto-Germanic * frisaz , meaning "curly, crisp", presumably referring to the hair of

6624-472: The particular power, which the archiepiscopal authority had achieved in them. The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen's former territory consists about of today's following Lower Saxon counties ( German : Landkreis , or Kreis ) of Cuxhaven (southerly), Osterholz , Rotenburg upon Wümme and Stade as well as of the Bremian exclave of the city of Bremerhaven and from 1145 to 1526 today's Schleswig-Holsteinian county of Ditmarsh . The city of Bremen

6720-425: The pastoral functions of a Roman Catholic bishop any more. In 1584 the Holy See founded the Roman Catholic Nordic Missions , an endeavour for pastoral care and mission in the area of the de facto ceased archdioceses of Bremen and of Lund . In 1622 the Nordic Missions were subordinated to the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in Rome. The Holy See conveyed to the Nuncio to Cologne , Pietro Francesco Montoro ,

6816-527: The petty kingdoms appear to have been rather small and short-lived. The earliest Frisian records name four social classes, the ethelings ( nobiles in Latin documents) and frilings , who together made up the "Free Frisians" who might bring suit at court, and the laten or liten with the slaves , who were absorbed into the laten during the Early Middle Ages , as slavery was not so much formally abolished, as evaporated. The laten were tenants of lands they did not own and might be tied to it in

6912-504: The preservation of civil liberties. Actual power, however, was usurped by the landowning gentry. Protests against aristocratic rule led to a democratic movement in the 1780s. During the late 19th and early 20th century, "Frisian freedom" became the slogan of a regionalist movement in Friesland, demanding equal rights for the Frisian language and culture within the Netherlands. The West Frisian language and its urban dialects are spoken by

7008-543: The prince-bishoprics of Bremen, Verden , Minden and Halberstadt . He skillfully took advantage of the alarm of the German Protestants after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, to stipulate with Bremen's Chapter and Administrator John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp , his cousin of second degree, to grant coadjutorship of the See of Bremen for his son Frederick , later crown prince of Denmark (September 1621). Coadjutorship usually included

7104-401: The prior archbishops or capitulars or the Chapter as a collective obtained some secular power in them by way of purchase, application of force, usurpation, commendation, pledge, donation etc. The prior archiepiscopal authorities didn't have succeeded in almost any of the sub-entities to gain all the power, be it judicial, patrimonial, parochial, fiscal, feudal or else what. Almost everywhere

7200-888: The rank of a Patriarchate of the North and failed completely. Hamburg stopped being used as part of the diocese's name. The next two archbishops, Liemar and Humbert , were determined opponents of Pope Gregory VII . Under the latter in 1104 Bremen's suffragan Diocese of Lund (DK) was elevated to an archdiocese supervising all of Bremen's other Nordic former suffragan sees, to wit Århus (DK) , Faroe Islands (FO) , Gardar (Greenland) , Linköping (S) , Odense (DK) , Orkney (UK) , Oslo (N) , Ribe (DK) , Roskilde (DK) , Schleswig (D) , Selje (N) , Skálholt (IS) , Skara (S) , Strängnäs (S) , Trondheim (N) , Uppsala (S) , Viborg (DK) , Vestervig (DK) , Västerås (S) and Växjö (S) . Bremen's remaining suffragan sees at that time were only existing by name, since insurgent Wends had destroyed

7296-404: The respective rulers of the Prince-Archbishopric and its successor state Bremen-Verden often denied the city's status. And also the city could and did not always cling to its claim of imperial immediacy , which made the city's status somewhat ambiguous. Through most of the history the city participated in the Prince-Archbishopric's Diets as part of the Estates (see below) and paid its share in

7392-431: The river Elbe, from north west to south east, (1) Hadeln around Otterndorf , (2) around Lauenburg upon Elbe and (3) around Wittenberg upon Elbe . Except of the title, Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia , which this younger Duchy of Saxony granted its rulers, even after its dynastic partition in 1296, this territory, consisting only of territorial fringes of the old Duchy of Saxony , had little in common with

7488-412: The rule was to be shared with one or more competing bearers of authority, e.g. aristocrats, outside ecclesiastical dignitaries, autonomous corporations of free peasants ( German : Landsgemeinden ) or chartered towns and the like. Therefore, the archiepiscopal authority used to refer to each sub-entity by different terms like county, parish, shire, bailiwick or patrimonial district, each according to

7584-567: The see of Bremen . But in 1180 the Ascanians prevailed twofoldly. The chief of the House of Ascania , Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg , son of Albert the Bear , a maternal cousin of Henry the Lion , provided his sixth brother Bernhard, Count of Anhalt , from then on Bernhard III, Duke of Saxony , with the later on so-called younger Duchy of Saxony (1180 - 1296) , a radically belittled territory consisting of three unconnected territories along

7680-420: The so-called Wendish dioceses of Oldenburg-Lübeck , Ratzeburg and Schwerin and they were only to be reestablished later. At the stripping of the Duchy of Saxony (7th century - 1180) in 1180 all of these suffragan bishops achieved for parts of their diocesan territories the status of imperially immediate prince-bishoprics. The Bishopric of Livonia (first at Uexküll then Riga ) was a suffragan of Bremen in

7776-602: The southern part of today's County of Rotenburg , both in Lower Saxony . In relation to the interior the archiepiscopal authority, consisting of Prince-Archbishop and cathedral chapter , had to find ways to interact with the other bearers of authority. These were gradually transforming into the Bishopric's Estates ( German : Stiftsstände ), a prevailingly advisory body, but decision-taking in fiscal and tax matters. The bishopric's Estates again were by no means homogenous and therefore often quarreled for they consisted of

7872-547: The subdivisions of Frisia have their own regional flags, Frisia as a whole has not historically had a flag of its own. In September 2006, a flag for a united Frisia – known as the "Interfrisian Flag" – was designed by the Groep fan Auwerk . This separatist group supports the unification of Frisia as an independent country. The design was inspired by the Nordic Cross flag . The four pompeblêden (water lily leaves) represent

7968-608: The succession of a See. A similar arrangement was reached in November for the Prince-Bishopric of Verden with its Chapter and Administrator Philip Sigismund . In 1623 Christian's son succeeded the late Philip Sigismund as Frederick II, Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden , only to flee the troops of the Catholic League under Count Johan 't Serclaes of Tilly in 1626. In November 1619 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein stationed Danish troops in

8064-785: The task to look after the Nordic Missions in - among others - the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden . In 1667 the Holy See further institutionalised the Nordic Missions by establishing the Vicariate Apostolic of the Nordic Missions . On 22 April 1585 Henry III died in his residence in Beverstedterm ühlen after a riding accident. After Henry's early death, Duke Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp wielded influence at

8160-468: The taxes, at least when it had consented to the levying before. Since the city was the major taxpayer, its consent was mostly searched for. Like this the city wielded fiscal and political power within the Prince-Archbishopric, while the city would rather not allow the Prince-Archbishop or his representatives to rule in the city against its consent. After the Bremen Cathedral chapter, overlooking

8256-696: The three enfranchised Hamburg capitulars, had elected Valdemar of Denmark , the deposed Bishop of Schleswig , archbishop in 1207, Bremen's cathedral dean Burchard of Stumpenhusen , who had opposed this election, fled to Hamburg, then under Danish influence. King Valdemar II of Denmark , in enmity with his father's cousin Archbishop Valdemar, gained the Hamburg chapter to elect Burchard as anti-archbishop in early 1208. Lacking papal support, King Valdemar II himself invested him as Archbishop Burchard I, however, only accepted in North Elbia. In 1219

8352-458: The time of sede vacante . During the dismissal of Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift the chapter ruled together with the Estates which had gained at that time substantial power. In relation to the outside the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen had the status of an imperial estate ( German : Reichsstand , plural: Reichsstände ) with a vote in the Diet ( German : Reichstag ) of

8448-515: The tribesmen. In some areas, the local translation of "Frisia" is used to refer to another subregion. On the North Frisian islands , for instance, "Frisia" and "Frisians" refer to (the inhabitants of) mainland North Frisia . In Saterland Frisian, the term Fräislound specifically refers to Ostfriesland . During the French occupation of the Netherlands , the name for the Frisian department

8544-444: The uses of pasturage (but not tillage) which the ploeggs held in common, and came to be in charge of roads, ditches and dikes. Twelve ploeggs made up a "long" hundred, responsible for supplying a hundred armed men, four of which made a go (cf. Gau ). Homans' ideas, which were largely based on studies now considered to be outdated, have not been followed up by Continental scholars. The 7th-century Frisian Realm (650–734) under

8640-503: The western border of Osterholz. The coat of arms displays: Free municipalities 1. Hambergen seat of the Samtgemeinde [REDACTED] Media related to Landkreis Osterholz at Wikimedia Commons 53°15′N 8°50′E  /  53.25°N 8.83°E  / 53.25; 8.83 Archbishopric of Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen ( German : Fürsterzbistum Bremen ) — not to be confused with

8736-603: The years 1186–1255. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and his allies, many of them vassals and former supporters of his paternal cousin Duke Henry III, the Lion , had defeated the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria . In 1180 Frederick I Barbarossa stripped Henry the Lion of his duchies. In 1182 he and his wife Matilda Plantagenêt , the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister of Richard Lionheart left from Stade to go into exile from

8832-584: Was Frise . In English, both "Frisia" and "Friesland" may be interchangeably used to refer to the region. Frisia is commonly divided into three sections: The people, later to be known as Frisii , began settling in Frisia in the 6th century BC. According to Pliny the Elder , in Roman times, the Frisians (or rather their close neighbours, the Chauci ) lived on terps , man-made hills. According to other sources,

8928-454: Was de facto (since 1186) and de jure (since 1646) not part of the prince-archbishopric. Most of the prince-archbishopric lay rather in the area to the north of the city of Bremen , between the Weser and Elbe rivers. Even more confusingly, parts of the prince-archbishopric belonged in religious respect to the neighbouring Diocese of Verden , making up 10% of its diocesan territory. In

9024-665: Was conquered by Duke Albert of Saxony-Meissen . The city of Groningen , which had started to dominate the surrounding rural districts, surrendered to count Edzard of East Frisia in 1506. The city conveyed its remaining privileges to the Habsburg Empire in 1536. The district of Butjadingen (formerly Rüstringen) was occupied by the Count of Oldenburg in 1514, the Land Wursten by the Prince-bishop of Bremen in 1525. In

9120-685: Was erected in Kimswert in 1985. In the 1560s many Frisans joined the revolt led by William of Orange against the Habsburg monarchy. In 1577 the province of Friesland became part of the nascent Dutch Republic , as its representatives signed the Union of Utrecht . The city of Groningen was conquered by the Dutch in 1594. Since then, membership of the Dutch Republic was perceived as a guarantee for

9216-401: Was legally a part of the bishopric until 1646, but de facto ruled by its burghers and didn't tolerate the prince-archbishop's residence within its walls any more since 1313. Therefore, the prince-archbishop moved to Vörde ( German pronunciation: [ˈføːɐdə] ). Verden's former prince-bishopric's territory is represented about by the eastern part of the modern County of Verden and

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