Archbishopric of Bremen

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Was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire.

Establishment

January 1181: Establishment of the Archbishopric of Bremen.

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. Danish invasion of northern Germany (1201)

Was the invasion of northern Germany by king Canute VI of Denmark caused by disagreement with Adolf III, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, over the possession of the island of Rügen.

January 1201: On January 25, 1201, the army of Adolf III of Holstein and his ally Adolf I of Dassel was defeated by Danish forces near Washow. The County of Ratzeburg was occupied by Denmark.

July 1227: Battle of Bornhöved: Count Adolf IV of Schauenburg and Holstein defeated King Valdemar II of Denmark. As a result, the Danish border with the Holy Roman Empire was moved north from the Elbe river to the Eider River, the southern border of the Duchy of Schleswig.

2. Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the Medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291.

2.1.Stedinger Crusade

Was a Papally-sanctioned war against the rebellious peasants of Stedingen, in the Archibishopric of Bremen.

January 1205: In 1204, the Stedinger north of the Hunte rebelled against the count of Oldenburg, burning to the ground two of his castles. Their revolt spread south of the Hunte, where the archbishop's ministerials were driven off.

January 1235: The archbishop of Bremen mobilized his church and the Papacy to have a crusade sanctioned against the rebels of Stedingen. In the first campaign, the small crusading army was defeated. In a follow-up campaign the next year, a much larger crusader army was victorious.

3. European wars of religion

Were a series of wars in Europe (and the overseas possessions of European countries) the 16th, 17th and early 18th that started after the Protestant Reformation. Although the immediate causes of the wars were religious, the motives were complex and also included territorial ambitions.

3.1.Thirty Years' War

Was a war that took place mainly in central Europe between 1618 and 1648. The war began as a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestant in the Holy Roman Empire but then escalated into a conflict for the hegemony in Europe between Habsburg Spain and Austria, Sweden and France.

3.1.1.Danish Period

Was the second main period of the Thirty Years' War. It started with the intervention of the Kingdom of Denmark.

April 1625: The Danish king occupied the towns of Verden and Nienburg, which belonged to the Lower Rhine-Westphalian imperial district.

August 1626: In 1626, during the Thirty Years' War, the Catholic League forces, led by Tilly and Wallenstein, defeated the Protestant armies in the Battle of Lutter. This victory allowed them to conquer the Lutheran Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Westphalian Prince-Bishopric of Verden, threatening the Calvinist city of Bremen.

3.1.2.Peace of Westphalia

Were a series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire. There were major territorial adjustments. In particular, France, Sweden and Brandenburg had major territorial gains, and several religious territories of the Holy Roman Empire were secularized.

January 1649: Borders at the end of the Thirty Years' War.

4. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

September 1200: In the summer of 1200, King Knut VI of Denmark acquired the territory of Rendsburg through military occupation.

January 1271: In 1270 the settlement of Wildeshausen belonged to the Archbishopric of Bremen.

January 1367: Establishment of the Imperial City of Bremen.

January 1379: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire in the XIV century.

January 1448: In 1447 the Dithmar Landrecht was recorded. A supreme court was created with 48 judges appointed for life (forty-eight judges). These developed into the actual self-governing body of the emerging farmers' republic of Dithmarschen.

January 1478: Wildeshausen passed to Munster in the late Middle Ages.

January 1478: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire in the XV century.

January 1518: In December 1517 Christoph, Archbishop of Bremen, sent an enormous army of mercenaries into the county of Wursten. After vigorous but futile resistance, the Wurster lost in the Battle of the Wremer Deep.

January 1519: Under the pressure of the archbishop's excessive demands, an uprising broke out in Frisia.

January 1525: It was not until 1524 that the archbishop was able to collect enough soldiers to recapture Wursten.