Bad Bederkesa belonged to the
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (est. as principality of
imperial immediacy in 1180). The Knights of Bederkesa, like all the place, had been struck by the plague in 1349/1350, completely extinguishing many knightly family lines. The declining knightly family dropped deep into debt, and – having already sold many a possession – had even pawned half the say in the Bailiwick of Bederkesa (Amt Bederkesa) to the aspiring . They again lost this pawn to the
city of Bremen, when in 1381 its troops stopped the three Mandelsloh brothers in their attempt to leverage influence from lending to Prince-Archbishop
Albert II into territorial power. The Mandelslohs and other
robber barons from the
Prince-Bishopric of Verden and the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen ravaged burghers of the city of Bremen and people in the entire prince-archbishopric. In 1381 the city's troops successfully ended the
brigandage and captured the and the pertaining bailiwick. Thus Bremen gained its foothold as to uphold peace and order in its forecourt on the lower
Weser course. In 1386 the city of Bremen became the
liege lord of the noble families, holding the estates of and
Elmlohe, previously
vassals of the Knights of Bederkesa. In 1411 the jointly ruling dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg, father
Eric IV and his sons
Eric V and
John IV, pawned their share in the
Vogtei over the Bederkesa Bailiwick and in the castle to the
Senate of Bremen including all "they have in the jurisdictions in the Frisian
Land of Wursten and in , which belongs to the afore-mentioned castle and Vogtei". Their share in jurisdiction, Vogtei and castle had been acquired from the plague-stricken Knights of Bederkesa. In 1421, Bremen acquired also the remaining half in the say of the Bederkesa Knights including their remaining share in the Bederkesa Castle. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the
Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in
personal union by the Swedish Crown. In November 1654, after the
Second Bremian War, Bremen had to cede Bederkesa and Lehe to the Duchy of Bremen (). In 1715 the Duchy of Bremen became a fief to the
House of Hanover. In 1807 the ephemeral
Kingdom of Westphalia annexed the Duchy, before
France annexed it in 1810. In 1813 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, including Bederkesa, became part of the new
Stade Region, established in 1823. ==References==