Basdahl belonged to the
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, established in 1180. Its parliament, the Bremian
Estates (), convened in
diets (Tohopesaten or Landtage) usually in Basdahl, with
Bremervörde serving as
capital with the prince-archiepiscopal residence and seat of government (as of 1219). The Bremian
chapter had its seat in the city of
Bremen. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the
Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in
personal union by the Swedish Crown - interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712–1715) - and from 1715 on by the
Hanoverian Crown. The estates met then much less frequent, because the Swedish rulers tried to discard the estates influence in legislation. In 1807 the ephemeric
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 Basdahl, became part of the new
Stade Region, established in 1823. Basdahl's historical role in the prince-archbishopric is commemorated in its coat-of-arms showing on the left side the crisscrossed keys, the coat-of-arms of the prince-archbishopric. ==References==