Early diocese of Bremen The foundation of 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 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 the Bremian see.
Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen After the death of Bishop
Leuderich (838–45), the see was given to
Ansgar, Archbishop of Hamburg. From that time on the
see of Bremen 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, 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 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.
Bremen's Diocesan Territory and its Suffragans ''Hamburg-Bremen's'' diocesan territory covered about today's following territories: The
Bremian cities of
Bremen and
Bremerhaven, 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, 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. (dark grey) with its remaining three suffragans around 1500, thus after disentangling Bremen's Scandinavian suffragan dioceses, as well as neighbouring provinces in Central Europe. The see of
Hamburg-Bremen attained its greatest prosperity and later had its deepest troubles under Archbishop
Adalbert of Hamburg (1043–1072), whose ambitions to become a
Patriarch of the North failed.
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 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 the years 1186–1255.
The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen after 1180 as a territory of imperial immediacy Gaining Grounds for a Prince-Archbishopric of Imperial Immediacy 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 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 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 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 the latter. In 1260, with effect from 1296 on, its rulers split the
younger Duchy into the Duchies of
Saxe-Wittenberg () and
Saxe-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 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 (). 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 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 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 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 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 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 the cathedral school.
Pope Honorius III confirmed this settlement in 1224, also affirming the continued existence of both chapters. Once the inhabitants of 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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
Beverstedtermühlen after a riding accident. After Henry's early death, Duke
Adolf of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp wielded influence at 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 the Prince-Archbishopsric in custodianship for the minor John Adolf.
The Prince-Archbishopric during the Thirty-Years War (1618-1648) 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 the
Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, fled to the latter and left the rule in the Prince-Archbishopric to the Chapter and the Estates. In 1626
Tilly and his troops occupied the
Prince-Bishopric of Verden, which caused a flight of Lutheran clergy from that territory. He demanded the Bremian Chapter to allow him to enter the Prince-Archbishopric. The Chapter, now holding the baby, declared again its loyalty to the Emperor and delayed an answer to the request, arguing that it had to consult with the Estates in a Diet first, which would be a lengthy procedure. Meanwhile,
Christian IV ordered Dutch, English and French troops for his support to land in the Prince-Archbishopric, while extorting from the latter high war contributions to finance his war. The Chapter's pleas for a reduction of the contributions
Christian IV commented by arguing once the Leaguists would take over, his extortions will seem little. By 1627
Christian IV had de facto dismissed his cousin
John Frederick from the Bremian See. In the same year
Christian IV withdrew from the Prince-Archbishopric, in order to fight ''Wallenstein's
invasion of his Duchy of Holstein. Tilly
then invaded the Prince-Archbishopric and captured its southern parts. The city of Bremen shut its city gates and entrenched behind its improved fortifications. In 1628 Tilly
beleaguered Stade
with its remaining garrison of 3,500 Danish and English soldiers. On 5 May 1628 Tilly
granted them safe-conduct to England and Denmark and the whole Prince-Archbishopric was in his hands. Now Tilly'' turned to the city of
Bremen, which paid him a ransom of 10,000
rixdollars in order to spare its siege. The city remained unoccupied.
Wallenstein had meanwhile conquered all the
Jutish Peninsula, which made
Christian IV to sign the
Treaty of Lübeck, on 22 May 1629, in order to regain possession of all his feoffs on the peninsula, he in return agreed to formally end Denmark's participation in the
Thirty Years' War and waived for his son
Frederick II, Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, the administration of that prince-bishopric as well as the provided succession as Administrator of the
Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt. Administrator
John Frederick, exiled in the
Imperial Free City of Lübeck, was in a markedly weak position. So in 1628 he consented that the Lutheran convent in the former Roman Catholic St. Mary's monastery in
Stade – under Leaguist occupation – was restituted to Catholic rite and manned with foreign monks, if the Chapter would also agree. Again passing the buck on to the Chapter. The Leaguist takeover enabled
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, to implement the
Edict of Restitution, decreed on 6 March 1629 within the
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the
Prince-Bishopric of Verden. The Bremian monasteries still maintaining Roman Catholic rite –
Altkloster Convent, ,
Neukloster, and
Zeven – became the local strongholds for a reCatholicisation within the scope of
Counter-Reformation. Under the threat of the
Edict of Restitution John Frederick consented to
Canonical Visitations of the remaining monasteries, those clinging to Roman Catholic rite and those converted to voluntary Lutheran convents alike. Nunneries had traditionally been institutions to provide unmarried daughters of the better off, who couldn't be provided a husband befitting their social status or who didn't want to marry, with a decent livelihood. So when an unmarried woman of that status joined a nunnery she would bestow earning assets (real estate) or – restricted to her lifetime – regular revenues paid by her male relatives, on the monastery, making up in the former case part of the nunnery's
estates (not to be confused with the political body of the
Estates). In many territories, where the majority of the population adopted
Lutheranism, the nunneries' function to provide sustenance for unmarried women wasn't to be given up. So it happened that the Prince-Archbishopric's former Roman Catholic
nunneries of Himmelpforten,
Lilienthal,
Neuenwalde, and
Osterholz with all their estates had turned into such
Lutheran women's convents (
German: das
Stift, more particular:
Damenstift, literally ''ladies' foundation
), while the nunnery of Zeven was in the process of becoming one, with – among a majority of Catholic nuns – a number of nuns
of Lutheran denomination, usually called conventuals. Other expressions like abbess, for the chairwoman, and prioress for conventuals of certain hierarchic function, were – and are partly – continued to be used in such Lutheran Stifte''. Within the scope of the
visitations by the end of the year 1629 the Roman Catholic visitators issued an ultimatum to the Lutheran conventuals had been thrown out from the monasteries, with the estates of
Himmelpforten and
Neuenwalde then being bestowed to the
Jesuites, in order to finance them and their missioning in the course of the
Counter-Reformation in the Prince-Archbishopric. The expelled conventuals were denied to get the real estate restituted, which they bestowed on the monastery, when they entered it.
Ferdinand II suspended the capitulars from penalty, if they would dismiss the Lutheran coadjutor
Frederick, later Crown Prince of Denmark from office. The Chapter refused, still backing
Frederick, whom it had elected with full legal validity in 1621. So
Ferdinand II himself dismissed him by way of using the
Edict of Restitution, in favour of his youngest son, the Roman Catholic Archduke
Leopold Wilhelm of
Austria, already
administrator of the prince-bishoprics of
Halberstadt (1628–1648),
Passau (1625–1662) and
Strasbourg (1626–1662).
Ferdinand II left
John Frederick in office, against Leaguist resistance, for he had always kept loyalty to him. The
Catholic League wished the Roman Catholic Count
Francis William of
Wartenberg,
Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück (1625–1634 and again 1648–1661), onto the See. After all, the See included at those years an annual revenue of 60,000
rixdollars at the free disposal of its holder, making up half the Prince-Archbishopric's budget.
Francis of Wartenberg, appointed by
Ferdinand II as chairman of the imperial
restitution commission, carrying out the provisions of the
Edict of Restitution in the
Lower Saxon Circle, dismissed
John Frederick in 1629, who acquiesced. In September 1629 the Chapter was ordered to render an account of all the capitular and prince-archiepiscopal
estates (not to be confused with the
Estates), which it refused, arguing first that the order was not authenticated and later that due to disputes with the city council of
Bremen, they couldn't freely travel to render an account let alone do the necessary research on the estates. The anti-Catholic attitudes of the burghers and the council of Bremen would make it completely impossible to prepare the restitution of estates from the Lutheran Chapter to the
Roman Catholic Church. Even Lutheran capitulars were uneasy in Calvinistic
Bremen. In October 1629 the capitular secretary finally rendered the ordered account in
Verden and was informed that by the
Edict of Restitution the Chapter is regarded to be illegitimate. Lutheran capitulars were interrogated, but the Chapter was left in office, with its decisions subjected to the consent of the
restitution commission.
Pope Urban VIII appointed additional Roman Catholic capitulars in 1630, including a new
provost. The
estates within the boundaries of the unoccupied city of
Bremen weren't restituted by order of the city council. The council argued, that the city had long been Protestant, but the
restitution commission argued that the city was de jure a part of the Prince-Archbishopric, so
Protestantism had illegitimately alienated estates from the
Roman Catholic Church. The city council answered under these circumstances it would rather separate from the
Holy Roman Empire and join the quasi-independent
Republic of the Seven Netherlands (Its independence was finally confirmed by the
Treaty of Westphalia in 1648). The city was neither to be conquered nor to be successfully beleaguered due to its new fortifications and its access to the
North Sea via the Weser river. Within the occupied Prince-Archbishopric the Leaguist occupants carried out the restitution. In Stade, ''Tilly's'' headquarters, all churches, except of St. Nicholas, were handed over to foreign Catholic clerics. But the burghers didn't attend Catholic services. So in March 1630
Tilly expelled all Lutheran clergy, except the one of St. Nicholas.
Tilly levied high war contributions from ''Stade's
burghers (e.g. 22,533 rixdollars in 1628 alone) and offered in 1630 to relieve every burgher, who would attend Catholic services, without success. In July 1630 Tilly'' left to head for the
Duchy of Pomerania, where King
Gustavus II Adolphus of
Sweden had landed with his troops, opening a new front in the
Thirty Years' War. He had been won by French diplomacy to join a new anti-imperial coalition, soon joined by the Netherlands. In February 1631
John Frederick conferred with
Gustavus II Adolphus and a number of Lower Saxon princes in
Leipzig, all of them troubled by Habsburg's growing influence wielded by virtue of the
Edict of Restitution in a number of Northern German Lutheran prince-bishoprics.
John Frederick speculated to regain the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and therefore in June/July 1631 officially allied himself with Sweden. For the war being
John Frederick accepted the supreme command of
Gustavus II Adolphus, who promised to restitute the Prince-Archbishopric to its former Administrator. In October an Army, newly recruited by
John Frederick, started to reconquer the Prince-Archbishopric and – supported by Swedish troops – to capture the neighboured Prince-Bishopric of Verden, de facto dismissing ''Verden's
Catholic Prince-Bishop Count Francis of Wartenberg (ruled 1630-1631), and causing the flight of the Catholic clergy wherever they arrived. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden
became subject of a Swedish military administration, while John Frederick'' ascended its See in 1631. The reconquest of the Prince-Archbishopric – helped by forces from Sweden and from the city of Bremen – was interrupted by Leaguist forces under
Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, coming as a relief to
Stade, where they joined the Catholic imperial and Leaguist forces still holding out. On 10 May 1632 they were granted safe-conduct and left a desperately impoverished city of
Stade after its siege by ''John Frederick's
forces. John Frederick'' was back in his office, only to realise the supremacy of Sweden, insisting on its supreme command until the war's end. The Prince-Archbishopric continuously suffered from billeting and alimenting soldiers. The relation between the Estates, who had to maintain administration under Catholic occupation, and the returned Administrator were difficult. The Estates preferred to directly negotiate with the occupants, this time the Swedes.
John Frederick wanted to secularise the monasteries in favour of his budget, but the opposing Estates prevented that. After ''John Frederick's'' death in 1634 Chapter and Estates regarded
Frederick's (later Danish Crown Prince) dismissal as coadjutor by
Ferdinand II by virtue of the
Edict of Restitution illegitimate. But the Swedish occupants had to be persuaded first, to accept ''Frederick's'' succession. So Chapter and Estates ruled the Prince-Archbishopric until the conclusion of the negotiations with Sweden. In 1635 he succeeded as Lutheran Administrator
Frederick II in the Sees of Bremen and of Verden. But he had to render homage to the minor Queen
Christina of Sweden. In the same year
Pope Urban VIII provided the Catholic coadjutor
Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria, imposed in 1629 by his father
Ferdinand II, with the Archdiocese of Bremen, but due to its persisting occupation by the Swedes he never gained de facto pastoral influence let alone the power as administrator of the prince-archbishopric. In 1635/1636 the Estates and
Frederick II agreed with Sweden upon the prince-archbishopric's neutrality. But this didn't last long, because in the Danish-Swedish
Torstenson War (1643–45) the Swedes seized de facto rule in both prince-bishoprics.
Christian IV of Denmark had to sign the
Second Peace of Brömsebro on 13 August 1645, a number of Danish territories, including the two prince-bishoprics, being ceded into Swedish hands. So
Frederick II had to resign as Administrator in both prince-bishoprics. He succeeded his late father on the Danish throne as
Frederick III of Denmark in 1648. With Bremen
sede vacante again, the new
Pope Innocent X appointed Count
Francis of Wartenberg, the expelled short-period
Prince-Bishop of Verden (1630–1631) and officiating
Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück (1625–1661), as
Vicar Apostolic in 1645, i.e. provisional head of the See.
Wartenberg never gained pastoral influence, let alone power as prince-bishop due to the persisting Swedish occupation of the Prince-Archbishopric until the end of the Thirty Years' War. With the impending enfeoffment of the Prince-Archbisporic of Bremen to the political Great Power of
Sweden, as under negotiation for the
Treaty of Westphalia, the city of Bremen searched for an imperial confirmation of its status of
imperial immediacy from 1186 (Gelnhausen Privilege), which
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, granted to the city in 1646 (
Diploma of Linz).
The further History of the Prince-Archbishopric after 1648 For the further history see the article about the collectively ruled
Duchy of Bremen and Principality of Verden (1648–1823). Then see
Stade Region (1823–1978), which emerged by the establishment of the
High-Bailiwick of Stade in 1823, comprising the territories of the former
Duchies of Bremen and Verden and the
Land Hadeln.
Reorganisation of Roman Catholic Church in the former Territory of the Archdiocese and Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen In 1824 ''Bremen's
former diocesan territory was distributed among the still-existing neighbouring dioceses of Osnabrück, Münster and Hildesheim, the latter of which covers today the former territory of the Prince-Archbishopric
proper. Except for the prevailingly Calvinist Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and its territory, which continued to be supervised by the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of the Nordic Missions. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
became part of the Diocese of Osnabrück
only in 1929, with the Vicariate Apostolic'' being dismantled in the same year. ==Incumbents of the see==