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Archbishopric of Bremen
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The Archdiocese of Bremen (also Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen, German: Erzbistum Bremen, not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg, founded in 1994) was a historical Roman Catholic diocese (787-1566/1648) and formed from 1180 to 1648 an ecclesiastical state (continued under other names until 1823), named Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (German: Erzstift Bremen) within the Holy Roman Empire.
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The Archdiocese of Bremen (also Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen, German: Erzbistum Bremen, not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg, founded in 1994) was a historical Roman Catholic diocese (787-1566/1648) and formed from 1180 to 1648 an ecclesiastical state (continued under other names until 1823), named Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (German: Erzstift Bremen) within the Holy Roman Empire. The prince-archbishopric consisted of about a third of the diocesan territory. The city of Bremen was de jure (since 1186) and de facto (since 1646) no part of the prince-archbishopric but belonged to the archdiocese. 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 neighboured diocese of Verden, making up 10% of its diocesan territory.
Verden itself had a double identity too as Diocese of Verden (German: Bistum Verden) and Prince-Bishopric of Verden (German: Hochstift Verden). Each prince-bishopric had the status of an Imperial Estate (German singular: Reichsstand, plural: Reichsstände), each of which were represented in the Diet (German: Reichstag) of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1500 on the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen belonged to the Saxon Circle (later the Lower Saxon Circle; German: Sächsischer or later Niedersächsischer Kreis), an administrative substructure of the Empire. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden, on the other hand, belonged to the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle (German: Niederrheinisch-Westfälischer Kreis, colloquially Westphalian Circle) and sent its own representative to the Diet. Even when the two prince-bishoprics were ruled in personal union, in order to maintain the two seats in the Diet they were never formally united in a real union. The same is true for the collectively governed Duchies of Bremen and Verden (German colloquial: Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, but formally Herzogtum Bremen und Fürstentum Verden) which emerged in 1648 from the securalised two prince-bishoprics.
History
In 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 Archdiocese before statehood
The foundation of the diocese belongs to the period of the missionary activity of Willehad on the lower Weser. It was erected 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, northward to the Elbe and westward 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 Willehads 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 Bremen. When, after the death of Bishop Leuderich (838–45), the see was given to Ansgar, it lost its independence, and from that time 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. He prohibited Hamburg's Chapter to found suffragan dioceses of its own. It was Pope Honorius III who in 1224 finally approved the amalgamation, deciding in the long-lasting dispute between the capitulars from Bremen and Hamburg how to combine their votes in episcopal elections. Honorius III affirmed the continued existence of both Chapters. Hamburg was entitled to send three capitulars for any election.
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 (northernly), Cuxhaven, Diepholz (northernly), Frisia, Nienburg (westernly), Oldenburg in Oldenburg (easternly), Osterholz, Rotenburg upon Wümme (northernly), Stade, Wesermarsch, Wittmund, the Lower Saxon urban counties Delmenhorst and Wilhelmshaven, the Schleswig-Holsteinian counties of Dithmarschen, Pinneberg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde (southernly), Segeberg (easternly), Steinburg, Stormarn (easternly) 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 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 (S) 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), Tallinn (EST), 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 c. - 1180) in 1180 all of these suffragan bishops achieved for parts of their diocesan territories the status of imperially immediate prince-bishoprics.
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 Plantagenet, 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 partioned 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 Siegfried, Count of Anhalt, on the see of Bremen.
But in 1180 the Ascanians prevailed twofoldly. The chief of the House of Ascania, Otto I, Margrave 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 (7th c. - 1180), 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 (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 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 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-Archbisopric'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.
The fortified city 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 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 castle of Vörde, which became the principal fortress of Prince-Archbishop Gerhard II, Edelherr zur Lippe in 1219.
The Chapter (see below) and part of the administration were located within 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 key, the epithet symbol of 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 ) 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 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 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 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 singular: Landkreis) of Cuxhaven (southernly), Osterholz, Rotenburg upon Wümme and Stade as well as of the Bremian exclave of the city of Bremerhaven and from 1145-1526 today's Schleswig-Holsteinian county of Dithmarschen. The city of Bremen 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 . Verden's former prince-bishopric's territory is represented about by the modern Lower Saxon County of Verden.
Constitution and Politics within the Prince-Archbishopric
In relation to the interior the archiepiscopal authority, consisting of Prince-Archbishop and 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 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 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 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 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 singular: Reichsstand, plural: Reichsstände) with a vote in the Diet (German: Reichstag) of 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 possessed several important rights and privileges, including a degree of autonomy in the rule of their territories.
In their pastoral and religious capacity as Roman Catholic clergy the archbishops lead their archdiocese as the hierarchical superior of all Roman Catholic clergy, including the suffragan bishops of Oldenburg-Lübeck, Ratzeburg and Schwerin.
Decline of the Prince-Archbishopric's Independence
The Prince-Archbishopric often suffered from military supremacy of neighbouring powers. Having no dynasty, but prince-archbishops of different descent, 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 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 the jurisdiction of the Bremian archdiocese and Altkloster 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 Era of the Lutheran Administrators of the Prince-Archbishopric
The constitution of 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 indulgence (German: Lehnsindult), often restricted to some years only, and then notwithstanding enfeoff the prince-bishop elect with the regalia of restricted legitimacy to 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 indulgence 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 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 indulgence.
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 Henry III, Duke 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 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 indulgence 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 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 the 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 papal nuncio with the Electorate-Prince-Archbishoprics of Cologne, Mentz and Triers, 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 Adolf, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp wielded influence at the Bremian Chapter to elect his son John Adolf, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (*1575-1616*) to the See. To this end, Adolf paid 20,000 rixdollars and promised to work towards the restitution of Dithmarschen 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 indulgence. 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, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel. 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 Johan 't Serclaes, Count 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 constibutions 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 May 5, 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 May 22, 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 March 6, 1629, within the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden. The Bremian monasteries still maintaining Roman Catholic rite – Altkloster, Harsefeld, 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. Nun monasteries 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 nun monastery 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 monastery’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 nun monasteries' function to provide sustenance for unmarried women wasn't to be given up. So it happened that the Prince-Archbishopric's former Roman Catholic nun monasteries of Himmelpforten, Lilienthal, Neuenwalde, and Osterholz with all their estates had turned into such foundations (German: das Stift, more particular: Damenstift, literally Ladies' foundation), while the monastery 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 visitors issued an ultimatum to the Lutheran conventuals to convert to Catholicism or to leave the monasteries. No conversion had been recorded, so at different dates between before Christmas 1629 and April 1631 all Lutheran conventuals had been thrown out from the monasteries, with the estates of Himmelpforten and Neuenwalde then being bestowed to the Jesuits, 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 Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria, already prince-bishop of Halberstadt (1628-1648), Passau (1625-1662) and Strasbourg (1626-1662).
Ferdinand II left John Frederick in office, against Leaguist resistence, for he had always kept loyalty to him. The Catholic League wished the Roman Catholic Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg, prince-bishopric of Osnabrück (1625–1661), 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.
Franz Wilhelm, Count 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 authenticised 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.
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 clergy. 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 Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg, (ruled 1630-1632) and causing the flight of the Catholic clergy wherever they arrived. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden became subject of a Swedish military administration.
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 May 10, 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 prince-archbishop.
In 1635/1636 the Estates and Frederick II agreed with Sweden upon the prince-bishopric'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 August 13 1645, a number of Danish territories, including the two prince-bishoprics, were 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 Franz Wilhelm, Count 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. Count of 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 immedeacy 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 (1823-1977), 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.
List of administrators, archbishops, bishops, prince-archbishops and periods of sede vacante
Roman Catholic Bishops of Bremen (787-845)
- 787–789 Willehad (Northumbria, *around 745 – 8 November 789*, Blexen)
- 789–805 sede vacante
- 805–838 Willerich (also Willeric, Wilrich, Wilderic; *unknown – 4 May? 838*)
- 838–845 Leuderich (High German: Leutrich; *unknown – 24 August 845*)
Roman Catholic Archbishops of Hamburg in personal union Bishops of Bremen (848-1072)
- 848–865 Ansgar (Low German: Anschar, Scandinavian: Oskar; Corbie, *796 or 8 September 801? – 3 February 865*, Bremen), also archbishop of Hamburg 831-865
- 865–888 Rimbert (also Rembert; Flanders, *830 – 11 June 888*, Bremen)
- 888–909 Adalgar (*unknown – 9 May 909*, Bremen)
- 909–915 Hoger (also Huggar; *unknown – 20 December 916*)
- 916 Reginwart (*unknown – 1 October 918*)
- 916–936 Unni (*unknown – 17 September 936*, Birka)
- 936–988 Adaldag (*around 900 – 28 April 988*)
- 988–1013 Liawizo I (also Libizo, Latin: Libentius I, uncle of Liawizo II; Burgundy or Raetia, *unknown – 4 January 1013*)
- 1013–1029 Unwan, Count Palatine of Saxony (also Unwin; *unknown – 27 January 1029*, Bremen)
- 1029–1032 Liawizo II (Latin: Libentius II, nephew of Liawizo I; *unknown – 24 August 1032*)
- 1032–1035 Hermann (*unknown – 19 September 1035*)
- 1035–1043 Becelin (also Bezelin, Bencelin, Low German: Alebrand; High German: Adalbrand; *unknown – 15 April 1043)
- 1043–1072 Adalbert, Count Palatine of Saxony (also Albert; Goseck, *around 1000 – 16/25 March 1072*, Goslar)
Roman Catholic Archbishops of Bremen (1072-1179)
- 1072–1101 Liemar (*unknown – 16 May 1101*, Bremen)
- 1101–1104 Humbert (*unknown – 10 November 1104*)
- 1104–1123 Frederick I (*unknown – 29 January 1123*)
- 1123–1148 Adalbero (also Adalbert II; *unknown – 5 August 1148*)
- 1148–1168 Hartwig I, Count of Stade (*before 1124 – 11 October 1168*, Bremen)
- 1168 Siegfried,
Bishop Elect of Bremen (*around 1132 – 24 October 1184*), the candidate elected by the Chapter and preferred by his father Albert the Bear of the House of Ascania, became Bremen’s Prince-Archbishop in 11801168–1178 Baldwin I (also Balduin; *unknown – 18 June 1178*, Bremen), the preferred candidate of Henry III, the Lion of the House of Guelph/Welf imposed by Frederick I Barbarossa against the Chapter’s candidate Siegfried1178–1179 Bert(h)old (also Bertram; *1180 – 6 April 1212*), later Prince-Bishop of Metz 1180-1212
Roman Catholic Prince-Archbishops of Bremen (1180-1568)
- 1180–1184 Siegfried, Count of Anhalt (*around 1132 – 24 October 1184*), before bishop of Brandenburg 1173-1180, after his first attempt to gain Bremen's see had failed in 1168
- 1184–1185 rule by the Chapter due to sede vacante
- 1185–1190 Hartwig II, of Uthlede (also Wilrich; *unknown – 3 November 1207*), dismissed by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1190–1192 rule by the Chapter due to sede vacante
- 1192 Valdemar, Prince of Denmark (*1157/1158 – April 1235 or 1236* Citeaux), can’t take the see due to imprisonment by king Canute VI of Denmark, also bishop of Schleswig 1182-1208
- 1192–1207 Hartwig II, of Uthlede, de facto holding the see, since Waldemar stayed imprisoned
- 1207–1210 Burkhard, Count of Stumpenhausen (nephew of Gerhard I), only in Hamburg temporarily accepted as archbishop
- 1208–1217 Valdemar, Prince of Denmark, only in Bremen temporarily accepted as archbishop, not papally confirmed
- 1210–1219 Gerhard I, Count of Oldenburg-Wildeshausen (uncle of Burkhard of Stumpenhausen; *unknown – 14 August 1219*), also prince-bishop of Osnabrück 1190-1216
- 1219–1258 Gerhard/Gebhard II, Edelherr zur Lippe (*around 1190 – 27 July or 28 August 1258)
- 1258–1273 Hildebold, Count of Wunstorf (*unknown – 11 October 1273*)
- 1273–1274 rule by the Chapter due to sede vacante
- 1274–1306 Gis(el)bert, Count of Brunckhorst/Bronchorst (*unknown – 18 November 1306)
- 1306–1307 Henry I., of Golthorn/Goltern (*unknown – 9 April 1307*), died before papal confirmation
- 1307 Florenz, Count of Brunckhorst/Bronchorst (*unknown – 1308* Avignon), died before papal confirmation, counter-candidate to the next
- 1307 Bernhard, Count of Wölpe (*around 1230/1240 – 17 September 1310*), never papally confirmed, counter-candidate to the former
- 1307–1310 rule by the Chapter due to sede vacante
- 1310–1327 John I, Grand,
the Firebug (Swed.: Jens Grand, German: Johann(es) Grand, nicknamed Fursat/Fürsate/Feuersaat ; *around 1260 – 30 May 1327* Avignon), before archbishop of Lund 1289-1302, titular Prince-Archbishop of Riga 1304-13101327–1344 Burchard Grelle (*unknown – 13 August 1344*)1344–1348 Otto I, Count of Oldenburg (uncle of the next; *unknown – before 14 March 1348*)1348–1360 Moritz, Count of Oldenburg (nephew of the former; *unknown – 24 July 1364*), never papally confirmed he managed to maintain power as Administrator1348–1360 Godfrey I, Count of Arnsberg (Low German: Godfried, High German: Gottfried; *around 1285 – 4 December 1363), never gained power and resigned, also prince-bishop of Osnabrück 1321-13491360–1395 Albert II, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg (House of Wolfenbüttel; *unknown – 14 April 1395*), brother of Magnus II, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, Prince of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel1395–1406 Otto II, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg (House of Wolfenbüttel; *around 1364 – 30 June 1406), son of Magnus II, before prince-bishop of Verden 1388-13951406–1421 *Johann II Slamstorp (also Slamsdorp, Slamestorpe, Schlamstorf; *around 1350/60 – 20 December 1421)1422–1435 Nicholas, Count of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst (German: Nikolaus; *unknown – 8 December 1447*, Delmenhorst), resigned1435–1441 Baldwin II, von Wenden (also Balduin or Boldewin von Dahlen; *unknown – 8 July 1441*)1442–1463 Gerhard III, Count of Hoya (also von der Hoye; *unknown – 1463*)1463–1496 Heinrich II, Count of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg (*13 November 1440 – 24 December 1496*, underways to East Frisia), also prince-bishop of Münster 1466-1496, where he preferently resided1496–1497 rule by the Chapter due to sede vacante1497–1511 Johann III Rode von Wale (also Rhode, Rufus, Johann Roden Bok; *around 1445 – 4 December 1511*, Vörde)1511–1542/1547 Christopher the Spendthrift, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg (House of Wolfenbüttel; German: Christoph der Verschwender; *1487 – 22 January 1558*, Tangermünde), also prince-bishop of Verden 1502-1558, where he usually resided, dismissed for his prodigality by the Chapter and the Prince-Archbishopsric’s Estates1542/1547–1549 rule by the Chapter and the Prince-Archbishopsric’s Estates due to the dismissal of the prince-archbishop1549–1558 Christopher the Spendthrift, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, reaccepted as prince-archbishop after Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, threatened to install an administrator of his choice1558–1566 George, titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg (brother of the former; *22 November 1494 – 4 December 1566*), also prince-bishop of Verden 1558-15661566–1568 rule by the Chapter and the Prince-Archbishopsric’s Estates, first due to sede vacante (1566-1567), then in custodianship for the minor Administrator
Lutheran Administrators of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (1568-1645)
- 1568–1585 Henry III, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (*1 November 1550 – 22 April 1585* Vörde), elected by the Chapter, dominated by Lutheran capitulars, he never gained papal confirmation, also Administrator of the Prince-Bishoprics of Osnabrück (1574-1585) and Paderborn (1577-1585)
- 1585–1589 rule by the Chapter and the Prince-Archbishopsric’s Estates in custodianship for the minor Administrator
- 1589–1596 John Adolf, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (* 27 February 1575 – 31 March 1616*), also first Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck 1586-1607, after succeeding in 1590 his father as ruling Duke the Bremian Chapter enforced his resignation in favour of his brother
- 1596–1634 John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (brother of the former; Gottorp, *1 September 1579 – 3 September 1634* Altkloster), also Administrator of the Prince-Bishoprics of Lübeck (1607-1634) and Verden (1631-1634).
- 1634–1635 rule by the Chapter and the Prince-Archbishopsric’s Estates due to sede vacante
- 1635–1645 Frederick II, Crown Prince of Denmark (Haderslev *18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670* Købnhavn), also Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden 1623-1629 and again 1634-1644, expelled from both sees by the Swedes.
Roman Catholic titular Prince-Archbishop and Vicar Apostolic 1635/1645
- 1635 Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria (Wiener Neustadt, *5 January 1614 – 20 November 1662*, Vienna) provided by Pope Urban VIII with the Archdiocese, but due to its occupation by the Swedes he never gained de facto power, also prince-bishop of Halberstadt (1628-1648), prince-archbishop of Magdeburg (1631-1638), prince-bishop of Olomouc (1637-1662), prince-bishop of Passau (1625-1662), prince-bishop of Strasbourg (1626-1662) and prince-bishop of Wroclaw (1656-1662).
- 1645 Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg (Munich, *1 March 1593 – 1 December 1661*, Ratisbon), Pope Innocent X appointed him vicar apostolic, i.e. provisional head of the see, he never gained pastoral influence, let alone power as prince-bishop due to the Swedish occupation of the prince-bishopric, also prince-bishop of Osnabrück (1625–1661), of Ratisbon (1649-1661) and of Verden (1630-1631)
Notable people from the Archdiocese and Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
A list of interesting people whose birth, death, residence or activity took place in the Archdiocese or Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Not included are persons mentioned above in the list of rulers of the Prince-Archbishopric.
- Adam of Bremen (*unknown - 1080*), Roman Catholic canon and historiographer
- Albert von Bexhövede (*1170 – 1129*), Roman Catholic Bishop of Riga and Terra Mariana, seated in Riga, which he founded in 1201
- Bonaventura Borchgreving (*unknown – died latest 1596*), upper Kapellmeister at the court in Copenhagen
- Johann Bornemacher (*unknown – 1526*), Roman Catholic, then Lutheran theologist, martyr
- Gertrud von dem Brake (*unknown – died second half of 15th c.*), Roman Catholic Prioress of Neukloster
- Emma of Lesum (also Imma von Stiepel; *about 975/980 – 1038*), benefactor of the Roman Catholic church, Roman Catholic saint
- Augustin van Getelen (*end of 15th c. – 1556*), Roman Catholic Dominican, controversial theologist in København
- Gerhard Helepaghe (*1434 – 1485*), Roman Catholic priest, church and monastic reformer
- Christoph von Issendorff (*1529 – 1586*), Lutheran heritable Cup-bearer of the Prince-Archbishopric, Burgmann of Vörde
- Heinrich von Zütphen, (1489-1525), Roman Catholic Augustine monk, later Protestant Reformator in the city of Bremen
Source
See also
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