Jever is the capital of the district of
FrieslandFriesland is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Wesermarsch, Ammerland, Leer and Wittmund, and by the North Sea...
in
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. The name Jever is usually associated with a major brand of
beerJever is a German beer brand, named after the town of Jever where it is brewed. It has been brewed by the "Friesisches Brauhaus zu Jever" since 1848.-History:...
which is produced here.
Archeologic evidence suggests that Jever had been a settlement of the
ChauciThe Chauci were a populous Germanic tribe that inhabited the extreme northwestern shore of Germany between Frisia in the west and the Elbe estuary in the east...
in Roman times. In the 9th century, Jever and the rest of Rüstringen county was given to the newly-Christianised Danish Lord Hariold by
Louis the PiousLouis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
. In the Middle-Ages, Jever, which was then known as
Geverae (meaning "grassland", or, in a different sense, "place of the
ThingA thing or ting was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
") was handed to the dukes of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
, then the
WelfThe House of Welf is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century.The House of Welf is the older branch of the House of Este, a dynasty whose oldest known members lived in Lombardy in the 9th century. For this reason, it is sometimes also...
s and to
OldenburgOldenburg is a historical state in today's Germany named for its capital, Oldenburg. Oldenburg existed from 1180 until 1918 as a county, duchy and grand duchy. It was located near the mouth of the River Weser...
.
Jever is the capital of the district of
FrieslandFriesland is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Wesermarsch, Ammerland, Leer and Wittmund, and by the North Sea...
in
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. The name Jever is usually associated with a major brand of
beerJever is a German beer brand, named after the town of Jever where it is brewed. It has been brewed by the "Friesisches Brauhaus zu Jever" since 1848.-History:...
which is produced here.
History
Archeologic evidence suggests that Jever had been a settlement of the
ChauciThe Chauci were a populous Germanic tribe that inhabited the extreme northwestern shore of Germany between Frisia in the west and the Elbe estuary in the east...
in Roman times. In the 9th century, Jever and the rest of Rüstringen county was given to the newly-Christianised Danish Lord Hariold by
Louis the PiousLouis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
. In the Middle-Ages, Jever, which was then known as
Geverae (meaning "grassland", or, in a different sense, "place of the
ThingA thing or ting was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
") was handed to the dukes of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
, then the
WelfThe House of Welf is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century.The House of Welf is the older branch of the House of Este, a dynasty whose oldest known members lived in Lombardy in the 9th century. For this reason, it is sometimes also...
s and to
OldenburgOldenburg is a historical state in today's Germany named for its capital, Oldenburg. Oldenburg existed from 1180 until 1918 as a county, duchy and grand duchy. It was located near the mouth of the River Weser...
. A text from the 13th century suggests that the region's people finally were allowed to elect their chieftains themselves. Jever was granted
town privilegesTown privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
in the early 14th century.
Even though the seaport did not exist after the middle-ages, Jever remained a prospering, politically independent site of trade and commerce, attracting merchants and pirates alike, e. g. the
Victual BrothersThe Victual Brothers were a companionship of privateers who later turned to piracy. They were hired in 1392 by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to fight against Denmark, because the Danish Queen Margaret I had imprisoned Albrecht of Mecklenburg and his son to subdue the kingdom of Sweden...
. Only after the death of the last chieftain of the Jever territory, Edo Wiemken the Younger, who died in 1511, Jever fell to
GrafGraf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
Edzard the Great of
East FrisiaEast Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
for a short while before being released into independence again under the rule of Maria (Froiken Maria = Miss Maria), Edo's daughter.
She died in 1575 and her death was kept secret for fear of a return of the East Frisians. Instead, Jever became one of Oldenburg's territories by last will of Maria. It was later passed to the House of Anhalt-Zerbst. After prince Friedrich August, who had supported the English in the American Revolutionary War for financial reasons, died in 1793, Anhalt-Zerbst perished and its territories were split. Interestingly, Jever was given to
Catherine II of RussiaCatherine II , also known as Catherine the Great, born . She was Empress of Russia from until . Under her direct auspices the Russian Empire expanded, improved its administration, and continued to modernize along Western European lines...
and remained Russian until Napoleon's armies occupied it in 1807. Between 1808 and 1810 it was part of the
Kingdom of HollandThe Kingdom of Holland 1806 - 1810 was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, in order to better control the Netherlands. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country...
, a Napoleonic vassal state. When the French were forced to withdraw in 1813, Russia regained possession of Jever and returned it to the grand dukes of Oldenburg in 1818.
Because Anhalt-Zerbst had guaranteed security and freedom of business for Jews, Jever became a center of Jewish life in Frisia, reaching its peak in the late 19th century. After that many youngsters left for larger cities where they hoped to find better economic opportunities (and since the 1920s also to escape growing anti-semitism). This caused the community to shrink to only half of its former size: by 1933, there were only 98 Jews left in Jever. The synagogue (inaugurated in1802) was completely destroyed in the Night of Broken Glass, and at least 63 Jever Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
Points of interest
- Jever castle: The first castle at Jever was built by Edo Wiemken the Elder in 1416, which was destroyed by the East Frisians in 1420. Edo's successor Hayo Harldas rebuilt the castle in 1428, it was finally completed in 1505 by Edo the Younger. Inside the ceiling of the audience hall with 28 cassettes in carved oak in renaissance style (16th century). In 1736 the tower in baroque style was built. The result of multiple conversions was a small palace of the princes of Anhalt-Zerbst and Oldenburg.
- Historic guild hall, 1620.
- There are five churches in Jever; the Protestant's church, in former times garrison church, was destroyed in a fire in 1959 and rebuilt in modern form in 1964. In an annex at the eastern side Edo Wiemken the Youngers tomb, a work of art in renaissance style, not destroyed by fire.
- The Frisian Brewhouse: Established in 1848 as an insignificant small brewery, it rose to a well-known brand around 1900 and adopted its hometown's name in 1934. Today, the brewhouse is the largest building in Jever. The company produces mostly pilsener
A pilsener is a type of pale lager beer. It takes its name from being developed in the 19th century in the city of Pilsen, Bohemia .-Origin:...
style beers. See Jever (beer)Jever is a German beer brand, named after the town of Jever where it is brewed. It has been brewed by the "Friesisches Brauhaus zu Jever" since 1848.-History:...
for details.
External links