First and Second Swedish wars on Bremen | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Siege of Bremen, 1666 | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Swedish Empire | Bremen | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown |
The Swedish wars on Bremen were fought between the Swedish Empire and the Hanseatic town of Bremen in 1654 and 1666. Bremen claimed to be subject to the Holy Roman Emperor, maintaining Imperial immediacy, while Sweden claimed Bremen to be a mediatised part of her dominions of Bremen-Verden, themselves territories immediately beneath the emperor. Sweden was able to gain some territory, but despite forcing a formal oath of allegiance on Bremen, did not gain control of the town.
When in 1648 the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War, the parties agreed that the prince-bishoprics of Bremen and Verden were to become dominions of Sweden. The peace treaty had been prepared at a congress throughout the final years of the war. [2]
During the negotiations, several mostly Hanseatic cities requested that they become Imperial cities, with only Bremen being successful: Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor accepted Bremen as a Free imperial city in 1646. [2] A respective document was signed in Linz on 1 June, with the aim of preventing Sweden from gaining the city. [3] In turn Bremen, among other concessions, paid about 100,000 talers. [4] Owing to Swedish diplomatic efforts however, the text of the 1648 treaty did not determine whether or not Bremen was to be included in the future Swedish dominion. [2]
The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, northerly and easterly neighbouring the city's territory, had been occupied by Sweden since 1646/47. Swedish forces had then expelled the forces of Prince-Archbishop Frederick II, Prince of Denmark, officiating from 1637 to 1648. On 18 February 1647, the emperor accepted Sweden's annexation of the prince-archbishopric's territory as a secularized duchy. [3]
After the war a dispute about custom collection between Bremen and the emperor led to the latter imposing an Imperial ban on the city in 1652/53. Sweden, which had never accepted Bremen's Imperial immediacy, attacked in 1654. [4]
Swedish forces commanded by Hans Kristofer von Königsmark occupied part of the territory held by the city, but did not attack the city itself. Bremen recruited mercenaries and strengthened its defensive works. Without engaging in any major confrontation, the parties agreed on the First Stade Recess on 28 November. It was agreed that Sweden kept occupied Bederkesa and Lehe, and Bremen had to pledge allegiance to the Swedish king Charles X Gustav. Bremen did so on 6 December. [4]
In 1665, Bremen refused to pledge allegiance to Charles X Gustav's successor, Charles XI of Sweden. [4] In March, the Swedish riksråd decided to wage war. [5] Thereupon, 12,000 Swedish troops were transferred to the Duchy of Bremen by the end of the year. [4] In January 1666, Carl Gustaf Wrangel departed from Swedish Pomerania to command the Swedish army, [6] which in early 1666 numbered 14,000 troops. [7] By summer, all of the city of Bremen's territory was occupied, except the city itself. [4]
The Swedish chancellor of Bremen-Verden, Esaias von Pufendorf, went to the court in Paris to build an alliance with France. The Swedish position was that France had to intervene on the Swedish side, since Bremen was Swedish according to the Peace of Westphalia, of which France was a guarantor. Pufendorf was, however, told by Hugues de Lionne that France would not hesitate to declare openly that she read the treaty as Bremen being an Imperial city, rather than provoke a new great war with the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic with an assault Sweden and France could hardly win. Lionne said Sweden would be better off waiting for a situation when the Dutch and the neighboring German principalities were weak, and then take the city of Bremen by surprise. [8]
The city of Bremen on the other side was successful in gathering allies, most notably Brunswick-Lüneburg (Celle) and the Electorate of Cologne, who raised a relief army. Brandenburg, Denmark-Norway and the Dutch Republic joined the anti-Swedish alliance. Wrangel failed to take the city, and initiated negotiations at his headquarters in Habenhausen. On 14 November, the Peace of Habenhausen was signed: Swedish Bremen-Verden was obliged to destroy the fortresses built close to the city. Bremen had to dispense with its status as an Imperial city during the contemporary sessions of the Imperial Diet, which were scheduled to last until the end of the 17th century. Bremen was also banned from emitting representatives to the Diet of the Lower Saxon Circle. What could not be foreseen at the time of the peace was that the Imperial Diet was to become the "Perpetual Diet of Regensburg", lasting until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Bremen further had to cede its territories north of the city and at the lower Weser river. [9] However, the city itself with a number of villages around, maintained its independence. When in 1700 Charles XII of Sweden asked Bremen-Verden's General Government what to do about Bremen's independence, the General Government recommended to concede its status as a Free Imperial City.
In 1672, Sweden founded Carlsburg at the confluence of the Weser and Geeste rivers to compete with Bremen, but the settlement did not prosper. [9] Sweden later lost all of Bremen-Verden during the Great Northern War (1700–1721). [7]
The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in the treaties.
Anklam, formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Szczecin Lagoon. Anklam has a population of 12,177 (2021) and was the capital of the former Ostvorpommern district. Since September 2011, it has been part of the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald.
Verden an der Aller (German:[ˈfeːɐ̯dn̩ʔandɐˈʔalɐ] ; Northern Low Saxon: Veern), also called Verden (Aller) or simply Verden, is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the river Aller. It is the district town of the district of Verden in Lower Saxony and an independent municipality (de:Selbständige Gemeinde). The town is located in the middle Weser region on the Aller river immediately before it flows into the Weser. As a center of horse breeding and equestrian sports, it bears the nickname "equestrian town". The suffix "Aller" was introduced at a time when the name "Verden" was also common for the French town of Verdun in the German-speaking area. The town name comes from "ford" or "ferry". The town was conveniently located at a ford through the Aller river, near an important trade route.
The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen — not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg, founded in 1994 — was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Duchy of Bremen. The prince-archbishopric, which was under the secular rule of the archbishop, consisted of about a third of the diocesan territory. The city of Bremen was de facto and de jure not part of the prince-archbishopric. 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 neighbouring Diocese of Verden, making up 10% of its diocesan territory.
Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, were two territories and immediate fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, which emerged and gained imperial immediacy in 1180. By their original constitution they were prince-bishoprics of the Archdiocese of Bremen and Bishopric of Verden.
Demmin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin.
The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish–Norwegian provinces along the border with Sweden, and in Northern Germany. While the latter battles are regarded as a theater of the Scanian war in English, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish historiography, they are seen as a separate war in German historiography, called the Swedish-Brandenburgian War.
Arvid Wittenberg or Arvid Wirtenberg von Debern, Swedish count, field marshal and privy councillor. Born in Porvoo, Finland, died in prison in Zamość, Poland, 7 September 1657. Arvid Wittenberg preferred call himself by the original Wittenberg family name, which was Wirtenberg von Debern.
Zeven [] is a town in the district of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of around 14,000. The nearest large towns are Bremerhaven, Bremen and Hamburg. It is situated approximately 22 km northwest of Rotenburg, and 40 km northeast of Bremen. Zeven is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde Zeven.
Christoph Bernhard Freiherr von Galen was Prince-bishop of Münster. He was born into a noble Westphalian family.
The Treaty of Stettin or Alliance of Stettin was the legal framework for the occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania by the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War. Concluded on 25 August (O.S.) or 4 September 1630 (N.S.), it was predated to 10 July (O.S.) or 20 July 1630 (N.S.), the date of the Swedish Landing. Sweden assumed military control, and used the Pomeranian bridgehead for campaigns into Central and Southern Germany. After the death of the last Pomeranian duke in 1637, forces of the Holy Roman Empire invaded Pomerania to enforce Brandenburg's claims on succession, but they were defeated by Sweden in the ensuing battles. Some of the Pomeranian nobility had changed sides and supported Brandenburg. By the end of the war, the treaty was superseded by the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the subsequent Treaty of Stettin (1653), when Pomerania was partitioned into a western, Swedish part, and an eastern, Brandenburgian part.
The Peace of Lund, signed on 16 September (O.S.) / 26 September 1679, was the final peace treaty between Denmark–Norway and the Swedish Empire in the Scanian War.
Heinrich Holk was a Danish-German mercenary in both Christian IV of Denmark's and Albrecht von Wallenstein's service during the Thirty Years' War.
The Treaty or Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 19 June (OS) or 29 June (NS) 1679 was a peace treaty between France and the Electorate of Brandenburg. It restored to France's ally Sweden her dominions Bremen-Verden and Swedish Pomerania, lost to Brandenburg in the Scanian War. Sweden ratified the treaty on 28 July 1679.
The siege of Stralsund was an armed engagement between the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Swedish Empire from 20 September to 15 October 1678, during the Scanian War. After two days of bombardment on 10 and 11 October, the severely devastated Swedish fortress of Stralsund surrendered to the Brandenburgers. The remainder of Swedish Pomerania was taken by the end of the year, yet most of the province including Stralsund was returned to Sweden by the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Peace of Lund, both concluded in 1679.
The Prince-Bishopric of Verden was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was located in what is today the state of Lower Saxony in Germany. Verden had been a diocese of the Catholic Church since the middle of the 8th century. The state was disestablished in 1648. The territory was managed by secular lords on behalf of the Bishop of Verden. As a Prince-Bishopric of the Empire, the territory of the state was not identical with that of the bishopric, but was located within its boundaries and made up about a quarter of the diocesan area. By the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, the Prince-Bishopric was disestablished and a new entity was established, the Duchies of Bremen and Verden.
The establishment of a dominium maris baltici was one of the primary political aims of the Danish and Swedish kingdoms in the late medieval and early modern eras. Throughout the Northern Wars the Danish and Swedish navies played a secondary role, as the dominium was contested through control of key coasts by land warfare.
FältmarskalkCarl Gustaf Wrangel was a Swedish statesman and military commander who commanded the Swedish forces in the Thirty Years' War, as well as the Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northern and Scanian Wars.
The Bremen-Verden Campaign was a conflict during the Northern Wars in Europe. From 15 September 1675 to 13 August 1676 an anti-Swedish coalition comprising Brandenburg-Prussia, the neighbouring imperial princedoms of Lüneburg and Münster, and Denmark-Norway, conquered the Duchies of Bremen and Verden.
The Treaty of Habenhausen was the result of peace negotiations after the Second Swedish war on Bremen between Sweden and the city of Bremen. Negotiations in Habenhausen began on 15 November 1666; the main conditions of the treaty were: