History of Territories in Germany Ruled by a Secular Sovereign - Alsace-Lorraine, Bremen-Verden, County of Holzappel, County of Hoya, County of Veldenz (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 32. Chapters: Alsace-Lorraine, Bremen-Verden, County of Holzappel, County of Hoya, County of Veldenz, Duchy of Cleves, Duchy of Julich, House of Griffins, Lords of Eppstein, Pomerania. Excerpt: Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (German pronunciation: German: ), 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. In 1648, both prince-bishoprics were secularised, meaning that they were transformed into hereditary monarchies by constitution, and from then on both the Duchy of Bremen and the Duchy of Verden were always ruled in personal union, initially by the royal houses of Sweden, the House of Vasa and the House of Palatinate-Zweibrucken, and later by the House of Hanover. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Bremen-Verden's status as fiefs of imperial immediacy became void; as they had been in personal union with the neighbouring Kingdom of Hanover, they were incorporated into that state. The territory belonging to the Duchies of Bremen and Verden covered a rough triangle of land between the mouths of the rivers Elbe and Weser on the North Sea, in today's German federal states of Hamburg and Bremen (the Elbe-Weser Triangle). This area included most of the modern counties (German singular: Kreis) of Cuxhaven (southerly), Osterholz, Rotenburg upon Wumme, Stade and Verden, now in Lower Saxony; and the city of Bremerhaven, now an exclave of the State of Bremen. The city of Bremen and Cuxhaven (an exclave of Hamburg) did not belong to Bremen-Verden. The Land of Hadeln, then an exclave of Saxe-Lauenburg exclave around Otterndorf, was not part of Bremen-Verden until 1731. Stade was the capital. Bremen-Verden's...