Bremen in 1200, Bremen | Atlas of 1200

The archbishop's cathedral city on the Weser, the chief port between the Elbe and the Ems.

Barbarossa's Gelnhausen privilege of 1186, given with Hartwig's consent, made town air free (a serf who lived in the town a year and a day became free), regulated burghers' inheritance and put the city under the emperor's justice. The burghers refused an extra tax and drove Hartwig out in 1189; in 1190 Henry VI gave the city all the archbishop's revenues levied in it; about 1194 the burghers refused Hartwig's revenues and he laid the city under interdict, until Henry VI's peace of 1195 (en.wikipedia Hartwig of Uthlede).

Who holds it

Name: Archbishop Hartwig II, through his advocate (name not pinned)
Title: town lord
Since: 1194 (his return)
Confidence: high

Lord in 1200

The archbishop of Bremen, through his advocate (Vogt); the burghers hold an imperial privilege.

How things stand that morning

Archbishop's city, at peace with Hartwig since 1195; backs whom the archbishop backs (Philip).

Charter

Gelnhausen privilege of Frederick I, 1186 (freedom by residence, inheritance rules, imperial justice); whether it made the town free of the archbishop is disputed (de.wikipedia Hartwig II.).

Council

No council yet: seven consuls are first set up in 1225 and the first town hall is named in 1229. In 1200 the burghers act as a community (they make a settlement with the counts of Altena in 1200) under the archbishop's advocate.

Communities

Merchants of the Weser and the Frisian coast; no Jewish community recorded for 1200.

Militia

The burghers expelled their archbishop in 1189 and held out until 1195; no field record otherwise.

Walls and castle

Earlier walls of 1032 and 1157 grow into a continuous town wall by about 1229; the cathedral precinct and the archbishop's palace.

Trade and crafts

Weser shipping and trade to the North Sea coasts, Norway and England (13th-century beer trade to Scandinavia, Holland, Flanders and England is later evidence); cloth and grain; the archbishop's mint.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1200 (month not pinned)The burghers make a settlement with the counts of Altena (de.wikipedia).Depends on: the archbishop allowing it

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: de.wikipedia Geschichte der Stadt Bremen and Hartwig II.; dates of council and walls are the article's.

Primary sources for Bremen

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Annals of Stade, by Albert of Stade, Albert of Stade (about 1240 to 1256). A world chronicle written at Stade in the 1240s from older Stade and Bremen annals. Read online
Chronicle of the Slavs, by Arnold of Lübeck, Arnold of Lübeck (about 1209 to 1210). Arnold continues Helmold and writes from Lübeck, close to Danish, Welf and Baltic affairs. Read online
Chronicle of the Slavs, by Helmold of Bosau, Helmold of Bosau (about 1167 to 1172). Background only. Read online
The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online
Charter books of Lübeck and of Hamburg (documents to 1226 (Lübeck vol. 1) and to 1300 (Hamburg vol. 1)). The charters of the two north German towns and of the archbishops of Bremen and Hamburg. Read online
Charter book of Livonia, Estonia and Courland, volume 1, 1093 to 1300 (documents of 1093 to 1300, edited 1853). The documents of the Livonian mission: Innocent III's bull of 5 October 1199 calling for a crusade to protect the Livonian church, the privileges for Bishop Albert, Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen's acts for the see of Üxküll, and the later charters that settle who held what on the Düna.

Sources and studies

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.