Archbishopric of Bremen

Who rules

Name

Hartwig II of Uthlede

Title

archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, prince of the Empire

Since

elected 1184/85 (de.wikipedia: his election counted as a Welf victory over the Staufen); driven out by the burghers of Bremen in 1189; back in office from 1194

Born

not pinned

Family

of the archbishopric's own ministerial family of Uthlede on the lower Weser; uncle of Albert of Buxhoeveden, bishop of Livonia

Confidence

high

de.wikipedia Hartwig II.; Speyer declaration of 28 May 1199

Overlord

the king, from whom he holds the regalia; he backs Philip of Swabia

What the realm holds

• Bremen, his cathedral city, whose burghers hold Barbarossa's Gelnhausen privilege of 1186 (given with Hartwig's consent)
• lordship of the county of Stade since 1194, with two thirds of its revenues; Count Adolf III runs it and keeps a third (Gelnhausen, October 1195; see Stade (county))
• the market, mint and toll at Stade (royal grant of 1038)
• the marsh colonies of Hollanders and Saxons on the Elbe near Stade (the Altes Land, Kehdingen) and the right bank of the lower Weser (Osterstade); exact rights in 1200 not pinned
• the castle of Vörde (Bremervörde), the archbishops' stronghold in the moors (date and keeper in 1200 not checked)
• lordship of Dithmarschen since 1145 (the land governs itself: see Dithmarschen)
• lordship of the Stedinger marsh on the left bank of the Weser, granted 1062 (the Stedingers withhold dues: see Stedingen)
• nominal lordship of Land Wursten (see Land Wursten)
• the old town of Hamburg with St Mary's cathedral and its chapter (the count of Holstein has built his new town beside it)
• claims to comital rights over the Frisians of Rüstringen (not pinned)

How it was acquired

Royal grants (the Stade market, mint and toll in 1038; the Weser marshes in 1062) and the inheritance of the counts of Stade (extinct 1144), which Henry the Lion held against the see from 1145 until his fall in 1180.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Count Adolf III of Holstein (feud ended 1195; together on the Eider in 1199), Count Moritz I of Oldenburg (with him in Dithmarschen in 1187-88), Duke Bernhard of Saxony, Bishop Rudolf of Verden, the Staufen party. Rivals: the Welf brothers (Otto IV, Count Palatine Henry), King Canute VI and Duke Valdemar, the captive elect Valdemar of Schleswig, the Stedingers, the Dithmarschers when pressed, the Bremen burghers when taxed.

The realm that morning

On 1 January 1200 Hartwig holds Bremen and his see in peace with the burghers, backs Philip, and is allied with Adolf III against the Danes after the Eider stand-off of summer 1199. Stade is run by Adolf III for him under the Gelnhausen terms of 1195. His nephew Albert is in Germany raising crusaders and ships for Livonia and has not sailed; Henry of Livonia's chronicle is usually read as putting Albert at Philip's Christmas court at Magdeburg (not re-checked here).

His rival Valdemar is a prisoner in Zealand.

Wealth

Tolls and markets on the Weser at Bremen and on the Elbe at Stade, the mints of Bremen and Stade, dues and tithes from the marsh colonies (which the Stedingers withhold), and the see's estates.

Military

Ministeriales and vassals of the Weser and Elbe lands; the castle of Vörde. Stade castle is run by Adolf III's men under the 1195 terms. No figures in the sources used.

Threats

• the Danes on the Eider, in Dithmarschen and on the Elbe
• the Welf claim to Stade
• the captive rival Valdemar, whom Denmark or Rome could set loose
• the Stedingers' refusal of dues
• the burghers of Bremen

Consort

none (a churchman)

Heirs

none: the chapters of Bremen and Hamburg elect. His rival, the elect Valdemar of Schleswig, is a prisoner of the Danish crown since 1192-93 (campaign notes; held at Søborg in Zealand, en.wikipedia Canute VI).

Officers

Names of the archbishop's advocate (Vogt) of Bremen, his advocate at Stade and his chief ministeriales on 1 January 1200 are not pinned. Known men of his circle: his nephew Albert of Buxhoeveden, canon of Bremen, named bishop of Livonia in 1199 (patent of 28 March 1199, en.wikipedia), and Albert's ministerial kin of Buxhoeveden (Bexhövede near Loxstedt). A Burchard of Stumpenhusen is dean of Bremen cathedral by 1207 (en.wikipedia Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen); his office in 1200 is not pinned.

Court in 1200

Bremen is his seat; where he spent Christmas 1199 is not pinned.

Treaties

Henry VI's peace of 1195 between Hartwig, Adolf III of Holstein and the burghers of Bremen (de.wikipedia Hartwig II.); at the Gelnhausen diet of October 1195 Adolf agreed to administer Stade for the archbishop and keep a third of its revenues (en.wikipedia Hartwig of Uthlede; see Stade (county)). His promise of 1194 to the chapter not to pledge reverted fiefs such as Stade or Dithmarschen without its consent. Alliance in the field with Adolf III against the Danes in 1199.

Feuds

With the Danish crown (Canute VI and Duke Valdemar), which holds his rival; with the Welf brothers, who claim Stade as Henry the Lion's heirs; with the Stedingers, who withhold dues and tithes. No open feud with the burghers since 1195.

Throne war

Philip (Staufen), at least since 28 May 1199, when he is named among Philip's princes in the Speyer declaration (de.wikipedia Speyerer Fürstenerklärung); de.wikipedia (Hartwig II.) says he appeared on the Staufen side. Firmness: fair. He had been the Welfs' man until the 1190s, and his quarrel with the Welfs over Stade keeps him on Philip's side.

Relations with rome

His double election against Valdemar (1192) went to the curia; how Rome stands on it in 1200 is not pinned. No interdict or excommunication on him is known on 1 January 1200.

Coinage

The archbishop's pennies struck at Bremen and at Stade (market, mint and toll at Stade since 1038, de.wikipedia Stade).

The host

His ministeriales and vassals of the Weser and Elbe lands. He led his own men to the Eider in summer 1199. His failure against the Stedingers in 1207 shows how limited the force was.

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.

In 1200

1. early spring 1200Bishop Albert of Livonia sails for the Düna with his fleet of crusaders (en.wikipedia Albert of Riga gives 23 ships; other figures exist); Riga is founded in 1201.Depends on: the men and ships gathered over the winter and the merchants' help Stopped by: a Danish or Welf block on the sea road, or Hartwig keeping the men for the Danish war
2. 1200 (month not pinned)Adolf III hands Rendsburg on the Eider to Canute VI; in 1200-01 the Danes take Dithmarschen, the see's own land (NDB, ADB).Depends on: continued Danish pressure and no help from Philip in the north Stopped by: a joint Holstein and Bremen army on the Eider as in 1199, or a truce
3. 1200 (month not pinned)The burghers of Bremen make a settlement with the counts of Altena, the first time the town acts outward on its own (de.wikipedia Geschichte der Stadt Bremen).Depends on: the archbishop letting the town act Stopped by: a quarrel between Hartwig and the town

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201-1202 (after this year)After Stellau (1201) and Adolf's capture, Count Palatine Henry the Welf gets Stade (1202), and Hartwig loses the county.Depends on: the Danish victory over Adolf Stopped by: Adolf keeping his army and his freedom

Places of note

• Bremen cathedral and the archbishop's palace: seat of the see
• Vörde castle: the archbishops' castle in the moors (keeper in 1200 not pinned)
• Uthlede: home of Hartwig's ministerial family

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes (Part 6 D, Part 9) give Hartwig no side in the throne war [thin]. de.wikipedia (Hartwig II.) puts him in the Staufen party, and the Speyer declaration of 28 May 1199 names him among Philip's princes (de.wikipedia Speyerer Fürstenerklärung). Suggest ruling him Staufen on 1 January 1200, with the caution that the Speyer list includes princes who were not there in person.
• campaign notes say Hartwig consecrated Albert of Buxhoeveden in 1199. en.wikipedia (Albert of Riga) says Hartwig named him bishop (patent of 28 March 1199); en.wikipedia (Hartwig of Uthlede) puts the appointment in 1198. Neither mentions the consecration. The size of Albert's first fleet also differs between the two articles (23 ships in Albert of Riga; 13 ships with 500 armed pilgrims, undated, in Hartwig of Uthlede); the campaign should take any figure as uncertain.

Evidence: Hartwig's career and his side in 1199 are well attested (de.wikipedia from the Bremen literature; the Speyer declaration). The archbishop's officers in 1200 and the exact extent of his rights in the marshes are not pinned.

On the map: A rough outline of the see's own ground between the Weser and the Elbe. The boundaries with Verden and with the Welf lands south of Buxtehude are approximate, and the marsh colonies' rights were a patchwork of tithes, dues and courts rather than a block.

Primary sources for this realm

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.