Duchies of Bremen and Verden

Duchies of Bremen and Verden
Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden (de) Hertigdömet Bremen och Hertigdömet Verden (sv)
States of the Holy Roman Empire, enfeoffed to 1) the Swedish Crown in 1648 2) the Hanoverian Crown in 1733
1648–1807 1813–1823 annexed by Westphalia (1807–1810) and France (1810–1813)
Flag Coat of arms
Former Bremen-Verden as of 1730 (in light pink) pasted over today's state borders (grey) and former region borders (white, as of 1977) with broken lines, indicating their changes between 1731 and 1977. At the northern tip the Land of Hadeln and Cuxhaven are excluded.
Capital		Stade
Languages		Low Saxon, German
Religion		mostly Lutherans, some Calvinists, very few Jews and Catholics
Government		Absolute monarchies in personal union
Monarch
•	1648–1654  - 1654–1660	Christina Charles I Gustav
•	1660–1697	Charles II
•	1697–1712	Charles III
•	1715–1727	Georg I Louis
•	1727–1760	Georg II Augustus
•	1760–1820	George III
•	1820–1823	George IV
Governor-general
•	1646–1663	Hans Christoffer Königsmarck
•	1668–1693, de facto     interrupted 1676–1679	Henrik Horn
Legislature		Landschaft (also Stiftstände), convening at Landtage or Tohopesaten (diets)
Historical era		Absolutism (European history)
•	Prince-bishoprics of     Bremen and Verden     secularised by the     Peace of Westphalia	May 15, 1648
•	First Bremian War  - Danish invasion  - Second Bremian War  - Occup. in Scanian War	1653–1654 1657–1658 1666 1675–1679
•	Danish occupation     (Great Northern War)  - Purchase by Hanover     from Danes a. Swedes     ()  - Assignment of Hadeln  - French invasion     (Seven Years' War)	1712–1715 1715 and 1719 1731 1757
•	Brandenburg-Prussian     occupation (Second     Coalition ag. France)  - French occupation     (Conv. of Artlenburg)  - Prussian occupation  - French occupation (4th     Coalition ag. France)  - Annex. by Westphalia  - Annexed by France	1801 1803– 1805 1806 1807 1807–1810 1810–1813
•	Restitution     (Battle of the Nations)	1813
•	Real union with     Royal Hanover as     High-Bailiwick of Stade	1823
Area
•	1803 (Duchy of Bremen)	5,325.4 km2 (2,056.1 sq mi)
•	1806 (Duchy of Verden)	1,359.7 km2 (525.0 sq mi)
•	ca. 1805 (Land of Hadeln)	311.6 km2 (120.3 sq mi)
Population
•	1803 (Duchy of Bremen) est.	180,000
Density		34/km2 (88/sq mi)
•	1806 (Duchy of Verden) est.	20,000
Density		15/km2 (38/sq mi)
Currency		Rixdollar
Preceded by Succeeded by Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen Bishopric of Verden Verden (Aller) Land Hadeln Kingdom of Hanover Prince-Bishopric of Münster

Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (German pronunciation: [ˈfɛːɐ̯dən]; German: Herzogtümer Bremen und 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.

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-Zweibrücken, 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 Wümme, 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.