The municipality Bremervörde consists beside the town Bremervörde of the villages Bevern, Elm, Hesedorf, Hönau-Lindorf, Nieder Ochtenhausen, Iselersheim, Mehedorf, Minstedt, Ostendorf, Plönjeshausen and Spreckens.
Because of the strategically advantageous location between the rivers Elbe and Weser it was a matter of conflicts in the following centuries. Later it came under the control of Henry the Lion and then, in 1219, it fell under the control of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, providing functions as capital with the prince-archiepiscopal residence and seat of government. The parliament, the Bremian Estates, convened at other places (usually in Basdahl), the Bremian cathedral chapter had its seat in the city of Bremen.
The prince-archbishops added up for the development of Vörde. Prince-ArchbishopJohn III (d. 1511), founded a hospital and infirmary, renovated in 1576 by AdministratorHenry III, who also else contributed to Vörde's prosperity as a market town.[4]
Vorwerk of the former Castle: The Chancery, now housing the Bachmann-Museum for regional archeology, geology and history.
Administrator John Frederick extended the fortified castle by a Vorwerk, including stables and the prince-archiepiscopal Chancery (built in 1608), since 1960 housing a museum, called Bachmann-Museum for regional archeology, geology and history since 1985. The capital function caused the town to be named Bremervörde since the mid-17th century. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish Crown. The Swedes relocated the capital to Stade.
Bremervörde under Danish attack in 1657 during the Dano-Swedish War.
During the Swedish reign the Danish King Frederick III (as of 1648, deposed by the Swedes as Bremian Administrator Frederick II in 1645) invaded the Duchy and bombed his former residence in 1657. In 1682 the damaged castle and the castle church, burial place of many prince-archbishops, were demolished, the rubble bricks moved to Stade for the construction of the Swedish Warehouse (Schwedenspeicher) there. After another Danish occupation between 1712 and 1715 during the Great Northern War the Duchy of Bremen was handed over to the House of Hanover, ruling the area until 1866. In 1823 the Duchy was abolished and its territory became part of the Stade Region.
On May 21, 1945, shortly after the end of the Second World War, the fleeing senior Nazi Heinrich Himmler was captured at an Allied roadblock in Bremervörde.
Bremervörde is the end point of the "Deutsche Fährstraße" established in May 2004, an institution similar to the American National Scenic Byways. It connects various places between Bremervörde and Kiel with relation to the history of ferries and crossing of rivers, like the historic transporter bridges in Osten and Rendsburg.
^Konrad Elmshäuser, "Die Erzbischöfe als Landesherren", in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.), Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ISBN978-3-9801919-7-5), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ISBN978-3-9801919-8-2), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ISBN978-3-9801919-9-9), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 159-194, here p. 182.
^Jörg Hillmann, "Heinrich (III.), Herzog von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Lebensläufe zwischen Elbe und Weser: Ein biographisches Lexikon, Brage bei der Wieden and Jan Lokers (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 2002, (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vol. 16), pp. 127–131, here p. 129. ISBN3-931879-08-9.
