Bremen

Bremen was a self-governing trading city on the lower Weser and had belonged to the Hanseatic League since 1260. In 1313 the prince-archbishop abandoned his city residence.

From 1381 Bremen extended its rule along the lower Weser, and in 1404 it raised a stone Roland as a symbol of civic freedom. The city paid Wallenstein to withdraw in 1628; the 1646 Diploma of Linz recognized its imperial freedom, which Hanover confirmed in 1720 after Bremen resisted Swedish Bremen-Verden.