Emden

Emden stands on the Ems, where the river opens towards the North Sea. The port became the chief town of East Frisia, and Emperor Maximilian I granted it privileges and a coat of arms in 1495. Its ships and quays connected the Frisian coast to the commerce of the Low Countries, while its religious life drew it into the upheavals of the Reformation.

Countess Anna invited the reformer Johannes a Lasco to preach at Emden in 1542. Protestant refugees from Flanders and Brabant later found shelter here, and disruption of their home ports during the Dutch Revolt helped Emden prosper as a transshipment centre. The Synod of Emden in 1571 marked an important beginning for the Dutch Reformed Church. Conflicts between the predominantly Calvinist town and the Lutheran counts culminated in the Emden Revolution of 1595; Dutch support helped the city secure a large measure of autonomy. East Frisia passed to Prussia in 1744 after the ruling Cirksena line died out. Frederick II chartered an Emden company for trade with Canton in 1752, but French occupation during the Seven Years' War ruined the enterprise. Anglo-German forces recovered the port in 1758, and it served as a British supply base for the remainder of the conflict.