Leer

Leer lies on a bend of the Leda near its meeting with the Ems, with a navigable route to the North Sea. Saint Ludger built a chapel at the settlement in 791, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Leer was home to the Ukena, a powerful family of East Frisian chieftains. Trade with the Hanseatic towns benefited the place, and the fortress of Leerort guarded the river approach. Count Edzard secured market rights in 1508, beginning the tradition of the Gallimarkt. Leer passed with East Frisia to Prussia in 1744 and received town privileges in 1823.