Verden

Verden stands on the Aller and grew around a bishopric founded about 800. Its cathedral and chapter formed the centre of a diocese established during the conversion of the Saxons, while its bishops also ruled a smaller secular territory as princes of the Empire. The northern town around Saint John's Church and the southern town around the cathedral developed alongside one another.

The Reformation changed the life of the bishopric; a church ordinance issued by Administrator Eberhard von Holle in 1568 consolidated the new faith in its territory. Under the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the prince-bishopric became a secular principality ruled by the Swedish crown. The two parts of Verden were united as one city. Danish occupation followed in 1712, and in 1715 the principality passed to Hanover.