Stade
Encyclopedia
- This article discusses the German city. For the unit of measure, see Stadia (length).
Stade (ˈʃtaːdə) is a city in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region
Hamburg Metropolitan Region
The Metropolregion Hamburg is the compilation of 8 rural districts in the German federal state of Lower Saxony, 6 districts in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein and the city-state of Hamburg in northern Germany...
(Metropolregion Hamburg). It is the seat of the district
Stade (district)
Stade is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Harburg, Rotenburg and Cuxhaven, the Elbe River, and the city state of Hamburg.-History:...
named after it. The city was first mentioned in a document from 994.
It includes the bigger villages of Bützfleth
Bützfleth
Bützfleth is a village with 5000 inhabitants in the north of the city Stade in Lower Saxony.It borders in the south to Götzdorf, in the northwest to Bützflethermoor and Depenbeck, in the north to Abbenfleth and in the east to the river Elbe....
, Hagen and Haddorf, which have sub-villages themselves.
Stade is located on the German Framework Road
German Framework Road
The German Timber-Frame Road is a German tourist route leading from the river Elbe in the north to Lake Constance in the south. Along the road you can find nearly 100 cities and towns with remarkable timber-framed houses...
.
History
The first human settlers came to the Stade area in 30,000 BC.Since 1180 Stade belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. In early 1208 King Valdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II , called Valdemar the Victorious or Valdemar the Conqueror , was the King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241. The nickname Sejr is a later invention and was not used during the King's own lifetime...
and his troops conquered Stade. In August Valdemar II's cousin being in enmity with the king, the then Prince-Archbishop Valdemar
Valdemar of Denmark (bishop)
Valdemar Knudsen was a Danish clergyman and statesman. His mother gave birth to him as the posthumous illegitimate son of Canute V of Denmark...
reconquered the city only to lose it soon after again to Valdemar II. In 1209 Emperor Otto IV
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto IV of Brunswick was one of two rival kings of the Holy Roman Empire from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and emperor from 1209 on. The only king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215.-Early life:Otto was the third son of Henry the...
persuaded his ally Valdemar II to withdraw into the north of the Elbe, and the deposed Prince-Archbishop Valdemar took Stade.
On 2 May 1209 Otto IV granted important town privileges
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
("Stadtrecht") to Stade. Otto IV confirmed the burgher
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
s to be personally free and recognised them constituting a political entity of their own law, the burgenses and optimi cives of Stade. Property within the municipal boundaries could not be subjected to feudal overlordship and was to be freely inherited without feudal claims to reversion. Fair juridical procedures were constituted and maximal fines fixed. Otto IV obliged himself to prevent burghers from being taken as hostages and to liberate captured burghers.
After Otto IV had changed his mind and reinvested Prince-Archbishop Valdemar with the See
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
in 1211, Valdemar II recaptured Stade. In 1213 Otto's elder brother Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Henry was count palatine of the Rhine from 6 August 1195 to 1213.Henry was the eldest son of Duke Henry the Lion, from his marriage to Matilda, eldest daughter of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He grew up in England and became count palatine of the Rhine through his 1193...
, reconquered Stade for the Prince-Archbishop. In 1215 Henry repelled another Danish attack on Stade. In the winter of 1216 Valdemar II and his Danish troops, unable to take the city of Stade, ravaged the County of Stade. From then on Stade remained a part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen.
In medieval times (from the 13th century to the late 17th century), Stade was a prominent member of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, but was later eclipsed by Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. In 1611 the city signed a contract with Sephardic Jews, allowing the foundation of a community. In 1613 John Frederick
John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
John Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp was the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden.His parents were Adolf I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and Christine,...
, Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric, followed by settling Ashkenazzi Jews in the city, but during the turmoil of Catholic conquest and Lutheran reconquest the last archival traces of Jews date from 1630. In 1648, by the Treaty of Westphalia, the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen underwent a constitutional transformation from a prince-bishopric into a monarchy, the Duchy of Bremen. The duchy and the neighboured Principality of Verden, colloquially referred to as Bremen-Verden
Bremen-Verden
Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden , were two territories and immediate fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, which emerged and gained Imperial immediacy in 1180...
, were granted by the Treaty of Westphalia as an appanage to the Swedish crown. Stade, already under Swedish occupation since 1645, was a part of the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
province of Bremen-Verden-Wildeshausen from 1645 to 1712, and some of the buildings built by the Swedes are still in use today. During the Swedish times Stade was the capital of the province. In 1712 Denmark conquered Stade and the whole of Bremen-Verden. Stade remained Bremen-Verden's capital also after the Danes ceded it to the Electorate of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Hanover) in 1715. When in 1823 Bremen-Verden was replaced by new administrative forms, Stade continued to be the capital of the Stade region
Stade (region)
The Stade Region emerged in 1823 by an administrative reorganisation of the dominions of the Kingdom of Hanover, a sovereign state, whose then territory is almost completely part of today's German federal state of Lower Saxony...
.
In 1355 and in 1712, Stade suffered from the plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
epidemic, which killed at least 30–40% of the city's population.
On 26 May 1659 a huge fire destroyed 60% of the city.
In 1757 following the French Invasion of Hanover
Invasion of Hanover (1757)
The Invasion of Hanover took place in 1757 during the Seven Years' War when a French army under Louis Charles César Le Tellier, duc d'Estrées advanced into Electorate of Hanover and neighbouring German states following the Battle of Hastenbeck. French forces overran most of Hanover forcing the Army...
, the Army of Observation under the Duke of Cumberland and the Privy Council of Hanover
Privy Council of Hanover
The Privy Council of the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, popularly known as Hanover, was the administrative branch of the electoral government of Hanover. Its members were known as ministers and often controlled indirectly the other branches of the government, except the military which was...
(government) took shelter in Stade. Cumberland prepared to defend the town before agreeing the Convention of Klosterzeven
Convention of Klosterzeven
The Convention of Klosterzeven was a 1757 convention signed at Klosterzeven between France and the Electorate of Hanover during the Seven Years' War that led to Hanover's withdrawal from the war and partial occupation by French forces. It came in the wake of the Battle of Hastenbeck in which...
which brought about a temporary armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
.
By the end of the 17th century Ashkenazi Jews reappeared in Stade. In 1842 the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
granted equal rights to Jews and promoted to build up Jewish congregations and a regional superstructure (rabbinate
Rabbinate
The term rabbinate may refer to the office of a rabbi or rabbis as a group:*Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the supreme Jewish religious governing body in the state of Israel...
) within a nationwide scope. The Jews in Stade regarded this a progress and a burden alike, because prior they hadn't employed any rabbi and religion teacher due to the implied financial burden. In 1845 – according to the new law – a land-rabbinate, under Land-Rabbi Joseph Heilbut, was established in the city, serving 16 Jewish congregations, which were founded over the years in the whole Stade Region, with altogether 1,250 Jews in 1864 (highest number ever reached). The local authorities now requested, that the Jewish congregations establish synagogues and Jewish education for the pupils. In 1849 Stade's synagogue opened, but had to close due to financial restrictions in 1908. And a teacher for Jewish religion
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and Hebrew was employed (after 1890 Stade's community couldn't afford a teacher any more). From 1903 on the Jewish community of Stade was granted public subsidies to continue functioning. The Stade Region stayed a Jewish diaspora, and from 1860 on Stade's land-rabbinate was never staffed again, but served alternately by one of the other three Hanoverian land-rabbinates. Labour migration and emigration to urban centres outside the Stade Region and Jewish demography rather lead to a reduction of the number of Jews in the Stade Region (786 in 1913, 716 in 1928). However, most of the remaining Jews were deported during the Nazi reign. During World War II, Stade remained completely untouched by allied bombings.
In past decades, Stade has economically benefited significantly from the presence of chemical and aerospace industry at the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
river, most notably Dow Chemical and Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
. Also by the Elbe at Stade is the decommissioned Stade Nuclear Power Plant
Stade Nuclear Power Plant
The Nuclear power station Stade operated from 1972 to 2003 in Bassenfleth close to the Schwinge-river mouth into the Elbe river. It was the first nuclear plant shut down after Germany's nuclear phase out legislation and is currently undergoing the decommissioning process .The station is located...
, which was connected to the power grid from 1972 to 2003. By the time the plant was brought offline, it was Germany's second oldest reactor. Following Germany's 2002 decision to phase out nuclear power generation, Stade was the first German plant to be affected; it was closed down permanently on 14 November 2003. The process of dismantling the facility is supposed to be completed by 2015. Close to the former nuclear plant there is an inactive oil-fired power station, the Schilling Power Station.
Notable places
The old city of Stade houses a number of notable architectural monuments. Among them the St. Cosmae et Damiani Lutheran ChurchSt. Cosmae et Damiani (Stade)
The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Stade is a Lutheran church in Stade, Germany.The church was built in the early 12th century and expanded in the 17th. The Baroque altar was crafted by Christian Precht in 1674–77, and the organ was built in 1668–75 by Berendt Hus and his nephew,...
, the Wilhadi Lutheran Church, the historic town hall, the Schwedenspeicher and the Zeughaus.
Near Stade there are the gigantic pylons of Elbe Crossing 1
Elbe crossing 1
Elbe Crossing 1 is a group of masts providing an overhead crossing of a 220 kV three-phase alternating current electric powerline across the River Elbe. Constructed between 1959 and 1962 as part of the line from Stade to Hamburg north, it consists of four masts:* Each of the two portal masts...
and Elbe Crossing 2
Elbe crossing 2
Elbe Crossing 2 is a group of pylons providing overhead lines for four 380 kV three-phase alternating current circuits across the German river Elbe...
. The pylons of Elbe Crossing 2 are the tallest in Europe and the sixth-tallest in the world.
Transportation
In late 2007, the metropolitan rail line (S-BahnS-Bahn
S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...
) S3 was extended from Hamburg to Stade. Trains depart Stade station
Stade station
-External links:...
every 20 minutes (at peak times) and reach central Hamburg in less than an hour. The new transit connection is expected to increase the city's attractiveness for commuters as well as businesses, although the absence of a service after midnight remains a bone of contention for many town residents.
Local industry
Larger local industrial companies are:- Dow Chemical, chemical industry
- Airbus Deutschland GmbHAirbusAirbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
, aerospaceAerospaceAerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
industry - E.ONE.ONE.ON AG, marketed with an interpunct as E•ON, is the holding company of the world's largest investor-owned energy service provider based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name comes from the Greek word aeon which means eternity....
, power plant and infrastructure - Air LiquideAir LiquideL'Air Liquide S.A., or Air Liquide , is a major French company supplying industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, it is first in the world market in its field, now operating in over 80 countries. It is...
, industrial gases - Air Products & ChemicalsAir Products & ChemicalsAir Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. Air Products is the Lehigh...
, industrial gases - Aluminium Oxid Stade GmbH, aluminium oxideAluminium oxideAluminium oxide is an amphoteric oxide with the chemical formula 23. It is commonly referred to as alumina, or corundum in its crystalline form, as well as many other names, reflecting its widespread occurrence in nature and industry...
refineryRefineryA refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.-Types of refineries:Different types of refineries are as follows:... - Stähler Agrochemie, fertilizerFertilizerFertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
and biocides - PROKON Nord Energiesysteme GmbH, wind turbines and biofuelBiofuelBiofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
production - Lindemann (Bauunternehmen), construction business
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