Hamburg was founded in the 9th century. Since the Middle Ages, it has been an important trading center in Europe. The convenient location of the port and its independence as a city and state for centuries strengthened this position.
The city was a member of the medieval Hanseatic trading league and a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1815 until 1866 Hamburg was an independent and sovereign state of the German Confederation, then the North German Confederation (1866–71), the German Empire (1871–1918) and during the period of the Weimar Republic (1918–33). In Nazi Germany Hamburg was a city-state and a Gau from 1934 until 1945. After the Second World War Hamburg was in the British Zone of Occupation and became a state in the western part of Germany in the Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949).
Etymology
According to Ptolemy, the settlement's first name was Treva. A fortress there was named Hammaburg ( means "fortress"). In Old High German, means and means , but the meaning of in this context is unknown. The language spoken was not Old High German, as Low Saxon was spoken there. Other theories hold that the castle was named for the word of a surrounding vast forest, .Verg, p. 8 Hamm as a place name occurs a number of times in Germany, but its meaning is equally uncertain. It could be related to "heim" and Hamburg could have been placed in the territory of the ancient Chamavi. However, a derivation of "home city" is perhaps too direct, as the city was named after the castle. Another theory is that Hamburg comes from which is Old Saxon for or .
First steps until 1189 AD
The first settlers in the area were a hunting and gathering society in the late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic, which has several archaeological documented records in the areas of Wellingsbüttel, Meiendorf and Rahlstedt from 20,000 to 8000 BC. In 4000 BC, the first permanent settlements are recorded in the area of Fischbeker Heide.Verg, p. 11 The culture of hunters is named Hamburg culture.
In 808 AD, Emperor Charlemagne ordered a castle built, as a defense against Slavic and Viking intrusions. Charlemagne's son Louis built this castle in 810 on the old trading path from Hedeby in the North to Magdeburg and Bardowick. On 25 December 831, Ansgar was consecrated as the archbishop for the Hammaburg. Ansgar became later known as the Apostle of the North. Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims claimed to have built a baptistery in a small village in this area and this village, Ebbodorp, Eppendorp or Eppendorf, was named after him.
Vikings came up the River Elbe in 845 and destroyed Hamburg, which at that time was a town of around 500 inhabitants. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Hamburg was destroyed again in 880, this time by Slavic and Danish soldiers. In 964, Pope Benedict V was deposed and carried off to Hamburg. He died in 965 and was buried in the St. Mary's Cathedral.Verg, p.15 In 983, the town was destroyed by King Mstivoj of the Obodrites.
There are four famous castles linked to Hamburg in the 11th century. The bishopric castle also known as Bischofsturm was built around 1037 by Bezelin. The Wiedenburg was built in 1043 by Adalbert. The Alsterburg, that never really existed and the Neue Burg built in 1023. After further raids by the Obodrites in 1066, the bishop Adalbert permanently moved to Bremen.
In 1188 Hamburg adopted the Lübeck law (Lübsches Recht), a code of rights superseded in some areas in 1900 by the civil code of Germany (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch). It is disputed if the law in Hamburg originated from its own law.
On the way: 1189–1529
A charter in 1189 from Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted Hamburg the status of a free imperial city, tax-free access up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea, and the rights to fish, to cut trees and the freedom of military service.Verg, p. 16 The charter was given orally for Hamburg's backing of Frederick's crusades, and in 1265 a letter, in all probability forged, was presented to or by the Rath of Hamburg.Verg, p. 26
In 1190 the bishop's old city and the count's new city created a noble council (Rath). Valdemar II of Denmark raided and occupied Hamburg in 1201 and in 1214 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declined all claims of property northern of the river Elbe. Hamburg was controlled by Denmark. The Danish governor united the new and the old parts of Hamburg under one law, town hall and court. A series of Danish defeats culminating in the Battle of Bornhöved on 22 July 1227 cemented the loss of Denmark's northern German territories and liberated Hamburg. Hamburg submitted to Adolf IV of Holstein.Verg, p. 20 Starting in 1230, a new fortification was built. Its layout and names can be found in 2008, e.g. Millerntor-Stadion, named after the western city gate Mildradistor or Mildertor. The park Planten un Blomen is built on the old fortification.Verg, p. 23
On 5 August 1284 a great fire destroyed all but one residential house in Hamburg. The first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a city in Germany in German language, the Ordeelbook (Ordeel: sentence) was written by the solicitor of the senate Jordan von Boitzenburg in 1270.Verg, p. 25 In 1350 the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, killed more than 6,000 in Hamburg, half of the city's population.
Hanseatic League
Two contracts between Hamburg and Lübeck in 1241 mark the origin of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities. The first contract stated that both cities would defend their freedom and privileges together. The second contract stated that the road between the two cities would be secured against bandits and that deported émigrés would not find shelter in the other city. In 1264 the east–west route for commerce was cobbled in Hamburg. It was the third cobbled road in northern Europe and called Steinstraße, which is still the name of a street in Hamburg.
On 8 November 1266 a contract between Henry III and Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a hanse in London. This was the first time in history the word hanse was used in connection with the Hanseatic League trading guild.Verg, p. 30 In May 1368 a fleet of 37 ships and 2,000 armed men, including two cogs and 200 men from Hamburg, conquered Copenhagen and razed it to the ground. In 1377 a new currency, the Mark, was established by the Wendischer Münzverein (Wend currency association). The cities Hamburg, Lübeck, Luneburg, Wismar and Rostock formed this association. Hamburg's most important export article was beer. Three tonnes of beer cost one mark. At this time Hamburg's population was 14,000. Hamburg was the third–largest city in the Hanseatic League, after Lübeck and Cologne.
Pirates were a problem for Hamburg and the League. On 21 October 1401 the pirate Klaus Störtebeker was executed in Hamburg, although pirates were often thrown overboard to drown or decapitated shortly after their capture.Verg, pp. 32–37 In 1433 Simon van Utrecht defeated the pirates and conquered Emden. Bremen started a war of capturing ships against Hamburg, Lübeck, Lüneburg and the Netherlands in 1438.Verg, p. 42
First constitution
The first constitution of Hamburg was established on 10 August 1410. A civil commotion led to a compromise (German:Rezeß, literally meaning: withdrawal). A citizen, Hein Brandt, had met the duke Johannes IV of Saxe-Lauenburg, who owed Brandt money. Brandt took the duke to task and insulted him. The duke complained to the senate. The senate cited Brandt, who confessed and was arrested. This caused an uproar and citizens formed a council. At this time the senate was formed by the richest citizens, without election, and the senate did not need to provide account for its decisions. The situation in Hamburg was especially unstable because in 1408, members of the senate of Lübeck had found asylum in Hamburg after they were expelled by the citizens of Lübeck.
The formed Council of the Sixty (German: der Sechzigerrat) demanded to free Brandt and to enter into negotiations. The mayor, Kersten Miles, and the senate freed Brandt and agreed after four days of negotiations to a compromise of 20 points. These points included: Article 1. No citizen, poor or rich, is to be arrested without a hearing at the senate or a court. Article 6. The senate is not allowed to begin a war without a hearing of the citizens. Article 10. The senate cannot grant safe conduct for a person who owes a citizen of Hamburg. Article 13. When there are disputes between the senate and the citizens, these disputes need to be corrected immediately and are not to be delayed by jurists. Article 15. Disloyal public servants need to be discharged.Art. 1: Kein Bürger, arm oder reich, darf ohne Anhörung durch Rat oder Gericht verhaftet werden.Art. 6: Es soll der Rat keinen Krieg anfangen, sondern darüber erst die Bürger fragen.Art. 10: Der Rat darf niemendem freies Geleit zusichern, der Schulden bei Hamburger Bürgern hat.Art. 13: Bei Streitigkeiten zwischen Rat und Bürgern sind diese ohne Verzug zu bereinigen und dürfen auch nicht durch Juristen verzögerd werden.Art. 15: Untreue Bedienstete der Stadt sind zu entlassen.Verg, p. 39 It is considered to be the first constitution of Hamburg.Verg, p. 39
The Lutheran church law and its consequences
On 15 May 1529 the city embraced Lutheranism. The senate of Hamburg had asked Martin Luther to send his friend and colleague Johannes Bugenhagen to create a new church order. Bugenhagen's work created a state church for Hamburg. The service was held in Low German and the parishes elected their own pastors. There was no iconoclasm in Hamburg mostly because of Johannes Aepinus, the new pastor of St. Petri, who stated the statues of false gods and lying pictures needed to be removed from the churches instantly. He took them down and stored them, so that altarpieces by Meister Bertram and others survived, and are now in the city's museums. At the same time on 24 February, the long compromise (German: Langer Rezeß) reorganized the political system. The senate, now 24 aldermen, held the executive and judicial authority. But without the council of the citizens, no laws could be enacted. The councils were elected by the 4 parishes. The parishes were now also administrative divisions of the city.Verg, pp. 45–46 In May 1531 the cathedral chapter closed the Catholic cathedral, it only reopened as Lutheran proto-cathedral in 1540.Jana Jürgs, Der Reformationsdiskurs der Stadt Hamburg: Ereignisabhängiges Textsortenaufkommen und textsortenabhängige Ereignisdarstellung der Reformation in Hamburg 1521-1531, Marburg an der Lahn: Tectum, 2003, p. 95. . Roman Catholics lost their citizenship and were challenged to leave the city, although remaining Catholics could practice their religion in the small chapels of the diplomatic missions of the Holy Roman Empire. Not until 1785 did the senate acknowledge a small community.Dennis S. Slaubaugh, '"Katholiken", Hamburg Lexikon, p. 266
In 1558 the Hamburg stock market was founded. In 1567 Hamburg asked a group of English traders to settle in the city. This was in conflict with the rules of the Hanseatic League, but Hamburg used the taxes to downsize the public debt. The cause of this debt was Hamburg's contribution to the Schmalkaldic War (1546–1552) between the Lutheran dukes and cities and the emperor.Verg, pp. 50–51
Modern history
17th and 18th centuries
When the Senate commissioned Jan van Valckenborgh to build a second layer to the city's fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), Hamburg was also extended by the newly created "New Town" (Neustadt). Some of these street names still date from the grid system of roads he introduced.History of the area , accessed 3 November 2012