Land Wursten

Amt Nordholz

Vogtei Altenwalde & Kloster Neuenwalde

Land Wursten was settled by Frisians in the 8th century. They resisted territorial claims made by the Archbishop of Bremen, the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, and others, fully expelling them from the territory in the 13th century. It was not until 1499 that the Peasant Republic of Wursten finally submitted to the Archbishop of Bremen (albeit retaining significant autonomy) in order to fend off Saxe-Lauenburg, Oldenburg, and the Imperial City of Bremen. The Archbishop’s successor, however, proved to be an unsatisfactory ruler and Wursten turned to Saxe-Lauenburg for relief. That relief was short-lived, as the Archbishopric of Bremen reconquered Wursten in 1524, wiping out all vestiges of autonomy in the process.

 

Nordholz and Deichsende were not part of Land Wursten and the latter became the seat of a Gericht under the Archbishop of Bremen in the mid 16th century. In the early 17th century, Wursten contracted to dike the marshlands to its west. When it could not make its payments, one of the contractors took possession of the reclaimed land and set up his own Gericht there (Neues Land Wursten). His successor obtained jurisdiction over Gericht Deichsende and proceeded to merge to two Gerichte into Amt Nordholz in 1672.

 

A convent (Kloster) was founded in Wursten in 1219. It was forced to move to Altenwalde (outside of Wursten) in 1282, then to Neuenwalde in 1334. After the Kloster moved, however, Altenwalde retained it identity as a distinct subdivision of the Archbishopric, in this case as a Vogtei. In 1793, it was merged with Land Wursten into Vogteigericht Altes Land Wursten. The territory held by the Neuenwalde Kloster (called a Klostergut) also constituted a subdivision of the Archbishopric. After it was secularized by Sweden after the Thirty-Years War, it became a Klostergericht and in 1683 was elevated to a Klosteramt. It was never incorporated into either Vogteigericht Altes Land Wursten or Amt Nordholz.