First Steps Until 1189 AD
First settlers in the area would have been a hunting and gathering society in the late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic. There are several archaeological documented records in the areas of Wellingsbüttel, Meiendorf and Rahlstedt from 20,000 to 8000 BC. In 4000 BC first permanent settlements are recorded in the area of Fischbeker Heide. The culture of hunters is named Hamburg culture.
In 808 AD a castle was ordered to be built by Emperor Charlemagne, as a defense against Slavic and Viking intrusions. Later Charlemagne's son Louis built this castle on the old trading path from Hedeby in the North to Magdeburg and Bardowick in 810. 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 was named after him Ebbodorp, Eppendorp or Eppendorf. In 845 Vikings came up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. In 880 Hamburg was destroyed again this time by Slavic and Danish soldiers. Pope Benedict V was deposed and carried off to Hamburg in 964. He died in 965 and was buried in the St. Mary's Cathedral.
In 983, the town was destroyed by King Mstivoj of the Obodrites. In 1050 Hamburg consisted of four castles, the bishopric castle also known as Bischofsturm was built around 1037 by Bezelin. The Wiedenburg was built 1043 by Adalbert. The Alsterburg was built by Bernard II, Duke of Saxony in 1045 and the new castle built in 1050. 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In 1188 Hamburg adopted the Lübeck law (Lübsches Recht), a code of rights superseded in some areas in 1900 by the civil code of Germany (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch), although it is disputed if the law in Hamburg originated from an own law.
Read more about this topic: History Of Hamburg
Famous quotes containing the word steps:
“Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have been changed into a pine at last? No! no! it is the poet.... All the pines shudder and heave a sigh when that man steps on the forest floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)