History of Verden (Aller)

by Dora Asch

Index

A few facts about Verden

Historical timetable

Massacre of Verden

The cathedral

Located at the river 'Aller'

A town in Lower Saxony, north Germany

Verden is famous for the massacre of Saxons in 782, for its cathedral, and for its horse breeding

Population: 26.729 habitants

It's called Verden (Aller) because the French town Verdun is also called Verden in German

8000 4000 before Christ: Supposedly, people already livedin Verden in the Middle Stone Age

450: In the Migration Period, the Saxons colonized Verden

782: The massacre of Verden, where 4500 Saxons were killed

about 800: The Bishopric of Verden was founded and was calledFerdi in Saxonia

1034: The first time the name Verden appeared in papers

1210: The bishop Yso built a town wall as protection of the northpart of Verden

1350: Another wall was built for the south part of Verden and thecity was split in two parts

1220: first bridge across the Aller was built

Historical timetable

1667: the town wall between the north and south part of Verden wasdestroyed

1891: first horse race ever in Verden

1973: dedication of the Niedersachsenhalle

1997: first European championship of the dressage rider in Verden

2002-present: annual world championship for dressage rider

1402: The buccaneer Klaus Strtebeker was executed in Hamburgand he donated seven windows for the cathedral in Verden becauseof the seven deadly sins

The Massacre of Verden

also called Bloodbath of Verden or Bloody Verdict of Verden

The Saxons rebelled against Charles the Great, didn't want tobow down to Karl, the king of the Franconians, and didn't wantto adopt the Christian faith

Between 1934 and 1935, the German nationalists built a memorialknown as the Sachsenhain ('Saxon Grove')

4500 stones were put along a 2 km long path

the leader of the Saxons, called Widukind, started a revolutionagainst the Franconians and Charles the Great

Charles the Great wanted revenge and in 782, during the SaxonWars, 4500 Saxons were killed under his orders

Widukind excaped to Denmark before the massacre

the Sachsenhain was used as a training area for the Hitler Youth,and later fugitives were hidden there

since 1950, there's a hostel called Evangelischer Jugendhof Sachsenhain (Evangelical youth hostel Sachsenhain)

The cathedral in Verden

Dom St. Maria und Ccilia

was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Bisphoric of Verden

an Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral

was built in two construction phases, from 1290 until 1323,finished in 1473 until 1490, and renovated 1830

the town's landmark and one of the main attractions in Verden

before this building, there were another two wooden churchesthat were burned down, first in 850, second in 950

part of the cathedral used to be a school in 1002, but over timemore and more people went to school and they built anotherbuilding for the school in 1872, now called the Domgymnasium

the part of the cathedral which used to be a school is now a small religious shop

first gothic cathedral in Lower Saxony

the cathedral was used as an example for many other churches in Germany

since 1973, the cathedral has its own cemetry

Sources

http://www.wikipedia.de

http://www.verden.de

http://www.dom-verden.de

http://www.bonnensia.de

http://www.ehj.de/sachsenhain