Verden an der Aller
Verden an der Aller (), also called Verden (Aller) or simply Verden, is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the river Aller. It is the administrative centre of the district of Verden.
Verden (state)
In 985, Emperor Otto III, represented by his mother, Empress Theophanu, granted the bishop of Verden market, minting, taxation and ban privileges in the "Sturmigau" – as the region of the present district of Verden and the pre-1977 district of Rotenburg was then called. These privileges formed the basis of a future prince-bishopric (Hochstift), which materialised with the carve-up of the old Duchy of Saxony in 1180. Prince-Bishop Tammo of Verden gained for about a quarter of the diocesan territory, where the see held already considerable privileges, the territorial princely power, establishing the Prince-Bishopric of Verden. In 1195 Prince-Bishop Rudolph I founded the castle of Rotenburg upon Wümme as a stronghold against the neighbouring Bremen prince-archbishops. Later the castle took on the function of a prince-episcopal "Residenz".