Freiburg, Lower Saxony

Freiburg an der Elbe (German) Freiborg an'e Elv (Low Saxon) Freiburg
Panorama of the town in the early morning fog
Freiburg
Location of Freiburg within Stade district
Coordinates	53°49′23″N 9°17′4″E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Stade
Municipal assoc.	Nordkehdingen
Mayor	Walter Wolfkühler (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	34.11 km2 (13.17 sq mi)
Elevation	0-5 m
Population	1,772 (31 December 2010)
- Density	52 /km2 (135 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	STD
Postal code	21729
Area code	04779
Website	www.nordkehdingen.de

Freiburg (in High German, officially Freiburg an der Elbe; short: Freiburg/Elbe), or Freiborg (in Low Saxon) is a municipality in the district of Stade, Lower Saxony, Germany.

History

View of the town with Evangelical Lutheran St. Wulphardi Church.

Freiburg belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, a territory of imperial immediacy established in 1180. In the mid-16th c. Freiburg adopted Lutheranism. During the Leaguist occupation under Johan 't Serclaes, Count of Tilly (1628–1630), Freiburg suffered from attempts of reCatholicisation.

In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. In 1807 the ephemeric Kingdom of Westphalia annexed the duchy, before France annexed it in 1810. In 1813 the Duchy of Bremen was restored to the Electorate of Hanover, which - after its upgrade to the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814 - incorporated the duchy in a real union and the ducal territory, including Freiburg, became part of the Stade Region, established in 1823.