Buxtehude (), officially the Hanseatic City of Buxtehude (, ()), is a town on the Este River in Northern Germany, belonging to the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and attached to the city's S-Bahn rapid transit network. Buxtehude is a medium-sized town and the second largest municipality in the Stade district (). It lies on the southern border of the Altes Land in close proximity to the city-state of Hamburg. To the west lie the towns of Horneburg and Stade and to the south there are a number of incorporated villages featuring mostly upscale housing; e.g., Ottensen and Apensen. History Early signs of settlements are the Daensen folding chair from a Bronze Age tumulus near Daensen and the Ovelgönne bread roll from the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, which was found in a loam mine in Ovelgönne. A settlement by the Este river is first recorded in 959. The manor of "Buochstadon" was given to the Abbey of Magdeburg. Soon a wharf, "Hude", is established. In 1135 the settlement is mentioned as "Buchstadihude" in a reference to the success of trade from the quay. In 1180 the Duchy of Saxony, to which "Buchstadihude" belonged, was conquered and dissolved. Buxtehude became part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, newly upgraded to imperial immediacy it became one of the many successor states of the Duchy of Saxony. Nevertheless, ecclesiastically Buxtehude remained part of the Diocese of Verden until Catholicism was overthrown in the Reformation with that diocese remaining vacant since 1644. In 1197 two royal settlers founded a Benedictine monastery near the village. Owing to the fertile soil and a partial participation in the saline of Lüneburg wealth and population increased. In 1280 the prince-archbishop Giselbert of Bremen ordered the settlement to be protected by defensive walls and fortifications including 5 zwingers, 7 peels and 3 town gates. In 1328 the town hall is mentioned for the first time and the settlement is granted full town privileges, based on the law of Hamburg. By now "Buxtehude" was self-governing and rapidly growing into a centre of trade. In 1485 the immensely wealthy "Master Halepaghen", cousin and tutor of the burgomaster of Hamburg, died and donated his assets to the town for scholarships and charitable purposes. In 1542 the town council of Buxtehude adopted Lutheranism within its domain. In the 1600s Hanseatic trade declined with