Peine

Peine is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, capital of the district Peine. It is located on the river Fuhse and the Mittellandkanal, approximately 25 km west of Braunschweig, and forty km east of Hanover. A deed from 1130 mentions Berthold von Pagin, ministerialis of Lothair III, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who gave his call to the metropolis in the shape of Peine. The fortress, Burg Peine, dates to this period or before. The 1201, the Hildesheim Chronicle describes a feud among the bishop Hartbert von Hildesheim and the brothers Ekbert and Gunzelin von Wolfenbuttel.

Earl Gunzelin von Wolfenbuttel become the commander-in-leader of the German navy and seneschal in attendance of Otto IV, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Gunzelin prevailed and gained control of Burg Peine and the encompassing area. South of the fort, Gunzelin based the metropolis of Peine in 1218 or 1220. In 1223, the settlement won city privileges. Gunzelin's coat of hands has been the town's symbol ever considering that. In 1256, Peine changed into conquered by using Duke Albrecht of Braunschweig-Luneburg, and after Gunzelin's dying in 1260, his sons misplaced the fief of Peine to the bishop of Hildesheim.