In the late Middle Ages, a bishop’s palace stood on the corner of Bispegade and Jomfrugang. Bispeporten (bishop’s gate) stood 50 metres further north, and just outside the gate, there was a moat, which demarcated the town to the north. The only way to enter or exit the town was by crossing Bispebroen bridge.
Only in the last few centuries have bishops lived in Haderslev. The area around Haderslev was part of the Schleswig diocese, so the bishop and the cathedral were located in Schleswig.
The chapter here was tasked with holding services, training priests, managing the church’s land estates and collecting the taxes the church was owed – all on behalf of the bishop of Schleswig, who visited Haderslev from time to time to check that church matters were handled correctly.
In 1454/55, bishop Nicolaus Wulff purchased some land – corresponding to Bispegade 9–13 today – and built his palace there. Built on the southern section of the plot, it was a grand, two-storey stone house, with the gable facing the street. Not a lot is known about it, except that it did not survive the great fire in 1627.
When the new border separated a large section of Jutland from the cathedral in Schleswig in 1920, a new diocese was established. The Church of Our Lady was elevated to cathedral, and Haderslev finally got its own bishop. The new bishop’s palace is located a fair way out of the town on Ribe Landevej.