Jever, a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Oldenburg, 13 m. by rail N.W. of Wilhelmshaven, and connected with the North Sea by a navigable canal. Pop. (1901), 5486. The chief industries are weaving, spinning, dyeing, brewing and milling; there is also a trade in horses and cattle. The fathers (Die Getreuen) of the town used to send an annual birthday present of 101 plovers’ eggs to Bismarck, with a dedication in verse.
The castle of Jever was built by Prince Edo Wiemken (d. 1410), the ruler of Jeverland, a populous district which in 1575 came under the rule of the dukes of Oldenburg. In 1603 it passed to the house of Anhalt and was later the property of the empress Catherine II. of Russia, a member of this family. In 1814 it came again into the possession of Oldenburg.
See D. Hohnholz, Aus Jevers Vorgangenheit (Jever, 1886); Hagena, Jeverland bis zum Jahr 1500 (Oldenburg, 1902); and F. W. Riemann, Geschichte des Jeverlandes (Jever, 1896).
