The Schwanebeck citizens received town privileges in 1270. Bishop Albert II of Halberstadt had a chapel erected in 1334 which soon became a major pilgrimage site. The present parish church dedicated to St Peter was erected about 1345 and rebuilt in a Baroque style in the late 17th century. With the Brandenburg Principality of Halberstadt, Schwanebeck was incorporated into the Prussian Province of Saxony by 1817.