Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg

Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (adm. Holstein-Gottorp)

The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg was founded in 1296 as part of Ascanian Germany. In 1305, it was partitioned and was not reunited until 1401. In 1554, it became Protestant and I start tracking place names at that point. In 1689, the Ascanian line died out and the Duchy was awarded to Lüneburg-Celle of Brunswick-Guelphic Germany. (From that point on, I refer to the territory of the Duchy as a Landesteil of whatever Guelphic entity it was part of.) When the Lüneburg line died out, its territory, including Lauenburg, was absorbed into the Electorate of Hanover, which entered into a personal union with the United Kingdom in 1714. Lauenburg (and exclaves of the city of Lübeck and the Principality of Ratzeburg that it surrounded) was occupied by France in 1803 and I end the data base at that point.