Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp

In 1544, Holstein and Schleswig, both part of Danish Germany, were partitioned between the King (who remained sovereign over the entire territory and who retained the title of Duke of Holstein) and his two half-brothers, who received the spin-off (and nonsovereign) Duchies of Holstein-Hadersleben and Holstein-Gottorp. Although Gottorp was located in Schleswig, its Holstein territories were administered from there, so I use the simplified country name of Holstein-Gottorp. (Schleswig was outside of the Holy Roman Empire and therefore is not considered here in any detail.)

 

The territory of Dithmarschen had been claimed by Holstein since the early 13th century, but numerous military attempts to assert that claim failed. In 1559, Dithmarschen finally fell to Holstein, and its territory was partitioned among the three duchies. In 1580, the Hadersleben line died out and its territory was reallocated among the other two duchies.

 

During the Thirty-Years War, Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp sided with Sweden over Denmark and, as a result, became independent of Denmark via the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. That independence technically covered only the Schleswig portion of the Duchy—the Holstein portion still belonging to the Holy Roman Empire. Nevertheless, after 1658, I place Holstein-Gottorp in Oldenburgian Germany and recognize it as having the same degree of sovereignty over its Holstein territories as the Danish Duchy had over its territories.

 

As an independent country, there were several additions and subtractions to the country’s territory:

 

• Upon independence, I also recognize Gottorp sovereignty over the Ämter of Steinhorst and Tremsbüttel, which had previously been under Gottorp administration, but Lauenburg sovereignty (simplified country name—Lauenburg-Gottorp). Steinhorst was returned to Lauenburg in 1739, but Tremsbüttel was retained.
• In 1640, when the last Schaumburg line died out, Gottorp was assigned Amt Barmstedt from the former County of Holstein-Pinneberg. However, in 1649, it sold the Amt, making it the independent County of Rantzau. Because the buyer was loyal to the Danish king rather than the Gottorp duke, its 1726 reversion was to the core Duchy of Holstein, not to Holstein-Gottorp.
• In 1769, the administration of (but not sovereignty over) Amt Oldenburg was turned over to the Bishopric of Lübeck, creating what I give the simplified country name of Holstein-Eutin (because Eutin was the seat of the Bishopric).

 

Gottorp’s territories were occupied by Danish forces numerous times after 1658. In Schleswig, the 1713 occupation became permanent and Gottorp lost sovereignty over its Schleswig territories. In Holstein, however, its territories were always returned and I ignore the occupations. Nevertheless, in 1773, the Duke of Gottorp agreed to trade his Holstein territories to Denmark for what, in 1774, became in the Duchy of Oldenburg and in doing so renounced any claim to sovereignty in either Schleswig or Holstein.