Oldenburgian Germany

Danish Germany

Oldenburgian Germany dates from the founding of the county of the same name in the 12th century. It was based in a castle located to the west of Bremen in what is now Stadt Oldenburg (not to be confused with Stadt Oldenburg in Holstein or with Samtamt Oldenburg in the Paderborn region).

 

In 1448, the Count was elected King of Denmark and in 1459, he acquired the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Holstein (Duchy of Holstein after 1474). I place those two countries in Danish Germany and leave the term “Oldenburgian Germany” to the original County (including the territory of the County of Delmenhorst), which was left to the King’s younger brother. The assignment of territory between Danish and Oldenburgian Germany was not straightforward after that. The following adjustments were made:

 

  • Schleswig and Holstein underwent numerous partitions over the years, and one of the 1544 spin-offs, the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, became independent of Denmark in 1658. Thus, I remove it from Danish Germany at that point and return it to Oldenburgian Germany. (In 1762, the Duke of Gottorp became Czar of Russia, so Holstein-Gottorp could have been classified as Russian Germany at that time. However, he survived only six months in that role. His successor as Duke was his son, while his successor as Czarina was his wife—Catherine the Great, an Ascanian—so the personal union did not persist and I ignore it.)
  • Two previously Frisian lordships became Oldenburgian by entering into personal unions with the County of Oldenburg—the Lordship of Jever in 1575 and the Lordship of Kniphausen in 1624.
  • In 1667, the line ruling the original County of Oldenburg died out and it fell to the King, thus switching the County (and Delmenhorst, with which it was in personal union) to Danish Germany. Jever and Kniphausen, however, did not join Danish Germany. Jever entered into a personal union with Anhalt-Zerbst in Ascanian Germany. Kniphausen was inherited by the illegitimate son of the last Oldenburgian count, who already had administrative responsibility and who founded a new house (Aldenburg-Bentinck) that I assign to Minor-Dynastic Germany.
  • In 1773, the Duke of Gottorp agreed to surrender his territory in Holstein (Schleswig territory having been lost in 1713) in exchange for the Counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, which were merged into a new Duchy of Oldenburg the following year. Thus, the pre-1575 division was restored—Danish Germany was comprised of Schleswig and Holstein, Oldenburgian Germany consisted of the new Duchy of Oldenburg, and Jever and Kniphausen were neither Danish nor Oldenburgian.

 

After 1586, a member of a junior Gottorp line always filled the Bishopric of Lübeck. Nevertheless, being a bishopric, I place it in Ecclesiastical Germany. When it was secularized as the Principality of Lübeck in 1803, however, I move it to Oldenburgian Germany. In 1815, it entered into a personal union with the newly-created Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and was incorporated into the Grand Duchy as a Landesteil in 1849. I include only the portion of the Landesteil never occupied by France in the database until 1864. (The Principality of Birkenfeld, which also entered into personal union with the Grand Duchy after 1815, was never Oldenburgian under the Holy Roman Empire.)

 

Between 1712 and 1715, Denmark controlled the Duchy of Bremen and the Principality of Verden (both previously Swedish), after which they were turned over to the Electorate of Hanover (which, at that time, was part of British Germany).

 

There were numerous instances in which the administration of all or part of a country was outsourced to other countries. Certain northern subdivisions of the County of Oldenburg were administered, from time to time, by the Count of Aldenburg or by the Lordship of Kniphausen (and Kniphausen itself was temporarily administered by the Count of Aldenburg). Delmenhorst and portions of Oldenburg were administered by the Electorate of Hannover between 1711 and 1731, as was Amt Wildeshausen during its short stay in Danish Germany (1712-1715). In Holstein, certain villages , known as Stadtstiftsdörfer, were administered by institutions or citizens of the nearby Imperial Cities of Lübeck and Hamburg. Certain noble estates, known as Fideikommißgüter, were administered by the Bishopric of Lübeck or its secular successors.

 

In the following list of countries in Oldenburgian and Danish Germany, countries and dates outside the chronological scope of the database are shown in italics. Countries outside of the Holy Roman Empire are shown in shades of gray—those within the boundaries of modern Germany in blue-gray and those within the boundaries of modern Denmark in lighter gray.

 

Oldenburgian Germany

 

Countries near the Weser estuary (with spin-offs, personal unions, and outsourcings)

 

  • County of Oldenburg (~1108-1529-1667)
    • County of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst (1281-1447)
    • portions administered by the Count of Aldenburg (1654-1667)
  • County of Delmenhorst (1547-1667; 1773-1774)
    • in personal union with the County of Oldenburg (1547-1577)
  • Lordship of Jever (1575-1667)
  • Lordship of In- and Kniphausen (1624-1667)
    • administered by the Count of Aldenburg (1658-1667)
  • County/Duchy of Oldenburg (1773-1811)
    • portions administered by the Lordship of Kniphausen (1773-1811)
  • Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (1815-1918)
    • Oldenburg Landesteil (1849-1918)

 

Countries in Schleswig-Holstein (with personal unions)

 

 

Countries in the Southern Rhineland

 

  • Principality of Birkenfeld (in personal union with the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg) (1815-1849)
  • Grand Duchy of Oldenburg/Birkenfeld Landesteil (1849-1918)

 

Danish Germany

 

Countries near the Weser estuary (with outsourcings)

 

 

Countries in Schleswig-Holstein (with spin-offs and outsourcings)