Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg/Principality of Celle

Landesteil Celle

The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg first split into two Principalities in 1269, just 34 years after the Duchy was founded as part of Guelphic Germany.  One of the principalities covered the southern section (Brunswick) and the other covered the northern section (Lüneburg). The Lüneburg line died out in 1369, and the subsequent war of succession forced the Guelphic claimant to the principality to relocate to Celle. The Guelphic claim was not solidified until 1388. At that time, another Brunswick/Lüneburg split was implemented, which lasted until 1400 when the Brunswick line died out. Yet another split was implemented in 1409, and a Principality of Lüneburg existed uninterrupted between then and 1705. However, it was not until 1512 that the other Guelphic lines gave up their claims to the city of Lüneburg itself, so the government remained in Celle. In 1527, the principality became Protestant and I being the database at that point.

 

The naming of the Guelphic principalities was complicated. The original Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg was legally indivisible. The principalities into which it was divided, therefore, had to maintain the fiction that the original duchy remained intact if the princes wanted to retain the title of “duke”. Therefore, all Guelphic entities began their names with “Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg” followed by the name of the specific principality. I separate the two parts of the name with a “/”, but that is just my convention. Hence, the fully-specified name of the core Lüneburg principality was “Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg/Principality of Lüneburg-Celle”. For simplified names, I use “Lüneburg” to represent the first part of the fully-specified name for the core Lüneburg principality and its spinoffs (“Brunswick” for the principalities of Wolfenbüttel, Calenberg, and Grubenhagen) and the seat of government to represent the second part. Thus, the simplified name of the core Lüneburg principality is Lüneburg-Celle.

 

In the 16th century, it was not uncommon for brothers to agree to rule from Celle jointly. However, such arrangements rarely lasted for long. The principality generated several nonsovereign spin-off principalities when it became expedient to remove one of the rulers because of an inappropriate marriage or at his own request. The spin-offs were as follows:

 

• Lüneburg-Harburg (1527-1642)
• Lüneburg-Gifhorn (1539-1549)
• Lüneburg-Dannenberg (1569-1671).

 

In 1617, Lüneburg-Celle acquired the whole of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, which it held until 1665. During that period, I split the principality into two Landesteile—Celle and Grubenhagen. Between, 1665 and 1689, identifying Landesteile was unnecessary. In 1689, however, Lüneburg-Celle acquired the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, so thereafter I split the principality into the two Landesteile of Celle and Lauenburg. In 1705, the Lüneburg line once again died out and both the Celle and Lauenburg Landesteile were absorbed into the Electorate of Hannover.