County/Principality of Lippe(-Detmold)

County/Principality of Lippe(-Detmold) (adm. shared with Paderborn)

The County of Lippe, which constituted the bulk of Lippian Germany, arose from the previous Lordship of Lippe in 1528. Between 1558 and 1762, a variety of subordinate counties were spun off. Whenever the county was divided, I refer to the core county as Lippe-Detmold to distinguish it from the subordinate counties that also bore the Lippe name. But under either name it was fundamentally the same, fully sovereign, county. The spin-offs were as follows:

 

• In 1558, the county granted administrative responsibilities over the Ämter of Alverdissen, Barntrup, Schieder, and Sternberg, along with Samtamt Schwalenberg (where the administrative responsibilities were shared with the Bishop of Paderborn) to the County of Lippe-Spiegelberg-Pyrmont, which also included territory never under the sovereignty of the core county. In 1583, administrative responsibility over the Lippian Ämter reverted to Lippe-Detmold.
• In 1613, three new subordinate counties were spun off. None of those counties lasted past 1709, but their territory did not always immediately revert to Lippe-Detmold.
  • Lippe-Schwalenberg (consisting of Amt Schieder and Samtamt Schwalenberg) was the shortest-lived, lasting only until 1620 when the Schwalenberg line died out. Of its territory, Amt Schieder was assigned to Lippe-Brake and Samtamt Schwalenberg reverted to Lippe-Detmold.
  • Lippe-Alverdissen (consisting of the Ämter of Alverdissen and Lipperode) lasted until 1647, when its count inherited the County of Schaumburg-Lippe. The Alverdissen lands were initially incorporated into that county but were returned piecemeal to Lippe-Detmold in 1748 (Lipperode) and 1812 (Alverdissen).
  • Lippe-Brake (originally consisting the Ämter of Barntrup, Blomberg, and Brake, and having acquired Amt Schieder in 1620) lasted until 1709, when the Brake line died out. A subsequent territorial dispute between Lippe-Detmold and Schaumburg-Lippe was not resolved until 1748, with Lippe-Detmold receiving Barntrup and Brake, and Schaumburg-Lippe receiving Blomberg and Schieder. Schieder was returned to Lippe-Detmold in 1777, and Blomberg was returned in 1838 (after which those two Ämter underwent an exchange of villages to make them closer to the same size).
• In 1667, the Lippian share of Samtamt Schwalenberg was spun off as the subordinate County of Lippe-Biesterfeld. It reverted to Lippe Detmold in 1762, when the counts renounced their claims.
• In 1733, although not a spin-off, Lippe-Detmold relinquished administrative responsibilities over Amt Sternberg to the Electorate of Hannover. In 1781, those responsibilities reverted to Lippe-Detmold.

 

In addition to its fully sovereign territory, Lippe-Detmold shared sovereignty over the city of Lippstadt with the Counts of Kleve-Mark (and later, the Electors of Brandenburg and Kings of Prussia) between 1445 and 1850, at which time it became fully Prussian. (Lippstadt will be processed as part of the Mark region.)

 

Furthermore, Lippe-Detmold shared administrative responsibility for the Samtämter of Oldenburg and Stoppelberg with the Bishop of Paderborn until 1802. (It was actually sovereign in the village of Hagedorn in Samtamt Stoppelberg). Those administrative responsibilities were spun off to whatever subordinate counties received the administrative responsibilities for Samtamt Schwalenberg. In 1802, Lippe-Detmold relinquished its administrative responsibilities in Oldenburg and Stoppelberg (and its sovereignty in Hagedorn) and assumed full administrative responsibility for Schwalenberg. Oldenburg and Stoppelberg became part of the Principality of Paderborn.

 

In 1789, Lippe-Detmold was raised to a principality. It was never conquered by France or incorporated into a Napoleonic client state, so I can go past 1806 without tackling the issues that those events raise. In 1838 under Prince Leopold II, Lippe was fully reunited within its 1613 boundaries. This website covers all of Prince Leopold’s reign, which ended in 1851.