County of Lippe-Schwalenberg

County of Lippe-Schwalenberg (adm. shared with Paderborn)

County of Lippe-Biesterfeld (adm. shared with Paderborn)

The County of Lippe-Schwalenberg was one of three subordinate counties created in 1613 from the core County of Lippe(-Detmold) consisting of Amt Schieder and the Samtämter of Schwalenberg, Oldenburg, and Stoppelberg. The administrative responsibilities in that county were complicated by the fact that two countries, the Bishopric of Paderborn and a Lippian counterpart, shared those responsibilities in the three Samtämter. (Amt Schieder was entirely Lippian.) Based on the underlying sovereignty, I assign Schieder, Schwalenberg and the Hagedorn portion of Stoppelberg to Lippian Germany, and Oldenburg and the Rolfzen portion of Stoppelberg to Ecclesiastical Germany. The county lasted until 1620, whereupon its territory was divided between Lippe-Brake (Amt Schieder) and Lippe-Detmold (the three Samtämter).

 

In 1667, the three Samtämter were again spun off into a subordinate county—this time called Lippe-Biesterfeld after an estate in Samtamt Schwalenberg. That county lasted until the counts renounced their claim in 1762 and the Lippian share of administrative responsibilities reverted to Lippe-Detmold.