Stift/Stadt Obernkirchen

Vogtei Hattendorf, Amt Schaumburg

Obernkirchen started as a self-governing convent in the 12th century. When the surrounding town was granted city rights in 1565, the authority of the convent was terminated. Vogtei Hattendorf consisted of villages in the Aue River valley, to the southeast of Obernkirchen. When the County of Schaumburg was partitioned in 1647, both Stadt Obernkirchen and Vogtei Hattendorf were assigned to the Hessian portion (Schaumburg-Kassel), where they remained until the end of the Holy Roman Empire, when the county was absorbed into the Kingdom of Westphalia (a Napoleonic client state). During the early 1700s, several villages were transferred into Vogtei Hattendorf from Amt Bückeburg of the County of Schaumburg-Lippe.

 

In 1817, after the restoration of Schaumburg-Kassel (but beyond the scope of this project), the Stadt and the villages of the Vogtei were combined into a new Amt Obernkirchen. In 1821, the county was formally absorbed into Hesse-Kassel. At that time, Amt Obernkirchen became a judicial district and administrative responsibility fell to a new Kreis Schaumburg.