Stadt (Hessisch) Oldendorf

Vogtei Fischbeck, Amt Schaumburg

Oldendorf emerged on the Weser River perhaps as early as the 12th century. It unambiguously held city rights by 1468, but may have received them the previous century. Vogtei Fischbeck grew up around a convent southeast of Oldendorf that was founded in the 10th century. When the County of Schaumburg was partitioned in 1647, both Stadt Oldendorf and Vogtei Fischbeck were assigned to the Hessian portion (Schaumburg-Kassel), where they remained until the end of the Holy Roman Empire, when they were absorbed into the Kingdom of Westphalia (a Napoleonic client state). After 1647, the city was informally known as Hessisch Oldendorf to distinguish it from other places with the Oldendorf name—particularly Preußisch Oldendorf in the nearby Principality of Minden. The name became official in 1905.

 

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