Amt Steinhorst

The town of Steinhorst was founded in the 14th century. The Amt that grew up around it was initially part of Saxe-Lauenburg, but administrative responsibility was granted to Holstein-Gottorp in 1575. Whether Holstein-Gottorp ever exercised sovereignty over Steinhorst is a matter of dispute.* The dispute was resolved in 1739, when it was returned to the Electorate of Hannover (of which Lauenburg was then a Landesteil). In 1747, the previously imperial (i.e., city of Lübeck) portions of two villages were united with the ducal portions in Amt Steinhorst. Otherwise, the only boundary change occurred in 1671, when the village of Boden was split between Groß Boden (which remained in Amt Steinhorst) and Klein Boden (which was awarded to Amt Rethwisch).

 

* Amt Tremsbüttel was conveyed to Holstein-Gottorp at the same time as Amt Steinhorst. But unlike Amt Steinhorst, it was never returned to Lauenburg, nor did Lauenburg make a serious effort to recover it. That leads to the obvious conclusion that Holstein-Gottorp successfully asserted sovereignty over Tremsbüttel and I think they almost certainly would have made a similar assertion with regard to Steinhorst. However, Holstein-Gottorp was a spin-off of the core Holstein duchy and was thus not initially sovereign over its own territory. It was not until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 that Holstein-Gottorp exercised sovereignty over anything. I use that date to demarcate the beginning of Gottorp sovereignty over Steinhorst and Tremsbüttel. Prior to that, I place both Ämter in the country of Lauenburg-Gottorp to reflect the split between sovereignty and administrative responsibility.