Bentheimian Germany

Schwerinian Germany

Bentheimian Germany

 

Bentheim emerged as a lordship in the late 12th century. It held Tecklenburg (which, at the time, included Lingen) in personal union for a while before surrendering it to the Schwerinians.  In 1421, both Bentheim and Steinfurt were acquired by the Götterswyk family, which retained the Bentheim name and founded Bentheimian Germany. The two Lordships were initially held in personal union, but Steinfurt split off in 1454. In 1530, they were reunited and promoted to a county seated in Steinfurt. I start the database at that point. Bentheim and Steinfurt remained unified until 1693, when they again split into two countries. Bentheim was administered by the Electorate of Hannover after 1753. Both fell to France in 1803.

 

In 1557, Tecklenburg returned to Bentheim, this time as part of Bentheimian Germany, in personal union with Bentheim-Steinfurt. With it came the Lordship of Rheda, which Tecklenburg had acquired while Schwerinian (but not Lingen, which had been lost to the Habsburgs). In 1589, Limburg-Hohenlimburg (previously Neuenahrian) also entered into a personal union with Bentheim-Steinfurt, resulting in the largest geographic reach of Bentheimian territory, lasting around 20 years. At the same time, Bentheim-Steinfurt acquired the administrative rights to several territories within the Electorate of Cologne. In 1610, Tecklenburg (with Rheda), Hohenlimburg, and Alpen were spun off into a separate countries. Of those, Alpen initially held no sovereign territory—only the administrative rights in the Electorate of Cologne. The Hohenlimburg line died out in 1626 and was inherited by Alpen, becoming that country’s only sovereign territory. In 1629, however, the Alpen line died out and its administrative rights and the territory of Hohenlimburg passed to Tecklenburg (although it was administered by the widow of the last Hohenlimburg count until 1654.)

 

In 1696, Tecklenburg proper was awarded to Solms-Braunfels after a long dispute, leaving Rheda and Hohenlimburg in Bentheimian Germany. Although the ruling line continued to call itself “Bentheim-Tecklenburg”, I find it too confusing to assign the remaining territories to a country of that name when Tecklenburg itself was not part of it. Instead, I designate Hohenlimburg as the new anchor of a personal union with Rheda (although the seat of the union did eventually move to Rheda). That union lasted until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

 

In the following list of countries in Bentheimian Germany, countries and dates outside the chronological scope of the database are shown in italics. Entities held by Bentheim prior to the official advent of “Bentheimian Germany” in 1421 (and the associated dates) are shown in gray.

 

Lineage-based Bentheimian entities
  • County of Bentheim (1421-1454)
    • County of Bentheim-Bentheim (1454-1530)
    • Lordship/County of Bentheim-Steinfurt (1454-1530)
  • County of Bentheim & Steinfurt (1530-1693)
    • County of Bentheim & Steinfurt-Limburg (1610-1626)
    • County of Bentheim & Steinfurt-Alpen (1610-1629)
    • County of Bentheim-Tecklenburg (1610-1696-1817)
    • County of Bentheim-Bentheim (1693-1819)
    • County of Bentheim-Steinfurt (1693-1819)

 

Countries acquired by lineage-based Bentheimian entities
  • Lordship/County of Bentheim (1182-1421-1530-1803)
    • self-governing (1421-1530)
    • in personal union with Bentheim & Steinfurt (1530-1693)
    • self-governing (1693-1753)
    • administered by Electorate of Hannover (1753-1803)
  • Lordship/County of Steinfurt (1421-1530-1803)
    • in personal union with Bentheim (1421-1454) 
    • self-governing (1454-1530-1803)
  • County of Tecklenburg (1262-1328; 1557-1696)
    • in personal union with Bentheim (1262-1279)
    • in personal union with Bentheim & Steinfurt (1557-1610)
    • self-governing (1610-1696)
  • Lordship of Rheda (1557-1806)
    • in personal union with Bentheim & Steinfurt (1557-1610)
    • in personal union with Bentheim-Tecklenburg (1610-1696)
    • in personal union with Hohenlimburg (1696-1806)
  • County of Hohenlimburg (1589-1806)
    • in personal union with Bentheim & Steinfurt (1589-1610)
    • self-governing (1610-1626)
    • in personal union with Bentheim & Steinfurt-Alpen (1626-1629)
    • in personal union with Bentheim-Tecklenburg (1629-1696)
    • self-governing (1696-1806)

 

Schwerinian Germany

 

The Schwerinians emerged in Mecklenburg in the 12th century and founded the County of Schwerin. The county was partitioned once in 1282 and the younger line reunited the county in 1344. That line had already acquired the County of Tecklenburg (etymologically unrelated to Mecklenburg) by marriage in 1328. However, it lost Schwerin itself to the Duchy of Mecklenburg in 1358, leaving Tecklenburg as its only possession.

 

Tecklenburg acquired the Lordship of Rheda in 1365 and incorporated it as a Landesteil. Lingen was split off from Tecklenburg in 1493 but was lost to the Habsburgs in 1547. The Schwerinian line died out in 1557 and Tecklenburg reverted to Bentheim, to which it had belonged prior to 1328. (Normally, I would place Tecklenburg and Lingen in Minor-Dynastic Germany, but I recognize Schwerinian Germany as a nation because of its intertwining with the Bentheimians.)

 

In the following list of countries in Schwerinian Germany, countries and dates outside the chronological scope of the database are shown in italics. Entities in teal are subdivisions, not countries, but are included here to facilitate an exhaustive tracking of the territory over time.

 

Lineage-based Schwerinian entities
  • County of Schwerin (1167-1358) 
    • County of Schwerin-Wittenburg (1282-1344)*

 

Countries acquired by lineage-based Schwerinian entities
  • County of Tecklenburg (1328-1534-1557)
    • in personal union with Schwerin (1328-1358) 
    • including Landesteil Lingen (1328-1493)
    • including Landesteil Rheda (1365-1534-1557)
  • County of Lingen (1493-1541-1547)
    • in personal union with Tecklenburg (1541-1547)