Lübeck/Lauenburg Region

The Lübeck/Lauenburg region consists of territory of both the Imperial City and Principality of Lübeck when the Holy Roman Empire was terminated in 1806, and the territory of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg that was absorbed into Welfian Germany in 1789. All of the current Stadt Lübeck is included. In the current Kreis Ostholstein, ambiguous cases were resolved as follows:

 

• Four noncontiguous villages awarded to the City of Lübeck in 1802 that had previously been under Holstein sovereignty are included.
• Other villages and adlige Güter administered by citizens or institutions of Lübeck that remained under Holstein sovereignty are excluded (see Holstein region).
• Other villages and Fideikommißgüter that were owned by the Bishop or Prince of Lübeck but that were under Holstein sovereignty are excluded.

 

Several villages in Kreis Ostholstein had divided jurisdiction. Portions of such villages were assigned to regions independently of each other–for example, a Holstein portion would be assigned to the Holstein region, but a portion in the Bishopric of Lübeck would be assigned to the Lūbeck/Lauenburg region.

 

As for Lauenburg, the definition includes most of the territory of the current Kreis Herzogtum Lauenburg (excepting only the city of Geesthacht and a few villages that belonged to Mecklenburg-Strelitz), some contiguous territory south of the Elbe, and the noncontiguous Amt Neuhaus. It excludes the territory of Land Hadeln. (Hadeln, Geesthacht, and the rest of the Lübeck/Hamburg condominium of Bergedorf are part of the Hamburg region.)

 

The data base covers different years for each of the three main countries in the region. The start dates are as follows:

• Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg—1554, when it became Protestant;
• Imperial City of Lübeck—1531, when the Cathedral Chapter surrendered its territory in the city;
• Bishopric/Principality of Lübeck—1535, when it became Protestant.

The end dates are as follows:

• Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (and Lübeck exclaves)—1803, when it fell to France;
• Imperial City of Lübeck (excluding exclaves in Lauenburg but including exclaves in Holstein)—1806, when it fell to France; and
• Bishopric/Principality of Lübeck
  • Southern section (Amt Kaltenhof and most of Amt Großvogtei)—1806, when it fell to France; and
  • Northern section (Amt Eutin, Amt Kollegiatstift, and exclaves of Amt Großvogtei—1864, when Denmark lost Holstein (which surrounded the northern section) to Austria.

 

Sources for the Lübeck/Lauenburg region