The primary source for the structure of subdivisions within Oldenburg both before and after 1699 was pages 96 and 97 of the following:
Das Grossherzogthum Oldenburg – Google Books, by K.G. Böse, published in 1863.
Oldenburg had unusually large Gemeinden, even in the 19th century, so those were not a good guide to identifying villages for inclusion in the database. However, Böse breaks down the Gemeinden into “Bauerschaften” (roughly, “farmships”) and lists the populated places in each. As a general rule, I included the largest place in each Bauershaft and any other place with a population of 100 or more. Brief essays on each Gemeinde and a timeline at the end of the volume were helful in identifying the dates of many jurisdictional changes involving Denmark, Sweden, Oldenburg, Delmenhorst, Kniphausen, Jever, and Bremen-Stade.
Other useful sources included the following:
- A map of subdivision boundaries between 1699 and 1811 can be found at Aemter und Vogteien vor 1814.JPG (1222×2214) (stadt-land-oldenburg.de).
- Page 215 of Handbuch einer historisch-statistisch-geographischen Beschreibung des Herzogtum Oldenburg – Google Books, by Ludwig Kohli, published in 1824 identifies 1699 as the year Denmark undertook its local government reforms.
- Die Oldenburgische Vogteikarte 1790/1800, by Mattias Nistal, published in 2000 and available for download at Oldenburgische Vogteikarte (OV) | Landesamt für Geoinformation und Landesvermessung Niedersachsen. The download does not include the actual maps, but it does include useful historical background information, particularly regarding Rastede, Varel, and Wüstenland.
- A detailed history of Kniphausen and Varel can be found at NLA OL Best. 120 – Arcinsys detail page (niedersachsen.de). The Wikipedia article on Anton I. von Aldenburg filled in some of the missing pieces.
- The timeline on page 27 of Landeskunde des Grossherzogtums Oldenburg – Gustav Rüthning – Google Books, published around 1901, identifies all of the Vogteien that were under Hannover administration between 1711 and 1731. The same author published a much longer history of Oldenburg in 1940 (in Roman script) available at HiKo-Reihe_009_Band_003_(2013).pdf (lwl.org).
