Oldenburg (state)

Oldenburg is a former state in northwestern Germany whose capital was Oldenburg. The region gained its independence in the High Middle Ages. It survived the Napoleonic Wars as an independent country, formed part of the German Confederation, and was a member state of the German Reich from 1871 to 1946.

Geography: Oldenburg Land

The Oldenburgish state has been joined to numerous distant exclaves over time. Additionally, the country was governed for a long time by Danish rulers. Oldenburg Land is used to designate in a narrower sense the northern, older part of the Grand Duchy, especially the territory of the old County of Oldenburg. The southern part of the country added in 1803 is called Oldenburg Münsterland. To this was added Landwürden, lying to the east of the Weser. In no case were the exclaves that belonged to Oldenburg until 1937 included under the name of Oldenburg Land, nor were the Principality of Lübeck, part of Oldenburg after 1773 (later Kreis Eutin, currently part of Ostholstein) or the Principality of Birkenfeld (part of Oldenburg after 1817, belonging to the Nahe region).

History

County of Oldenburg (1108–1774)

In the Holy Roman Empire Oldenburg was a county that developed around the settlement of Oldenburg, which was first attested in 1108, and in the course of history gained control of a wider area. The Counts of Oldenburg stemmed from a Frisian princely house. At first vassals of the Welf Saxon prince Henry the Lion, took advantage of his deposition by Emperor Barbarossa to make themselves autonomous. The first Oldenburgs belonged to the line of the Rüstringen Frisians. In 1234 the county was acquired by the also Frisian Stedingens, later by other Frisian territories (Butjadingen, Rüstringen, Wurden) and finally in 1575 came into the possession of the Lordship of Jever. Oldenburg gained importance when Count Dietrich of Oldenburg († 1440) married Helvig of Schauenburg, daughter of Gerhard VI of Schleswig-Holstein-Rendsburg. Dietrich's younger son carried on the line of Oldenburg counts, which died out in 1667. The elder son, Christian, was elected King Christian I of Denmark in 1448 and Lord of Schleswig and Holstein in 1460. In 1667 this line acquired Oldenburg as well, which thereby was joined in personal union with the Danish crown. The lordships of Jever and Kniphausen were not affected. The Lordship of Jever was willed by Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg to the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst and fell in 1795 by Kunkellehen (female inheritance) to the Russian empress Catherine the Great.