Oldenburg (
Low GermanLow German or Low Saxon is any of the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands.-Geographical extent:-Low German in Europe:Dialects...
:
Ollnborg) is a historical state in today's
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
named for its capital,
Oldenburg|Oldenburg is an Independent City in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 158,341 which makes it the fourth biggest in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig and...
. Oldenburg existed from 1180 until 1918 as a
countyA county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count .Counts are called earls in post-Celtic Britain, Ireland and France—the term is from Old...
,
duchyA duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era...
and
grand duchyA grand duchy is a territory whose head of state is a monarch, either a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess.-The title and origins of grand duchies:...
. It was located near the mouth of the River Weser. Its ruling family was the
House of OldenburgThe House of Oldenburg is a North German dynasty and one of Europe's most influential Royal Houses.It rose to prominence when Count Christian I of Oldenburg was elected King of Denmark in 1448, and of Norway in 1450...
, which also acquired
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The first known count of Oldenburg is Elimar of Oldenburg (d. 1108). Elimar's descendants appear as vassals, although sometimes rebellious ones, of the dukes of
SaxonyThe mediæval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
; but they attained the dignity of princes of the empire when the emperor
Frederick IFrederick I Barbarossa was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1154, and finally crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. He was crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178...
dismembered the Saxon duchy in 1180.
Oldenburg (
Low GermanLow German or Low Saxon is any of the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands.-Geographical extent:-Low German in Europe:Dialects...
:
Ollnborg) is a historical state in today's
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
named for its capital,
Oldenburg|Oldenburg is an Independent City in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 158,341 which makes it the fourth biggest in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig and...
. Oldenburg existed from 1180 until 1918 as a
countyA county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count .Counts are called earls in post-Celtic Britain, Ireland and France—the term is from Old...
,
duchyA duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era...
and
grand duchyA grand duchy is a territory whose head of state is a monarch, either a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess.-The title and origins of grand duchies:...
. It was located near the mouth of the River Weser. Its ruling family was the
House of OldenburgThe House of Oldenburg is a North German dynasty and one of Europe's most influential Royal Houses.It rose to prominence when Count Christian I of Oldenburg was elected King of Denmark in 1448, and of Norway in 1450...
, which also acquired
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
History
The first known count of Oldenburg is Elimar of Oldenburg (d. 1108). Elimar's descendants appear as vassals, although sometimes rebellious ones, of the dukes of
SaxonyThe mediæval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
; but they attained the dignity of princes of the empire when the emperor
Frederick IFrederick I Barbarossa was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1154, and finally crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. He was crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178...
dismembered the Saxon duchy in 1180. At this time the county of
DelmenhorstDelmenhorst is an urban district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 76,000 and is located between Bremen and Oldenburg...
formed part of the dominions of the counts of Oldenburg, but afterwards it was on several occasions separated from them to form an apanage for younger branches of the family. This was the case between 1262 and 1447, between 1463 and 1547, and between 1577 and 1617.
During the early part of the 13th century the counts carried on a series of wars with independent, or semi-independent,
FrisianThe Frisians are an ethnic group of Germanic people living in coastal parts of The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
princes to the north and west of the county, which resulted in a gradual expansion of the Oldenburgian territory. The free city of
BremenThe Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is the smallest of Germany's 16 Federal States . A more informal name, but used in some official contexts, is Land Bremen .-Geography:...
and the bishop of Münster were also frequently at war with the counts of Oldenburg.
In 1448, the successor of Count
DietrichDerrick or Dietrich of Oldenburg, Latin-based anglicization also Theoderic of Oldenburg , nicknamed Theoderic the Lucky or the Fortunate , was a feudal lord in northern Germany, holding the counties of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg...
(d. 1440), called Fortunatus, was his son Christian, who elected king of
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
as
Christian IChristian I , Danish monarch and union king of Denmark , Norway and Sweden , under the Kalmar Union. In Sweden his short tenure as monarch was preceded by regents, Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna and Erik Axelsson Tott and succeeded by regent Kettil Karlsson Vasa...
(partly based on his maternal descent from previous Danish kings). Although far away from the Danish borders, Oldenburg was now a Danish exclave. The control over the town was left to the king's brothers, who established a short reign of tyranny.
In 1450 Christian became king of Norway and in 1457 king of Sweden; in 1460 he inherited the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of
HolsteinHolstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
, an event of high importance for the future history of Oldenburg. In 1454 he handed over Oldenburg to his brother Gerhard (about 1430-1499), a wild prince, who was constantly at war with the
bishop of BremenThe Archdiocese of Bremen was a historical Roman Catholic diocese and formed from 1180 to 1648 an ecclesiastical state , named Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen within the Holy Roman Empire...
and other neighbors. In 1483 Gerhard was compelled to abdicate in favor of his sons, and he died whilst on a pilgrimage in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
.
Early in the 16th century Oldenburg was again enlarged at the expense of the Frisians.
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
was introduced into the county by Count Anton I (1505-1573), who also suppressed the monasteries; however, he remained loyal to
Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
during the war of the League of Schmalkalden, and was able thus to increase his territories, obtaining Delmenhorst in 1547. One of Anton's brothers, Count
Christopher of OldenburgChristopher of Oldenburg . German Count, regent in Eastern Denmark during the Count's War 1534-1536 which was named after him....
(about 1506-1560), won some reputation as a soldier.
Anton's grandson, Anton Günther (1583-1667), who succeeded in 1603, considered himself the wisest prince who had yet ruled Oldenburg.
JeverJever is the capital of the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany. The name Jever is usually associated with a major brand of beer which is produced here.- History :...
had been acquired before he became count, but in 1624 he added Knipphausen and
VarelVarel is a town in the district of Friesland, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Jade River and the Jadebusen, approx. 15 km south of Wilhelmshaven, and 30 km north of Oldenburg.- Notable natives :...
to his lands, with which in 1647 Delmenhorst was finally united. By his neutrality during the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
and by donating valuable horses to warlord Count of Tilly, Anton Günther secured for his dominions an immunity from the terrible devastations to which nearly all the other states of Germany were exposed. He also obtained from the emperor the right to levy
tollA tariff is a duty imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary.-History:...
s on vessels passing along the Weser, a lucrative grant which soon formed a material addition to his resources. In 1607 he erected a
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
castle.
After the death of Anton Günther, Oldenburg fell again under Danish authority. In 1773, Danish rule ended and, in 1777, the County of Oldenburg was raised to a
duchyA duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era...
. By the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, Oldenburg acquired the
Oldenburger MünsterlandThe Oldenburger Münsterland is the southern, predominantly Catholic portion of the former Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, now a part of Lower Saxony in Germany. It comprises the modern day counties of Cloppenburg and Vechta, an area with over 600 years of shared history and tradition...
and the
Bishopric of LübeckThe Bishopric of Lübeck was a Roman-Catholic and, later, Protestant diocese, as well as a state of the Holy Roman Empire.-History:The original diocese was founded about 970 by Emperor Otto I in the Billung March at Oldenburg in Holstein , the former capital of the pagan Wagri tribe...
. Between 1810 and 1814, Oldenburg was occupied by
Napoleonic FranceThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
. Its annexation into the
French EmpireThe French Empire
, also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I in France...
in 1810, was one of the cause for the diplomatic rift between former allies France and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, a contention that would lead to war in 1812 and eventually to Napoleon's downfall. In 1815 it acquired the Principality of Birkenfeld and in 1829 Oldenburg became a
grand duchyA grand duchy is a territory whose head of state is a monarch, either a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess.-The title and origins of grand duchies:...
.
In 1871 Oldenburg joined the
German EmpireThe German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a German republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II .The term Second Reich...
, and in 1918 it became a
free stateThe Free State of Oldenburg was a state of the Weimar Republic. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II following the German Revolution....
within the
Weimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government, named after Weimar, the place where the constitutional assembly took place. Its official name was still Deutsches Reich , however...
.
In 1937, it lost the exclave districts of Eutin near the Baltic coast and Birkenfeld in southwestern Germany to Prussia and gained the City of Wilhelmshaven; however, this was a formality, as the Hitler regime had de facto abolished the federal states in 1934.
By the beginning of World War II in 1939, as a result of these territorial changes, Oldenburg had an area of 5,375 km² (2,075.3 sq mi) and 580,000 inhabitants.
After World War II, Oldenburg was merged into the newly founded state of
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
as the administrative region (Regierungsbezirk) of Oldenburg, both of which became a part of West Germany.
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