Brunswick-Lüneburg
Brunswick-Lüneburg was a historical state within the
Holy Roman Empire. As the name implies, the main cities of this state were
Brunswick and
Lüneburg.
The state emerged from the inheritance of the first
Saxon state of
Henry the Lion in the late 12th century. Henry was deposed by the Emperor as Duke of Saxony, but retained various Lower Saxon lands which were inherited by his children as the Duchies of Brunswick and Lüneburg.
The first duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was
Otto the Child, who reigned from
1235 on. After
1267 the duchy was split into two partial states, the lines of
Lüneburg and of
Wolfenbüttel (which later became a multitude of partial states), but all of them were ruled by the
Welf dynasty and maintained close relations. The centres of power moved in the meantime from Brunswick and Lüneburg to
Celle and
Wolfenbüttel.
While there is a total of about a dozen subdivisions that existed, some of them were only dynastic and were not recognised as states of the Empire. In the
List of Reichstag participants (1792), the following four subdivisions of Brunswick-Lüneburg are represented:
*
Calenberg *
Grubenhagen*
Lüneburg* WolfenbüttelFrom
1705 on, all lines except Wolfenbüttel were held by Calenberg. After the end of the Holy Roman Empire, Calenberg and its possessions continued to exist under the name of Hanover; Wolfenbüttel continued to exist under the name of Brunswick.
One of the collateral lines was the line of the dukes of
Calenberg, who managed to gain all the territory of the former duchy except for that of the Wolfenbüttel line. The city of
Hanover was the residence of the Calenberg line. Calenberg (sometimes also called Calenberg-Celle) was made an electorate by the
Holy Roman Emperor in
1692. It was then known under many different names (Brunswick-Lüneburg, Calenberg, Hanover), but eventually became the state of
Hanover.
The Wolfenbüttel line retained its independence from Hanover, except for the period from
1807 to
1813, when it was made part of the
Kingdom of Westphalia. The
Congress of Vienna of
1815 turned it into an independent country under the name
Duchy of Brunswick, with Wolfenbüttel as its capital. While the kingdom of
Hanover was annexed by
Prussia in
1866, the Duchy of Brunswick remained and joined first the
North German Confederation and in
1871 the
German Empire.
Dukes of Brunswick and Lüneburg and Princes of Wolfenbüttel, 1267 -1807
*
1267 -
1279:
Albert I*
1279 -
1291:
Henry I,
William I, and
Albert II jointly
*
1291 -
1292: William I
*
1292 -
1318: Albert II
*
1318 -
1344:
Otto*
1345 -
1369:
Magnus I*
1369 -
1373:
Magnus II*
1373 -
1400:
Frederick*
1400 -
1409:
Bernard and
Henry II jointly
*
1409 -
1428: Bernard
House of Welf, Second House of Brunswick
*
1428 -
1432:
William the Victorious (III)*
1432 -
1473:
Henry the Peaceful*
1473 -
1482: William the Victorious
*
1482 -
1484:
Frederick the Turbulent and
William IV jointly
*
1484 -
1491: William IV
*
1491 -
1514:
Henry IV*
1514 -
1568:
Henry V*
1568 -
1589:
Julius*
1589 -
1613:
Henry Julius*
1613 -
1634:
Frederick UlrichHouse of Welf, Younger House of Brunswick
*
1635 -
1666:
Augustus*
1666 -
1685:
Rudolph Augustus*
1685 -
1702: Rudolph Augustus and
Anthony Ulrich jointly
*
1702 -
1704: Rudolph Augustus
*
1704 -
1714:
Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg*
1714 -
1731:
Augustus William *
1731 -
1735:
Louis Rudolph*
1735:
Ferdinand Albert II*
1735 -
1780:
Charles I *
1780 -
1806:
Charles William Ferdinand *
1806 -
1807:
Frederick WilliamDukes of Brunswick and Lüneburg, 1813-1918
House of Welf, Younger House of Brunswick, restored
#
1813 -
1815: Frederick William
He was succeeded by his sons, see
Duke of Brunswick*
Lunenburg County, Virginia*
Map of Lower Saxony 1789
