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Brunswick-Lüneburg was an historical state within the Holy Roman Empire. As the name implies, the main cities of this state were Brunswick and Lüneburg.
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Duchy of Brunswick-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 Welfen dynasty and maintained close relations. The centres of power moved in the meantime from Brunswick and Lüneburg to Celle and Wolfenbüttel.
From Calenberg to Hanover
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.
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
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 in 1871 the German Empire. With the death of William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Wolfenbüttel line came to an end. The duchy would have passed on to the Hanover line, but since the Hanoverians refused to accept the Prussian annexation of their kingdom, they were not allowed to accede to rule in Brunswick. The duchy was governed by regents until in 1913, when the Hanover line was reconciled to the Hohenzollern dynasty, renounced its rights to the kingdom of Hanover and Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg became duke of Brunswick.
In 1918 the Duke had to abdicate and the Free State of Brunswick was founded as a member state of the Weimar Republic.
In 1946, it was made a part of the newly founded state of Lower Saxony. Some small parts (mainly around Blankenburg) were made part of Saxony-Anhalt. Inside of Lower Saxony, Brunswick continued to exist for some time as the Administrative Region of Brunswick. Brunswick had an area of 3690 km² and 580,000 inhabitants (1939).
Heads of state of the Wolfenbüttel line after 1635
- 1635 - 1666 Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1666 - 1704 Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1685 - 1702, 1704 - 1714 Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1714 - 1731 Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1731 - 1735 Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1735 Ferdinand Albert, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1735 - 1780 Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1780 - 1806 Charles William Ferdinand
- 1806 - 1807, 1813 - 1815 Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1815 - 1830: Charles II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1830 - 1884: William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1885 - 1906: Albert, Prince of Prussia, regent
- 1907 - 1913: John Albert, Duke of Mecklenburg, regent
- 1913 - 1918: Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- 1918 - 1919: Sepp Oerter (USPD)
- 1919 - 1920: Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
- 1920 - 1921: Sepp Oerter (USPD)
- 1921 - 1922: August Junke (SPD)
- 1922: Otto Antrick (SPD)
- 1922: Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
- 1924 - 1927: Gerhard Marquordt (DVP)
- 1927 - 1930: Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
- 1930 - 1933: Werner Küchenthal (DNVP)
- 1933 - 1945: Dietrich Klagges (NSDAP)
- 1945 - 1946: Hubert Schlebusch (SPD)
- 1946: Alfred Kubel (SPD)
Districts
The Duchy of Brunswick was subdivided into districts (Kreise) in 1833. The following districts existed from 1833 to 1946:
- District of Blankenburg
- City of Brunswick
- District of Brunswick
- District of Gandersheim
- District of Goslar (from 1942 on)
- District of Helmstedt
- District of Holzminden (until 1942)
- City of Watenstedt-Salzgitter (from 1942 on)
- District of Wolfenbüttel
External links
- map of the Duchy of Brunswick (http://exclave.info/Former/Braunschweig/DUCHYO~1.JPG)de:Herzogtum Braunschweig
