Schaumburg-Lippe

Schaumburg-Lippe was a German state that ceased to exist in 1946. It emerged in the 17th century< /span> following the Peace of Westphalia, it had an existence of almost 300 years; first as a county within the Holy Roman Empire, then as a principality integrated into the Rhine Confederation, the German Confederation and the German Empire. It was finally a free state within the Germany of the Weimar Republic. Its territory is currently part of the federal state of Lower Saxony and is located between the city of Hanover and the border with the neighboring region of Westphalia.

History

The initiator of the count house of Schaumburg-Lippe was Count Philip I. Philip was the youngest son of Count Simon VI of Lippe-Detmold. When his father died in 1613, in his will he divided the earldom between his three sons: the eldest (also called Simon) received the title of Count of Lippe-Detmold; His second brother, Otto, would start the house of Lippe-Brake, and Philip, who was fifteen years old, obtained the districts of Alverdissen and Lipperode. The territory governed by Philip was named Lippe-Alverdissen County.

Years later, during the turbulent Thirty Years' War, Philip of Lippe-Alverdissen temporarily took control of Schaumburg County. The last holder of the County of Schaumburg was Count Otto V, who died of poisoning in 1640 in the city of Hildesheim during a meeting of nobles of the Protestant side. Otto died without leaving any issue, and the earldom passed into the hands of his mother, the Countess Isabel. Isabel was also the sister of Philip of Lippe-Alverdissen. The countess, unable to defend her dominions in a period of war, transferred her rights to her brother in 1643. From 1643 until 1646, the year of Elizabeth's death, the brothers were co-regents of Schaumburg County. Little by little, Schaumburg County was dismembered at the hands of more powerful neighbors. He first lost his exclaves or was forced to sell them. He eventually had to cede most of the county to his powerful neighbors, the landgraves of Hesse and the counts of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Philip of Schaumburg-Alverdissen took the westernmost part of the county, around the town of Bückeburg.

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 sanctioned the division of Schaumburg into three parts. The new county, which added to the old territories of Lippe-Alverdissen those obtained from Schaumburg, would receive the name Schaumburg-Lippe County.

In 1681 Philip I died and his county was divided between his two sons. The eldest son Frederick Christian receives the title of Count of Schaumburg-Lippe and the territory around Bückeburg, which had originally belonged to the county of Schaumburg. The second Philip Ernest became Count of Lippe-Alverdissen and inherited approximately the territory that his father had inherited in 1613.

In 1709 the Lippe-Brake branch became extinct. A long succession conflict then ensued between the surviving branches of the family: Lippe-Detmold, Lippe-Alverdissen and Schaumburg-Lippe.

The name Schaumburg alluded to the borough of Schaumburg (currently called Rinteln), which was the center of the early county and which was outside the borders of Schaumburg-Lippe, while Lippe comes from the homonymous river from whose banks the house came. county that took over part of Schaumburg County.

In 1807 it was elevated to the status of a principality after Count George William (1784-1860) joined the Rhine Confederation.

Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the states that survived the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars and in 1815 joined the German Confederation. In 1871 it became one of the federated states in the German Empire. From 1895 to 1905 Prince George of Schaumburg-Lippe tried to assert his inheritance rights to the Principality of Lippe-Detmold, but without success. Prince Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the last German monarchs to renounce the throne. His abdication occurred on November 15, 1918. After the end of World War I, Schaumburg-Lippe became a free state within Germany. Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the strongholds of the SPD in Germany, where it was able to remain at the head of a governing coalition until March 1933.

After the Second World War, Schaumburg-Lippe was integrated into the newly created state of Lower Saxony. In 1975, a legal referendum was held to restore Schaumburg-Lippe's land status, but despite the positive result it was annulled by state institutions.

State organization

Since 1871, the Principality had one vote in the Reichsrat (Imperial Parliament). Its capital, Bückeburg, was a small town that in 1905 had 5,500 inhabitants.

The Principality had a military treaty with Prussia.

Economy

This small State depended economically on cattle ranching and coal mining.

Religion

The religion of the princes and the majority of the population was evangelical Christianity (98.2%). Catholics (1.3%) and Jews (0.4%) formed a small minority.

List of rulers

Counts

• 1647-1681: Philip I (1601-1681)
• 1681-1728: Federico Christián (1655-1728)
• 1728-1748: Alberto Wolfgang (1699-1748)
• 1748-1777: Federico Guillermo Ernesto (1724-1777)
• 1777-1787: Felipe II Ernesto (1723-1787)
• 1787-1807: Jorge Guillermo

Princes

• 1807-1860: Jorge Guillermo (1784-1860)
• 1860-1893: Adolf I Jorge (1817-1893)
• 1893-1911: Jorge (1846-1911)
• 1911-1918: Adolf II Bernardo (1883-1936)

Presiding Ministers of the Free State

• 1918-1919: Heinrich Lorenz (SPD)
• 1919-1922: O. Bönners (independent)
• 1922-1925: K. Wippermann (independent)
• 1925-1928: E. Steinbrecher (SPD)
• 1928-1933: Heinrich Lorenz (SPD)
• 1933: Hans Joachim Riecke (NSDAP)
• 1933-1945: Karl Dreier (NSDAP, as Reich Commissioner)