The Calenberg Land (German : Calenberger Land) is an historic landscape southwest of Hanover in Germany, roughly formed by the rural area between the Leine and the Deister hills. The name of this landscape comes from the Principality of Calenberg that ruled the area during the Middle Ages with its seat at Calenberg Castle near Pattensen.
Today Calenberg Land covers a geographical area of about 20 by 30 kilometres (12 mi × 19 mi) that lies on the left bank of the Leine river, bordered to the west by the hills of the Deister, Kleiner Deister and Osterwald and to the north by Hanover and the line of the A 2 motorway towards Wunstorf. Its name does not derive from the hill known as the Kalenberg on the Deister.
The region includes the Calenberg Loess Börde (Calenburger Lössbörde) which was formed during and after the Weichselian glaciation. Strong north winds deposited the loess soil in layers between 0.2 and 2 metres (7.9 in and 6 ft 6.7 in) thick, the upper layers of which became loam. The area is heavily dominated by arable farming as a result of its fertile soils. The elevations of the Marienberg, crowned by Schloss Marienburg (135 metres or 443 feet AMSL), Süllberg (199 metres or 653 feet), Benther Berg (173 metres or 568 feet), Gehrdener Berg (154 metres or 505 feet) and Stemmer Berg (122 metres or 400 feet) dominate the otherwise gently rolling hills.
Under the Calenberg Land lie natural resources, extraction of which dates to the Middle Ages. There are coal deposits in the Deister, potash salts that were mined at Ronnenberg and Benthe, sandstone and limestone in the Deister and Kleine Deister, clay for baking bricks, and sand and gravel in the river terraces of the Leine.
The towns of the Calenberg Land developed in the Middle Ages as the ruling classes conferred self-administration and market rights. All of them remained farming towns, in which many of the inhabitants continued to work on the land. Whilst today the majority of population of the Calenberg Land commutes into Hanover, Hanover's citizens use the region as their local recreation area.
The present-day geographical region of Calenberg Land roughly corresponds to the Germanic area of Marstemgau which was ruled by the House of Billung in the Early Middle Ages. In the 12th century various fiefdoms emerged that were exploited by noble families from the region who were enfeoffed by the bishops of Minden and Hildesheim. These were the counts of Wölpe (Nienburg/Weser), of Roden (Wunstorf), of Schaumburg, of Schwalenberg (Barsinghausen), of Spiegelberg (Lauenstein) and of Hallermund (Springe). At that time the counts founded a number of abbeys, including Mariensee, Marienwerder, Barsinghausen, Wennigsen and Wülfinghausen. In the 13th century the House of Welf gained the upper hand in Calenberg Land, although it was not called that. They bought out the counts and their estates or defeated their feudal heads in the shape of the bishops of Hildesheim and Minden. In the 13th century the Welfs built the water castle of Calenberg south of Hanover in the vicinity of the Leine. Out of that emerged the Welf sub-principality of Calenberg.
In this way the land ruled by the Principality of Calenberg emerged, which was formerly much larger than the Calenberg Land is today. In the 15th century it stretched as far north as Nienburg/Weser and as far southwest as Hamelin. In 1495 the Principality of Calenberg was united with the Principality of Göttingen to become the Principality of Calenberg-Göttingen.
In 1519, during the Hildesheim Feud (Hildesheimer Stiftsfehde), there was serious devastation in the region. A map published in 1590 depicts almost all the settlements in the Calenberg Land as burning. In 1542 the area became Lutheran thanks to the work of the widowed duchess, Elisabeth of Brandenburg (1510–1558), and Anton Corvinus carried out the Reformation at her request. An attempt to re-catholicise the area by Eric II, Duke of Calenberg during the Schmalkaldic War failed due to popular resistance.
In 1625, during the Thirty Years War, the forces of Tilly invaded and captured the castle of Calenberg after a three-week siege. Tilly ruled the whole of the Calenberg Land with the exception of Hanover. The castle was not recaptured until 1633.
Calenberg Land was incorporated into the Landdrostei , later Regierungsbezirk of Hanover in 1823 together with Hoya and Diepholz. After the dissolution of the Regierungsbezirke and their governments in Lower Saxony in 2004 it became part of Hanover Region. Since the 19th century there has been an economic boom in the Calenberg Land as a result of more intensive use of its geological and agricultural resources, such as potash mining and intensive sugar beet farming by cement factories and sugar refineries respectively.
The Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg, commonly known as the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg or Brunswick-Lüneburg, was an imperial principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the territory of present day Lower Saxony.
The Principality of Calenberg was a dynastic division of the Welf Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg established in 1432. Calenberg was ruled by the House of Hanover from 1635 onwards; the princes received the ninth electoral dignity of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. Their territory became the nucleus of the Electorate of Hanover, ruled in personal union with the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1714 onwards. The principality received its name from Calenberg Castle, a residence of the Brunswick dukes.
The Deister is a chain of hills in the German state of Lower Saxony, about 15 mi (25 km) southwest of the city of Hanover. It runs in a north-westerly direction from Springe in the south to Rodenberg in the north. The next in the chain of hills to the south is the Kleiner Deister from which it is separated by the flat pass of the Deister Gate. It is surrounded by Springe, Wennigsen, Barsinghausen, Bad Nenndorf, Rodenberg and Bad Münder.
William I KG, called the Victorious, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was reigning Prince of Lüneburg from 1416 to 1428 and of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1428 to 1432, counted either as William III or William IV. From 1432, he ruled over the newly established Principality of Calenberg, from 1463 also over the Principality of Göttingen. In 1473, he stepped down in favour of his sons, to assume the rule in Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
Barsinghausen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the Deister chain of hills approx. 20 km west of Hanover. Barsinghausen belongs to the historic landscape Calenberg Land and was first mentioned in 1193.
Pattensen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km (7 mi) south of Hanover.
Springe is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, 22 kilometres (14 mi) southwest of Hanover.
Wennigsen is a municipality in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, approx. 15 km southwest of Hanover.
The Hanover S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network operated by Transdev Hannover in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony. It went operational shortly before Expo 2000 and is focused on the Hanover region, and also connects with adjacent districts, and into the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The S-Bahn is an evolution of a suburban railway.
The Class 424 is a class of electric multiple units formerly used on the Hanover S-Bahn network.
The Kleiner Deister is a ridge of hills in the Calenberg Uplands which, together with the Nesselberg and the Osterwald, forms a group of three adjacent hill ranges in the northern part of the Leine Uplands. It lies between Springe and Eldagsen in Hanover region in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose history was characterised by numerous divisions and reunifications. It had an area of 3,828 square kilometres in the mid 17th century. Various dynastic lines of the House of Welf ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. As a result of the Congress of Vienna, its successor state, the Duchy of Brunswick, was created in 1815.
The Calenberg is a hill in central Germany in the Leine depression near Pattensen in the municipality of Schulenburg. It lies 13 km west of the city of Hildesheim in south Lower Saxony on the edge of the Central Uplands. It is made from a chalk marl slab (Kalkmergelbank), has a height of 70 m above NN and was formed almost 100 million years ago at the beginning of the Upper Cretaceous series in Cenomanian stage. The Calenberg became historically important as a result of the fort, stronghold and castle built as the main residence of the House of Hanover.
Calenberg Castle was a medieval lowland castle in central Germany, near Schulenburg in the borough of Pattensen, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of the city of Hildesheim. It was built as a water castle in 1292 by the Welf duke, Otto the Strict, in der Leine river meadows between two branches of the Leine river on the southern part of the chalk marl hill of the Calenberg. At the start of the 16th century it was converted into a fort (Feste). In the 15th century, Fort Calenberg gave its name to the Welf Principality of Calenberg. Following the Thirty Years' War it lost its military importance and was slighted. Today it is a ruin with underground vaults that are surrounded by high ramparts.
The Deister Railway is a railway line in the German state of Lower Saxony between Weetzen and Haste. It is now a section of the Hanover S-Bahn network.
The Osterwald is a ridge in the Calenberg Uplands and together with the Nesselberg and the Kleiner Deister forms a unified group of three adjacent ranges in the Leine Uplands. It lies between Coppenbrügge, Eldagsen and Elze in the North German state of Lower Saxony.
The Bröhn is the highest hill in the Deister range in the German state of Lower Saxony, reaching 405 metres (1,329 ft). It owes its name to the broom growing here. The highest point of the hill is close to the Anna Tower, an observation tower on the territory of the town of Springe close to the boundary of the municipality of Wennigsen.
The Wolfsberg is a spur of the Süllberg, 152.1 m above sea level (NN), in the Calenberg Land near Springe in the Hanover Region.
Hannover-Land II is an electoral constituency represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 47. It is located in central Lower Saxony, comprising the southern part of the Hanover Region.
The Hanover Monastic Chamber is a special authority based in Hanover within the scope of the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. It administers former ecclesiastical, mediatized property and maintains churches and convents. In addition, as a foundation body, it administers four independent foundations under public law.
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