The town was first mentioned in 1108, at that time known under the name of Aldenburg.[citation needed] It became important due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river. Oldenburg became a small county in the shadow of the much more powerful Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.
The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region now called Oldenburg were a Teutonic people- the Chauci. The genealogy of the counts of Oldenburg can be traced to the Saxon hero Widukind (opponent of Charlemagne)[citation needed], but their first historical representative was Huno of Rustringen (died 1088, founded the monastery of Rastede in 1059).[7] Huno's descendants appear as vassals of the dukes of Saxony and were occasionally rebellious. They were given the title of princes of the Empire when the emperor Frederick I dismembered the Saxon duchy in 1189. At this time the county of Delmenhorst formed part of the dominions of the counts of Oldenburg, but afterwards it was on several occasions separated from them to form an appanage for younger branches of the family, namely in ca. 1266-1436,[citation needed] 1463-1547[citation needed], and 1577-1617[citation needed].
The northern and western parts of what would become the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg were in the hands of independent, or semi-independent, Frisian princes, who were usually pagan, and the counts of Oldenburg seized much of these lands in a series of wars during the early part of the 13th century. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the bishop of Münster also frequently warred with the counts of Oldenburg.
In 1448, the son and heir of Count Dietrich (died 1440), named Christian but called Fortunatus, became king of Denmark as Christian I. Although far from the Danish borders, Oldenburg then became a Danish exclave. The control over the town was left to the king's brothers, who established a short-lived 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 Holstein, which significantly affected Oldenburg's future. In 1454, he handed over Oldenburg to his brother Gerhard (c. 1430-1499), who constantly warred with the bishop of Bremen and other neighbours. However, in 1483 Gerhard was compelled to abdicate in favour of his son, and he died while on a pilgrimage in Spain.
The County of Oldenburg in the 15th centuryGuard house and the Lamberti-Church
Early in the 16th century, Oldenburg was again enlarged at the expense of the Frisians. Protestantism was introduced into the county by Count Anton I (1505–1573), who also suppressed the monasteries. However, he remained loyal to Charles V 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 Oldenburg (c. 1506-1560) also won a reputation as a soldier.
Anton's grandson, Anton Günther (1583–1667), who succeeded in 1603 significantly enlarged and enriched his territories. He thus considered himself the wisest prince who ever had ruled Oldenburg. Jever had been acquired before his ascension, but in 1624 he added Knipphausen and Varel to his lands; thus, in 1647 Delmenhorst was finally united. Through neutrality during the Thirty Years' War and by donating valuable horses to warlord Count of Tilly, Anton Günther protected his dominions from the devastation levied on nearly all other German states. He also obtained from the emperor the right to levy tolls on vessels passing along the Weser, a lucrative grant. In 1607 he erected a Renaissance castle. Oldenburg was a wealthy town in a time of war and turmoil and its population and power grew considerably. However, after the death of Anton Günther, Oldenburg fell again under Danish authority, and in 1667 the town was struck by a disastrous plague epidemic and shortly after that was destroyed in a fire. The Danish kings became uninterested in the town and it lost its former importance.
In 1773 Danish rule ended and, in 1774, the Oldenburg region became a duchy. The destroyed buildings in the city were then rebuilt in a Classicist style.
Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. Wider definitions of "Frisia" may include the island of Rem and the other Danish Wadden Sea Islands. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Germanic ethnic group.
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany.
The history of Schleswig-Holstein consists of the corpus of facts since the pre-history times until the modern establishing of the Schleswig-Holstein state.
The Duchy of Saxony was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 AD and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia; Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919.
The Duchy of Oldenburg, named for its capital, the town of Oldenburg, was a state in the north-west of present-day Germany. The counts of Oldenburg died out in 1667, after which it became a duchy until 1810, when it was annexed by the First French Empire. It was located near the mouth of the River Weser.
The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, also known by its short name as the House of Glücksburg, is the senior surviving branch of the German House of Oldenburg, one of Europe's oldest royal houses. Oldenburg house members have reigned at various times in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Greece, several northern German states, Russia and the United Kingdom. It takes its name from the family seat in Glücksburg, a small town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
Holstein-Gottorp is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, a side branch of the elder Danish line of the German House of Oldenburg. Other parts of the duchies were ruled by the kings of Denmark.
The House of Oldenburg is a German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Livonia, Schleswig, Holstein, and Oldenburg. The current kings of Norway and the United Kingdom are patrilineal descendants of the Glücksburg branch of this house.
Dietrich or Theoderic of Oldenburg was a feudal lord in Northern Germany, holding the counties of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg. He was called "Fortunatus", as he was able to secure Delmenhorst for his branch of the Oldenburgs.
Adolf of Denmark or Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp was the first Duke of Holstein-Gottorp from the line of Holstein-Gottorp of the House of Oldenburg.
This is a list of the counts, dukes, grand dukes, and prime ministers of Oldenburg.
The Duchy of Holstein was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had his County of Holstein-Rendsburg elevated to a duchy by Emperor Frederick III in 1474. Members of the Danish House of Oldenburg ruled Holstein – jointly with the Duchy of Schleswig – for its entire existence.
Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp-Eutin was a cadet of the reigning ducal House of Holstein-Gottorp who became prince of Eutin, prince-bishop of Lübeck and regent of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp.
Anton-Günther, Duke of Oldenburg was the head of the Grand Ducal Family of Oldenburg.
John Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp was the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden.
Oldenburg is a former state in northwestern Germany whose capital was Oldenburg. The region gained its independence in the High Middle Ages. It survived the Napoleonic Wars as an independent country, formed part of the German Confederation, and was a member state of the German Reich from 1871 to 1946.
The Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo also called Mageskiftetraktakten in Danish, was a territorial and dynastic treaty between the Russian Empire and Denmark–Norway. Signed on 1 June 1773, it transferred control of ducal Schleswig-Holstein to the Danish crown in return for Russian control of the County of Oldenburg and adjacent lands within the Holy Roman Empire. The treaty reduced the fragmentation of Danish territory and led to an alliance between Denmark–Norway and Russia that lasted into the Napoleonic Wars. It also made possible the construction of the Eider Canal, parts of which were later incorporated into the Kiel Canal.
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