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County of Rietberg Grafschaft Rietberg | |||||||||
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| 1237–1807 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
.svg) County of Rietberg in 1560 | |||||||||
| Status | County | ||||||||
| Capital | Rietberg 51°48′N8°26′E / 51.800°N 8.433°E /51.800; 8.433 | ||||||||
| Official languages | German | ||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||
| Government | Comital | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
| 1237 | |||||||||
| 1353 | |||||||||
| 1807 | |||||||||
| 1807 | |||||||||
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TheCounty of Rietberg (German:Grafschaft Rietberg) was astate of theHoly Roman Empire, located in the present-dayGerman state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia. It was situated on the upperEms inWestphalia, between thePrince-Bishopric of Paderborn and thePrince-Bishopric of Münster. It existed as an independent territory from 1237 to 1807, when it wasmediatised to theKingdom of Westphalia.
Rietberg was first mentioned asRietbike around the year 1100. This name refers to the German wordsried (an old name for "reed") andbach ("creek"). There was a castle that dated back to the 11th century. From 1237 until 1807, Rietberg was an independent German territory, although very small. Nevertheless, the county had its own militia, its own currency and its own laws; even foreign policy, on a small scale, was conducted independently. Until the 17th century, Rietberg coined its own money.
In 1699, the County of Rietberg came into the possession of theMoravian noble family of theCounts of Kaunitz (Czech:Kounic) through the marriage of heiress Maria Ernestine Franziska ofOstfriesland, Countess von Rietberg (1687-1758) withCount Maximilian Ulrich von Kaunitz, and that family subsequently renamed itself asKaunitz-Rietberg. Under the rule of thiscomital (laterprincely) family, the territory remained independent until the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1807, Rietberg becamemediatised to theKingdom of Westphalia. After the dissolution of that kingdom in 1813, the territory of Rietberg became part of theKingdom of Prussia, which integrated it into itsProvince of Westphalia.
The title of Count of Rietberg (Graf zu Rietberg) remains extant in theHouse of Liechtenstein, which has claimed it since 1848, when the last member of the Moravian branch of the Kaunitz family (PrinceAloys von Kaunitz-Rietberg) died.Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and alldynastic members of his family (and their dynastic wives) bear the title currently.
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1 from 1648 2 until 1648 3 without seat inImperial Diet ? status uncertain Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon
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