TheCounty of Drenthe (Dutch:Landschap Drenthe,German:Grafschaft Drente) was a province of theHoly Roman Empire from 1046, and of theDutch Republic from 1581 until 1795. It corresponds to the area west of the lowerEms, today the eponymous province ofDrenthe in the Netherlands.

Drenthe is first recorded in 820 as aGau, the basic division of theCarolingian Empire east of theRhine.^[1] In 1046, the EmperorHenry III granted it to theBishopric of Utrecht. At the time, Drenthe included the city ofGroningen, which was governed by aburgrave (prefect) enfeoffed by the bishop. By the 14th century, the prefecture was hereditary and theLordship of Groningen wasde facto separate from the County of Drenthe.^[2]

Between 1225 and 1240, thefree peasants of Drenthe were in conflict with the bishops over his lordship and his tithes. This even resulted ina crusade launched against them. The first and most intense phase of the conflict is retold in an eyewitness account,Quaedam narracio.^[3] In the 14th and 15th centuries, Drenthe was affected by the factional struggle between theVetkopers and Schieringers. In 1402, it was attached to theOversticht, the eastern portion of the bishopric.^[2]

In 1412, the county received its ownLandrecht (territorial law). In 1522, during theGuelders Wars, the county fell toCharles II, Duke of Guelders, but he was forced to cede it to theHabsburg emperorCharles V in theTreaty of Grave of 1536.^[1] It was thereafter governed by a Habsburgstadtholder, but because it was only sparsely populated, it had the same stadtholder as theLordship of Groningen. In theTreaty of Augsburg of 1548, Drenthe was removed from theWestphalian Circle and attached to theBurgundian Circle, making it one of theSeventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands with a special status within the Empire.^[4]

During theDutch Revolt against the Habsburgs, Drenthe joined theUnion of Utrecht. Although it became part of the republic, it was not one of the Seven Provinces and did not have a seat in theStates General on account of its poverty.^[1]

• States and territories established in 1046
• States and territories disestablished in 1795
• History of Drenthe
• Seventeen Provinces
• Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
• Counties of the Holy Roman Empire

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2020
• Articles containing Dutch-language text
• Articles containing German-language text
• Articles containing Latin-language text