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Electorate of Brunswick-Lunenburg Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg (German) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1692–1814 | |||||||||||||
.svg) Flag .svg) Coat of arms (1708–1714) | |||||||||||||
| Motto: Nec Aspera Terrent[1] Difficulties do not daunt[2] | |||||||||||||
 Extent of the Electorate of Hanover in 1789 | |||||||||||||
| Status |
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| Capital | Hanover 52°22′N9°43′E / 52.367°N 9.717°E /52.367; 9.717 | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | West Low German | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Lutheran | ||||||||||||
| Government | Principality | ||||||||||||
| Prince-elector | |||||||||||||
• 1692–1698 | Ernest Augustus | ||||||||||||
• 1698–1727 | George I Louis | ||||||||||||
• 1727–1760 | George II Augustus | ||||||||||||
• 1760–1806 | George III William Frederick | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Elevation to Electorate | 1692 | ||||||||||||
• InheritedLüneburg andSaxe-Lauenburg | 1705 | ||||||||||||
• Electorate formally approved | 1708 | ||||||||||||
| 1714 | |||||||||||||
• AcquiredBremen-Verden | 1715 | ||||||||||||
• Merged intoKingdom of Westphalia | 1807 | ||||||||||||
• Re-established asKingdom of Hanover | 1814 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||||||
TheElectorate of Hanover (German:Kurfürstentum Hannover or simplyKurhannover) was anelectorate of theHoly Roman Empire located in northwesternGermany that arose from thePrincipality of Calenberg. Although formally known as theElectorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (German:Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg), it madeHanover its capital city. For most of its existence, the electorate was ruled inpersonal union withGreat Britain andIreland following theHanoverian Succession.
TheDuchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg had been split in 1269 between different branches of theHouse of Welf. ThePrincipality of Calenberg, ruled by a cadet branch of the family, emerged as the largest and most powerful of the Brunswick-Lüneburg states. In 1692, theHoly Roman Emperor elevated the Prince of Calenberg to theCollege of Electors, creating the new Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The fortunes of the electorate were tied to those of Great Britain by theAct of Settlement 1701 andAct of Union 1707, which settled the succession to the British throne on QueenAnne's nearest Protestant relative, the ElectressSophia of Hanover, and her descendants.[3]
The prince-elector of Hanover becameKing of Great Britain in 1714. As a consequence, a reluctant Britain was forced time and again to defend the king's German possessions.[note 1] Nonetheless, Hanover remained a separately ruled territory with its own governmental bodies, and the country had to sign a treaty with Great Britain whenever Hanoverian troops fought on the British side of a war. Merged into the NapoleonicKingdom of Westphalia in 1807, it was re-established as theKingdom of Hanover in 1814, and thepersonal union with the British crown lasted until 1837.[5]
In 1692, EmperorLeopold I of theHouse of Habsburg elevated DukeErnest Augustus of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line ofCalenberg, due to the efforts ofOtto Grote zu Schauen to the rank ofprince-elector of the empire as a reward for aid given in theNine Years' War. There were protests against the addition of a new elector, and the elevation did not become official until the approval of theImperial Diet in 1708. Calenberg's capital,Hanover, became colloquially eponymous for the electorate, but it officially used the nameChur-Braunschweig-Lüneburg of the entire ducal dynasty.
The electoral coat of arms and flag (see info box upper right of this article) displayed theSaxon Steed (German:Sachsenross, Niedersachsenross, Welfenross, Westfalenpferd;Dutch:Twentse Ros / Saksische ros/paard;Low Saxon:Witte Peerd) is a heraldic motif associated with the German provinces ofLower Saxony andWestphalia, and the Dutch region ofTwente as the electorate covered large portions of theoriginal stemDuchy of Saxony.
The electorate comprised large parts of the modern German state ofLower Saxony inNorthern Germany. Beside the Principality of Calenberg it also included the former princely lands ofGöttingen andGrubenhagen as well as the territory of the formerCounty of Hoya and formerLordship of Diepholz.
In 1705, ElectorGeorge I Louis inherited thePrincipality of Lüneburg with the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg upon the death of his uncle DukeGeorge William of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1715, he purchased the duchies ofBremen-Verden from KingFrederick IV of Denmark (confirmed by the 1719Treaty of Stockholm), whereby his former landlocked electorate gained access to theNorth Sea.
In 1700, the territories forming the electorate introduced, like all other Protestant territories ofimperial immediacy, the Improved Calendar, as theGregorian calendar was called byProtestants to avoid mentioning the name ofPope Gregory XIII. Sunday, 18 February (Old Style) was thus followed by Monday, 1 March (New Style).
In 1692, the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, elevated George's son, Duke Ernest Augustus to the rank of elector of the empire as a reward for aid given in the War of the Grand Alliance. There were protests against the addition of a new elector, and the elevation did not become official (with the approval of the Imperial Diet) until 1708, in the person of Ernest Augustus's son, George Louis. Though the elector's titles were properly duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he is commonly referred to as the elector of Hanover after his residence.
Hanover acquired Bremen-Verden in 1719.
The electorate was legally bound to be indivisible: it could add to its territory, but not alienate territory or be split up among several heirs; and its succession was to follow male primogeniture. The territory assigned to the electorate included the Brunswick-Lüneburg principalities of Calenberg, Grubenhagen, and Lüneburg (even though at the time Lüneburg was ruled by Ernest Augustus's older brother) and the counties of Diepholz and Hoya.
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In 1714,George Louis became king ofGreat Britain andIreland and so the electorate and Great Britain and Ireland were ruled inpersonal union. The possessions of the electors in Germany also grew, as theyde facto purchased the formerlySwedish-held duchies ofBremen andVerden in 1719.
George Louis died in 1727 and was succeeded by his sonGeorge II Augustus. In 1728, EmperorCharles VI officiallyenfeoffed George II (gave him land in exchange for a pledge of service), with the reverted fief ofSaxe-Lauenburg, which hadde facto been ruled in personal union with Hanover and with one of its precedingPrincipality of Lüneburg since 1689.
In 1731, Hanover also gainedHadeln.[6] In return, Hanover recognised thePragmatic Sanction of 1713, which changed the Habsburgs' inheritance law.[6] It took George II Augustus until 1733 to persuade Charles VI to enfeoff him also with the Duchy of Bremen and the Principality of Verden, colloquially called Duchies of Bremen-Verden. At both enfeoffments, George II Augustus swore that he would respect the existing privileges and constitutions of theestates in Bremen-Verden and in Hadeln, thus confirming 400-year-old traditions of estate participation in government.
InHanover, the capital of the electorate, thePrivy Council of Hanover (electoral government) installed a new ministry in charge of theImperial Estates ruled by the electors in personal union. It was called the Department of Bremen-Verden, Hadeln, Lauenburg andBentheim. Nonetheless, the electors spent most of their time in England. Direct contact with the electorate was maintained through the office of theGerman Chancery, situated inSt James's Palace in London.
During theFrench and Indian War (1754–1763) in the North American colonies, Britain feared a French invasion of Hanover. George IIformed an alliance with hisPrussian cousinFrederick II combining the North American conflict with the Brandenburg-Prusso–AustrianThird Silesian, or Seven Years' War (1756–1763).
In the summer of 1757, theFrench invaded Hanover and defeated George II's sonPrince William, Duke of Cumberland, leading theAnglo-Hanoverian army, at theBattle of Hastenbeck and drove him and his army into remote Bremen-Verden, where in the formerZevenConvent [de] he capitulated on 18 September (Convention of Kloster-Zeven). George II did not recognise the convention, however. The following year, theBritish Army, supported by troops from Prussia,Hesse-Kassel and thePrincipality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, again expelled the occupants. Hanover remained unaffected for the rest of the war.
After the war ended, peace prevailed until theFrench Revolutionary Wars started. TheWar of the First Coalition against France (1792–1797) with Great Britain, Hanover and other war allies forming the coalition, did not affect Hanoverian territory since the firstFrench Republic was fighting on several fronts, even on its own territory. Men were drafted to recruit the 16,000 Hanoverian soldiers fighting in theLow Countries under British command against France. In 1795, theHoly Roman Empire declared its neutrality, including Hanover, but a peace treaty with France was being negotiated until it failed in 1799. Prussia, however, ended for its part the war with France by theTreaty of Basel (1795), which stipulated that Prussia would ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all of the latter's territories north of the demarcation line of the RiverMain, including the British continental dominions of Hanover, Bremen-Verden, and Saxe-Lauenburg. To that end, Hanover also had to provide troops for the so-called demarcation army maintaining the armed neutrality.[7]
During theWar of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802),Napoléon Bonaparte urged Prussia to occupy the continental British dominions. In 1801, there was an invasion of 24,000 Prussian soldiers that surprised Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April they arrived at Bremen-Verden's capital,Stade, and stayed there until October. TheBritish first ignored Prussian hostility, but when the latter joined the pro-French coalition of armed neutral powers, includingDenmark-Norway andRussia, Britain began to capture Prussian ships. After theBattle of Copenhagen (1801), the coalition fell apart and Prussia withdrew its troops.
As part of theGerman Mediatisation of 25 February 1803, the electorate received thePrince-Bishopric of Osnabrück inreal union, which had been ruled by every second ruler of theHouse of Hanover since 1662.
After Britain, this time without any allies, had declared war on France (18 May 1803), French troopsinvaded Hanover on 26 May. According to theConvention of Artlenburg (5 July 1803), confirming the military defeat of Hanover, theHanoverian Army was disarmed, and its horses and ammunitions were handed over to the French. The Privy Council of Hanover, with the minister Friedrich Franz Dieterich von Bremer holding up the Hanoverian stake,[clarification needed] fled toSaxe-Lauenburg, across theElbe, which was ruled by Britain and Hanover in personal union. Soon, the French also occupied Saxe-Lauenburg.
In the autumn of 1805, at the beginning of theWar of the Third Coalition against France (1805), the French occupying troops left Hanover in a campaign againstAustria. British, Swedish and Russian coalition forcescaptured Hanover. In December, theFrench Empire, since 1804 France's new government, ceded Hanover, which it no longer held, to Prussia, which captured it in early 1806.
On 6 August 1806, theHoly Roman Empirewas dissolved, thereby abolishing the function of prince-electors electing its emperors. After Prussia had turned against France in theWar of the Fourth Coalition, it was defeated in theBattle of Jena-Auerstedt (11 November 1806), and France recaptured Hanover.
Following theTreaty of Tilsit in 1807, the newKingdom of Westphalia was founded, ruled by Napoléon's brotherJérôme Bonaparte, then including territories of the former Electorate ofHesse-Kassel, the ducalBrunswick-Lüneburgian principality ofBrunswick-Wolfenbüttel and formerly Prussian territories. In early 1810 Hanover proper and Bremen-Verden but not Saxe-Lauenburg were also annexed by Westphalia. In an attempt to assert theContinental System, the French Empire annexed in late 1810 all of the continentalNorth Sea coast (as far as Denmark) and the areas along the sections of the rivers navigable for seagoing vessels, including Bremen-Verden and Saxe-Lauenburg and some adjacent territories of Hanover proper.
The government ofGeorge III did not recognise the French annexation, however, and was at war continuously with France for the entire period, and Hanoverian ministers continued to operate out ofLondon. The Privy Council of Hanover maintained its own separate diplomatic service, which maintained links with countries such as Austria and Prussia. The Hanoverian Army was dissolved, but many of the officers and soldiers went to England, where they formed theKing's German Legion. That was the only German army to fight continually throughout the Napoleonic Wars against the French.
French control lasted until November 1813,when the territory was overrun by Allied troops after theBattle of Leipzig spelled the definitive end to the Napoleonic client state of Westphalia, as well as the entireConfederation of the Rhine, and the rule of theHouse of Hanover was restored. The former electorate became theKingdom of Hanover, which was confirmed at theCongress of Vienna in 1814.
The electorate was legally indivisible: it could add to its territory, but not alienate territory or be split up among several heirs, as had been the rule before, which led at times to a multitude ofBrunswick-Lüneburgian principalities. Its succession was to follow maleprimogeniture. Since that was againstSalic law, which was then valid for the ducal family, the change needed imperial confirmation, which EmperorLeopold I granted in 1692.
In 1692, at its upgrading to the rank of electorate, its territory comprised the Brunswick-Lüneburgian principalities ofCalenberg andGrubenhagen, which the line of the former Principality of Calenberg branch of theWelf dynasty had already inherited in 1665. Before the confirmation of the electorate by theImperial Diet in 1708, however, the Calenberg line further inherited the principality ofCelle in 1705. Further included were the earlier-acquired counties ofDiepholz andHoya.
Although theHoly Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, George III's government did not consider the dissolution to be final, and he continued to be styled "Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg,Arch-treasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire" until 1814.
| Elector | Dates of reign | Succession | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover Ernst August | %40Residenzmuseum_Celle20160708.jpg) | 1692–1698 | Son ofGeorge, Duke of Brunswick | He marriedSophia of the Palatinate,[8] the daughter ofFrederick V, Elector Palatine andElizabeth Stuart, granddaughter ofKing James I of England. In 1692, he was appointed the first Prince Elector of Hanover by theHoly Roman Emperor. |
| George I Louis Georg Ludwig | .jpg) | 1708–1727 | Son of Ernest Augustus | BecameKing ofGreat Britain andIreland in 1714. AcquiredBremen-Verden in 1719. |
| George II Augustus Georg II. August |  | 1727–1760 | Son of George I | Acquired theLand of Hadeln in 1731. |
| George III William Frederick Georg III. Wilhelm Friedrich |  | 1760–1806 | Grandson of George II | Became King of theUnited Kingdom (by theAct of Union with Ireland) in 1801. Acquired thePrince-Bishopric of Osnabrück in 1803. De facto power was lost and restored by various occupations and annexations during the 1801–1813Great French War: lost (early 1801), restored (April 1801), lost (May 1803), restored (Autumn 1805), lost (early 1806), and restored (October 1813). Although the electoral title became defunct with the dissolution of theHoly Roman Empire in 1806, George did not recognise that dissolution. ProclaimedKing of Hanover in early 1814 and was broadly recognised as such during the 1814–1815Congress of Vienna. |
Media related toElectorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg at Wikimedia Commons
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1 until 1648. 2 until 1701. 3 from 1648. 4 until 1731. 5 until 1705. 6 until 1596. 7 from 1708. 8 until 1773. 9 until 1640. 10 until 1695. 11 from 1701. 12 until 1734. Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||
