Nörten-Hardenberg ( Eastphalian: ''Nörten-Harenbarg'') is a municipality in the district of Northeim, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

It is situated on the river

Leine The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long. The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, ...

, approx. 10 km southwest of

Northeim Northeim (; nds, Nuurten) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the district of Northeim, with, in 2011, a population of 29,000. It lies on the German Half-Timbered House Road. History Northeim is first mentioned in 800 in a document ...

, and 10 km north of

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

. The main town is located on the foothills of the Nörtener Wald but great parts of the municipality are in the Leinegraben, a lowland between the

Solling The Solling () is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of Lower Saxony, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. Inside Lower Saxony it is the second largest range of hills ...

and the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

. Neighbor communities are Bovenden (south), Hardegsen (west),

Moringen Moringen is a town in the district Northeim (district), Northeim, in the southern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. The town consists of the center Moringen and eight surrounding villages, Fredelsloh being one of them. History The town and its villag ...

(northwest), Katlenburg-Lindau (east) and

(north) Besides the main town itself, the following villages are component localities of Nörten-Hardenberg:

History

Hardenberg Castle, first mentioned in 1101, was built by the Electors of Mainz. Their

Ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minist ...

(or

Burgmann From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...

) were the lords of Rosdorf, who were expelled in 1287, followed by the lords of Thüdinghausen (near

) who took on the name ''knights of Hardenberg''. (They are not to be confounded with a westphalian noble family of Hardenberg Castle near

Velbert Velbert ( Low Rhenish: ''Vèlbed'') is a town in the district of Mettmann, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The town is renowned worldwide for the production of locks and fittings. Geography Velbert is located on the hills of 'Niede ...

, extinct in 1450). A branch went to Denmark around 1340, which later became extinct, Anne Hardenberg belonging to it. The family acquired further properties near Nörten-Hardenberg, as well as in other regions of Northern Germany. Since 1409 Hardenberg Castle was split between two family branches. Partly destroyed by a thunderstorm in 1698, the castle was abandoned in 1720 and became a ruin. In 1778 created counts, the Hardenberg family, whose most prominent members were Karl August von Hardenberg, prime minister of Prussia, and the poet

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure of ...

, still owns the estate. Since 1710 the family occupies the nearby manor house. In 1700, they founded the Hardenberg-Wilthen distillery, today Germany's second largest liquor producer. File:Burg Hardenberg Merian 1648.jpg, Hardenberg Castle in 1648 Burg Hardenberg und Gut.jpg, Ruin of Hardenberg Castle Hardenberg Vorderhaus.jpg, Hardenberg manor house Noerten Kirche Martin.JPG, The Catholic Church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norten-Hardenberg Hardenberg family Northeim (district)