Sachsen-Lauenburg Siebmacher005 - Herzogtum

The title of Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which, since its foundation in 1269, was ruled in succession by 29 dukes from six dynastic houses and lines, and by an additional four dukes from a temporary dynastic branch line (

Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg (13 June 1672 – 15 October 1741) was the legal Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg in the eyes of the Holy Roman Emperor, the overlord of Saxe-Lauenburg, from 1689 until 1728; however, because her distant cousi ...

, the first would-be duchess regnant, was kept from inheriting the duchy by male rulers of neighbouring states). The

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a medieval country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between ...

was held by various countries, including

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

from 1803 to 1805 and from 1810 to 1814,

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

from 1805 to 1806, and

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

from 1806 to 1810. The kings of Denmark, members of the House of Oldenburg, held the Duchy of Lauenburg from 1815 to 1864, when the territory came under Prussian control as a result of the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

, though it was not immediately annexed to Prussia. In 1865, the

estates Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representati ...

of Saxe-Lauenburg offered rule of the duchy to King William I of Prussia. He accepted during the same year, ruling it in

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interli ...

until the estates decided upon the merger of their state with Prussia as of July 1, 1876. After the death in 1888 of the last ruling duke, Wilhelm I (who after 1870 was also German emperor), the now purely honorific title of Duke of Lauenburg was granted to

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

after his dismissal as

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

in 1890.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke Of Lauenburg Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg

See also

Notes