The Duchy of Holstein (; ) was the northernmost state of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, located in the present

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. It originated when King

Christian I of Denmark Christian I ''(Christiern I)'' (February 1426 – 21 May 1481) was a German noble and Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was king of Denmark (1448–1481), King of Norway, Norway (1450–1481) and King of Sweden, Sweden (1457 ...

had his County of Holstein-Rendsburg elevated to a

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

by Emperor Frederick III in 1474. Members of the Danish

House of Oldenburg The House of Oldenburg is a Germans, German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Danish Realm, Denmark, Kingdom of Iceland, Iceland, Kingdom of Greece, Greece, Norway, Russian Empire, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, King ...

ruled Holstein – jointly with the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been div ...

– for its entire existence. From 1490 to 1523 and again from 1544 to 1773 the Duchy was partitioned between various Oldenburg branches, most notably the dukes of Holstein-Glückstadt (identical with the Kings of Denmark) and

Holstein-Gottorp Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, a side ...

. The duchy ceased to exist when the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

annexed it in 1866 after the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

History

The northern border of Holstein along the

Eider The eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks and some other ducks and geese are used to fill pillows and qu ...

River had already formed the northern border of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

, after Emperor

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

upon the

Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fou ...

reached an agreement with King

Hemming of Denmark Hemming I (died 812) was a king in Denmark from 810 until his death. He was the successor of King Gudfred, his uncle. Family Hemming I is mentioned in the Royal Frankish Annals as son to an unnamed brother of Gudfred. Though ''Gesta Hammabu ...

in 811. The lands of

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been di ...

beyond the river remained a fief of the Danish Crown, while Holstein became an integral part of

East Francia East Francia (Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire created in 843 and ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was established through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the for ...

, the

Kingdom of Germany The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( 'kingdom of the Germans', 'German kingdom', "kingdom of Germany", ) was the mostly Germanic language-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The king was elec ...

and the Holy Roman Empire.

Establishment

Adolf VIII, the last Count of Holstein-Rendsburg and

Duke of Schleswig The following is a list of earl, jarls and dukes, who ruled over Schleswig respectively Southern Jutland (Sønderjylland). First jarls/dukes House of Estridsen (1080–1375) House of Schauenburg (1325-1459) Under domain of Oldenburg In ...

had died without heirs in 1459. As Schleswig had been a Danish fief, it had to fall back to King Christian I of Denmark, who, himself a nephew of Adolf, also sought to enter into possession of Holstein. He was backed by the local nobility, who supported the continued common administration of both lands and by the 1460 Treaty of Ribe proclaimed him as the new Count of Holstein. Nevertheless, the comital Holstein lands south of the Eider River officially remained a mediate fief held by the Ascanian dukes of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (, ), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herz ...

. In 1474 Emperor Frederick III conferred

Imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...

to Christian by elevating him to a Duke of Holstein.

Partition

In 1544, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were partitioned in three parts between Christian's grandson

Christian III of Denmark Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

and his two younger half-brothers (who had to renounce the Danish throne), as follows: * The royal part, held by Christian III and his successors (identical with the Kings of Denmark). From 1648 the royal parts of Schleswig and Holstein were administered out of

Glückstadt Glückstadt (; ) is a town in the Steinburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river, about northwest of Altona. Glückstadt is part of the Hamburg ...

and became known as the Duchy of ''Schleswig-Holstein-Glückstadt''. Before 1773 its Holstein territory consisted of the following '' Ämter'':

Rendsburg Rendsburg (, also ''Rensborg'', , also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the Eider (river), River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernfoerde, Rends ...

, South

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...

Steinburg Steinburg () is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, administered from Itzehoe. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Dithmarschen, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Segeberg and Pinneberg, and by the Elbe River (and the d ...

Segeberg Segeberg (; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southwest and clockwise) the districts of Pinneberg, Steinburg and Rendsburg-Eckernförde, the city of Neumünster, the districts of Plön, Ostholstein and St ...

, and

Plön Plön (; ) is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 8,700 inhabitants. It lies right on the shores of Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Great Plön Lake, as well as on several smaller lakes, ...

. *The Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in Haderslev, held by Duke Hans the Elder. Hans had no issue and after his death in 1580, his territories were divided among his brothers. *The Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in Gottorp, held by Duke

Adolf Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo, and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name with German origins. The name is a compound derived from the Old High German ''Athalwolf'' (or ''Hadulf''), a composition of ''athal'', or ''adal'', mean ...

and his successors. In addition, significant parts of Holstein were jointly administered by the dukes of Holstein-Glückstadt and the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp, mainly on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

coast. In 1640, the County of Holstein-Pinneberg, whose ruling house was extinct, was merged in the royal part of the Duchy of Holstein.

Reunification

In 1713, during the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

, the estates of the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp in Schleswig including Schloss Gottorf were conquered by royal Danish troops. In the 1720

Treaty of Frederiksborg The Treaty of Frederiksborg () was a treaty signed at Frederiksborg Castle, Zealand, on 3 July 1720Heitz (1995), p.244 (14 July 1720 according to the Gregorian calendar), ending the Great Northern War between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. History ...

, Duke Charles Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp ceded them to his

liege lord Homage (/ˈhɒmɪdʒ/ or ) (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title t ...

the Danish crown. His remaining territories formed the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, administered from

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

. In 1773, Charles Frederick's grandson, Emperor

Paul I of Russia Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the Pauline Laws, laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules ...

finally gave his Holstein lands to the Danish king, in his function as duke of Holstein, in exchange for the

County of Oldenburg The County of Oldenburg () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1448 Christian I of Denmark (of the House of Oldenburg), Count of Oldenburg became King of Denmark, and later King of Norway and King of Sweden. One of his grandsons, Adolf, ...

, and Holstein was reunited as a single state. With the dissolution of the

in 1806, the Duchy of Holstein gained sovereignty. After the 1815

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, the Duchy of Holstein became a member of the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

, resulting in several diplomatic and military conflicts about the so-called

Schleswig-Holstein question Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its c ...

. Denmark defended its rule over Holstein in the

First Schleswig War The First Schleswig War (), also known as the Schleswig-Holstein uprising () and the Three Years' War (), was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig–Holstein question: who should control the Du ...

of 1848-51 against the

. However, in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War (; or German Danish War), 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. The war began on 1 Februar ...

(1864) Prussian and Austrian troops conquered Schleswig.

Christian IX of Denmark Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schlesw ...

had to renounce both Schleswig and Holstein in the

Treaty of Vienna (1864) The Treaty of Vienna (; ) was a peace treaty signed on 30 October 1864 in Vienna between the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Denmark. The treaty ended the Second War of Schleswig. Denmark ceded the Duchy of Schleswig (e ...

on October 30. At first placed under joint rule in a condominium, Prussia and Austria then assumed administration of Schleswig and Holstein, respectively, under the

Gastein Convention The Gastein Convention (), also called the ''Convention of Badgastein'', was a treaty signed at Bad Gastein in Austria on 14 August 1865.Wolfgang Neugebauer (ed.): ''Handbuch der preußischen Geschichte''. Band 2: ''Das 19. Jahrhundert und groß ...

of August 14, 1865. However, tensions between the two powers culminated in the

of 1866. Following the

Peace of Prague (1866) The Peace of Prague () was a peace treaty signed by the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire at Prague on 23 August 1866. In combination with the treaties of Prussia and several south - and central German states it effectively ended the Au ...

, the victorious Prussians annexed both Schleswig and Holstein by decree of December 24, 1866, and later established the unified

Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein ( ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (from 1868 to 1918) and the Free State of Prussia (from 1918 to 1946). History It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquere ...

List of statholders in Holstein

The Danish king in his function as duke of Holstein, and duke of Schleswig, appointed statholders (German: Statthalter; Latin: produx) to represent him in the duchies. The statholders fulfilled the tasks related to the ducal power as patrimonial lords in the royal shares of Holstein and Schleswig, as well as the royal part in the condominial government with the houses of Gottorp and Haderslev (the latter extinct in 1580) for all the duchies of Holstein (until retreat of Gottorp in 1773) and Schleswig (until Gottorp's deposal from dukedom there in 1720). *1523/45–1550:

Johan Rantzau Johan Rantzau (12 November 1492 – 12 December 1565) was a German- Danish field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the hi ...

*1550–1556: Count Bertram von Ahlefeldt *1556–1598: Heinrich Rantzau *1598–1600: vacancy? *1600–1627: Gert Rantzau (1558–1627)Dietrich Hermann Hegewisch, ''Schleswigs und Holsteins Geschichte unter dem Könige Christian IV und den Herzogen Friedrich II, Philipp, Johann Adolf und Friedrich III oder von 1588 bis 1648'', Kiel: Neue Academische Buchhandlung, 1801, (=Wilhelm Ernst Christiani's Königlich-Dänischen wirklichen Justizraths und ordentlichen Professors der Weltweisheit, Beredsamkeit und Geschichte auf der Königl. Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Geschichte der Herzogthümer Schleswig und Holstein unter dem Oldenburgischen Hause; part 3), p. XIV. *1627–1647: vacancy *1647–1648: Prince Frederick of Denmark *1648–1663: Christian zu Rantzau *1663–1685: Friedrich von Ahlefeldt, Count of Langeland (1623–1686), vice-statholder since 1660 *1685–1697: Detlev zu Rantzau (1644-1697) *1697–1708: Friedrich von Ahlefeldt, Count of Langeland (1662–1708), vice-statholder since 1686 *1708–1722: Carl von Ahlefeldt, Count of Langeland (1708–1722) *1722–1730: ? *1730–1731: Margrave Charles Augustus of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1663–1731), uncle of the next *1731–1762: Margrave Frederick Ernest of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1703–1762), brother-in-law of King Christian VI *1762–1768: Count

Friedrich Ludwig von Ahlefeldt-Dehn Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

(1697–1771) *1768–1836:

Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel (, German and ; 19 December 1744 – 17 August 1836) was a cadet member of the house of Hesse-Kassel and a Danish general field marshal. Brought up with relatives at the Danish court, he spent most of his life in ...

*1836–1842:

Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (11 September 1747 – 20 May 1837) was a younger member of the ruling dynasty of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and a Danish general. He was born as the youngest son of Hereditary Prince ...

*1842–1851: Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg *1851–1864: Christian zu Rantzau?

Notes

External links

Schleswig-Holstein
at ''Worldstatesmen'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Holstein 1866 disestablishments States and territories established in 1474 Duchies of the Holy Roman Empire Lower Saxon Circle States of the German Confederation Holstein Holstein 1470s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1474 establishments in Europe Former monarchies of Europe