The House of Lippe () is the former reigning house of a number of small

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 ...

states, two of which existed until the

German Revolution of 1918–19 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 ...

, the

Principality of Lippe Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It originated as a state during the Holy Roman Empire, an ...

and the

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also called Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807 and a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present-day state of Lower Saxony, with its capi ...

. Princess

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born ...

, former Queen of the Netherlands (1980–2013), is an

agnatic Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

member of this house.

History

The House of Lippe descends from Jodocus Herman, Lord of Lippe (died c. 1096), whose descendant Bernhard I was the founder of the state of

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. ...

in 1123. Born ca 1090. The family has produced several of the longest-reigning monarchs in Europe, including the longest reigning (for 82 years),

Bernard VII, Lord of Lippe Bernard VII of Lippe (4 December 1428 – 2 April 1511) was the ruler of the Lordship of County of Lippe, Lippe from 1429 until his death. Because of the many bloody feuds in which he was involved, he was nicknamed "the Bellicose". He is the List ...

(d. 1511). In 1528, Simon V was elevated to the rank of ruling

Count of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince wh ...

and Edler Herr zur Lippe (noble Lord of Lippe). In 1613, the House's territory was split into the counties of

Lippe-Detmold Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It originated as a state during the Holy Roman Empire, an ...

, Lippe-Brake and

Lippe-Alverdissen Lippe-Alverdissen was a German County of the ruling House of Lippe. The branch was created in 1613 following the death of Count Simon VI of Lippe, with his realm being split between his three sons with his youngest son Philipp Philipp is both ...

. In 1643, Count Philipp of Lippe-Alverdissen inherited half of the neighboring

County of Schaumburg The County of Schaumburg (), until ca. 1485 known as Schauenburg, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Lower Saxony. Its territory was more or less congruent with the present district . History Schaum ...

and founded the

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also called Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807 and a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present-day state of Lower Saxony, with its capi ...

line of the House of Lippe. The Brake branch extinguished in 1709, disputedly inherited by the main, Lippe-Detmold line. Alverdissen was bought back from Schaumburg-Lippe by Lippe-Detmold in 1812. In the 18th century, the

cadet line A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...

Lippe-Biesterfeld The House of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a comital and later princely cadet line of the House of Lippe (a German dynasty reigning from 1413 until 1918, of comital and, from 1789, of princely rank). The comital branch of Lippe-Biesterfeld ascended t ...

split from the Detmold branch, and shortly thereafter

Lippe-Weissenfeld The House of Lippe-Weissenfeld (German spelling: Lippe-Weißenfeld) was a comital and later princely cadet branch of the House of Lippe, a dynasty ruling the Principality of Lippe until the German Revolution of 1918–19. Branches of the House ...

split from Lippe-Biesterfeld as a further cadet branch. Both, Biesterfeld and Weissenfeld were so-called ''paragiums'' (non-sovereign estates of a cadet-branch) within the County of Lippe. Both branches, owning only modest manor houses in the county, acquired other (non-sovereign) property by marriage and moved out of the county in the late 18th century, the Biesterfeld branch to the Rhineland, and the Weissenfeld branch to Saxony, where their inherited estates were mostly located. The counts of

were granted the title of

Imperial prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (, , cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassal ...

in 1789, while the counts of Schaumburg-Lippe became in fact princes by entering the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austrian Empire, Austria ...

in 1807 and legally by becoming a member state 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 ...

in 1815. The

existed until the end of the German monarchies in 1918. In 1905, with the death of

Alexander, Prince of Lippe Alexander, Prince of Lippe () (16 January 1831 – 13 January 1905) was the penultimate sovereign of the Principality of Lippe. Succeeding to the throne in 1895, Alexander had his power exercised by a regent throughout his reign on account of his ...

, the senior Lippe-Detmold branch of the family became extinct and Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld (head of the non-ruling junior branch line

) succeeded him as Prince, after an Imperial court ruling, in fact against the wishes of

Wilhelm II, German Emperor Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

, who would have preferred his brother-in-law

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe (; 20 July 1859 – 9 July 1916) was a German prince of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe and a Prussian General of the Cavalry. He was regent of the Principality of Lippe from 1895 to 1897 due to the incapacit ...

to succeed. Leopold IV continued to rule until the German Revolution of 1918. During the revolution, the ruling Princes of Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe were forced to abdicate, ending the family's 795-year rule. In 1928, Prince Leopold's three sons by his first wife signed up to the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Party. The eldest, Prince Ernst, was reputedly the first German prince to do so.www.historyfiles.co.uk
/ref> In 1937, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld married Princess

Juliana of the Netherlands Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Sh ...

. On the accession of their daughter

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "ble ...

in 1980, the Netherlands Royal House officially remained known as the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

, although Beatrix and her sisters are agnatically members of the House of Lippe. Stephan, Prince of Lippe (b. 1959) is the present senior of the House of Lippe. He still owns the estate and castle at

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

, the former main residence of the principality. Alexander, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, head of the younger formerly sovereign branch, still resides at

Bückeburg Bückeburg (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Bückeburg ha ...

Palace,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, located on the border with

North Rhine Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

States ruled by the House of Lippe

(1123–1918), known as

from 1621 * Lippe-Brake (1621–1709) *

(1643–1918)

Non-ruling cadet branches

(1613–1640 and 1681–1777) *

Rulers of Lippe

Partitions of Lippe under Lippe rule

Table of rulers

Castles of the House of Lippe

Detmold_-_2014-08-08_-_Schloss_(3).jpg,

Castle Detmold - 623 - Falkenburg (2).JPG, Falkenburg Castle, Detmold Schloss Brake, Lemgo.jpg, Brake Castle,

Lemgo Lemgo (; ) is a university and old Hanseatic League, Hanseatic town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser Uplands, 25 km east of Bielefeld and 70 km west of H ...

Blomberg-1 Burg-Innenhof.jpg, Blomberg Castle Schloss Vahrenholz 01.jpg, Varenholz Castle,

Kalletal Kalletal is a municipality in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the ...

Schieder-Schwalenberg - 2018-09-14 - Burg Schwalenberg (07).jpg, Schwalenberg Castle Burg Sternberg winter.jpg, Sternberg Castle, Extertal Horn - 01.27 - Burgstr. 13 (9).jpg,

Horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

Castle Schloss Alverdissen 2012.jpg, Alverdissen Castle,

Barntrup Barntrup () is a town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has an area of 59.46 km2 and 8,501 inhabitants (2019). It lies 40 km east from Bielefeld and 9 km west from Bad Pyrmont at the east border of NRW to ...

Schieder-Schwalenberg - 20 - Im Kurpark 1 (3).jpg, Schieder House,

Schieder-Schwalenberg Schieder-Schwalenberg (Low German: ''Schüer-Schwalenberg'') is a town in the Lippe district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately east of Detmold. It consists of 8 communes, which have been combined to a town in 197 ...

Lopshorn02.jpg, Lopshorn hunting castle,

Augustdorf Augustdorf is a municipality in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the ...

EKG-Lemgo.JPG, Lippehof in

Detmold - Hochschule-fuer-Musik - Panorama.jpg, The New Palace at

References

External links

*
Regnal chronology of Lippe
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lippe 1123 establishments in Europe Monarchy of the Netherlands German noble families German royalty