Lower Saxon Circle

The Lower Saxon Circle as at the beginning of the 16th century

The Lower Saxon Circle (German: Niedersächsischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. Covering much of the territory of the mediæval Duchy of Saxony (except for Westphalia), firstly the circle used to be called the Saxon Circle (German: Sächsischer Kreis, or Sächsischer Reichskreis), only to be later better differentiated from the Upper Saxon Circle the more specific name prevailed.

An unusual aspect of this circle was that at various times the kings of Denmark (in Holstein), Great Britain (in Hanover), and Sweden (in Bremen) were all Princes of a number of Imperial States.

Composition

The circle was made up of the following states:

Name	Type of entity	Comments
Blankenburg	County	Established in 1123, from 1599 held by the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, raised to Principality in 1703,
Bremen	Prince-Archbishopric	Established in 787 by Charlemagne, secularized in 1648 as Duchy of Bremen, fief of the Swedish Crown, ceded to Hanover in 1719
Bremen	Imperial City	From 1186
Brunswick-Lüneburg	Duchy	Undivided between 1235–1269, thus it existed as single territory only before the establishment of imperial circles. Thereafter General name for all Welf territories in the region.
Calenberg	Principality, Duchy	Subdivision of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1494, united with Celle in 1705 to form Hanover, containing all of Brunswick except Wolfenbüttel
Gandersheim	Prince-Abbacy	Established in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, Imperial immediacy confirmed by King Henry the Fowler in 919, contested by Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Goslar	Imperial City	From 1290
Grubenhagen	Principality	Subdivision of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1291 until 1596
Halberstadt	Prince-Bishopric	Established by Charlemagne in 804, secularized in 1648 as Principality of Halberstadt held by Brandenburg
Hamburg	Imperial City	From 1189
Hildesheim	Prince-Bishopric	Established in 815 by Louis the Pious
Holstein	Duchy	Established in 1474, held by the Danish Royal House of Oldenburg, from 1648 residence in Glückstadt
Holstein-Gottorp	Duchy	Subdivision of Holstein from 1544 until 1773
Lübeck	Prince-Bishopric	Established in 1160 by Henry the Lion
Lübeck	Imperial City	From 1226
Lüneburg	Principality	Subdivision of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1269 until 1705
Magdeburg	Prince-Archbishopric	Established in 955 by Otto I, secularized in 1680 as Duchy of Magdeburg, held by Brandenburg
Mecklenburg-Schwerin	Duchy	Established in 1352
Mecklenburg-Güstrow	Duchy	Subdivision of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1520 until 1552, again from 1621 until 1695
Mecklenburg-Strelitz	Duchy	Subdivision of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1701
Mühlhausen	Imperial City	From 1251
Nordhausen	Imperial City	From 1220
Rantzau	County	Established in 1650, held by the Danish Royal House of Oldenburg from 1734
Ratzeburg	Prince-Bishopric	Established in 1154 by Henry the Lion, secularized in 1648 as Principality of Ratzeburg, held by the Dukes of Mecklenburg, Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1701
Regenstein	County	From about 1160, united with Blankenburg in 1368, held by the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1599
Saxe-Lauenburg	Duchy	Established in 1296, fell to the Dukes of Brunswick-Calenberg in 1689
Schwerin	Prince-Bishopric	Established in 1154 by Henry the Lion, residence at Bützow from 1239, secularized in 1648 as a principality held by the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Wolfenbüttel	Principality	Subdivision of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1269, became Duchy of Brunswick in 1815

References

• Imperial Circles in the 16th Century Historical Maps of Germany

Sources

The list of states making up the Lower Saxon Circle is based on that in the German Wikipedia article Niedersächsischer Reichskreis.