BRUNSWICK-WOLFENBÜTTEL
The
title "Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg" (German: Herzog zu Braunschweig
und Lüneburg) was held, from 1235 on, by various members of the Welf family
who ruled several small territories in northwest Germany. These holdings did
not have all of the formal characteristics of a state, being neither compact
nor indivisible. When several sons of a Duke competed for power, the lands were
often divided between them; when a branch of the family lost power or became
extinct, the lands were reallocated among surviving members of the family; different
dukes might also exchange territories. The unifying element of all these territories
was that they were ruled by male-line descendants of Duke Otto I.
After several early divisions, Brunswick-Lüneburg was
unified under Duke Magnus II (d. 1373). Following his death, his three sons
jointly ruled the Duchy. After the murder of their brother Frederick of Brunswick-Lüneburg,
brothers Bernard and Henry redivided the land, Henry receiving the territory
of Wolfenbüttel.
House of Brunswick
* Henry the Mild, 1400-1408
* Bernard, 1409-1428, brother. Returned control of Wolfenbüttel to his
nephew, Henry's son.
* William 1428-1432, nephew. Was deprived of Wolfenbüttel by his brother.
* Henry 1432-1473, brother.
* William 1473-1482, brother. William regained control of Wolfenbüttel
after his brother's death, and left it to his two sons.
* Co-rulers, sons of William the Victorious:
* Frederick 1482-1484. Imprisoned and deprived of power by his younger brother.
* William IV 1484-1491. Took control of all of Wolfenbüttel, then ceded
Wolfenbüttel to his sons. Died 1495.
* Co-rulers, sons of William IV:
* Eric I 1491-1494. Divided the territory in 1494, taking Calenberg.
* Henry IV 1491-1514. Sole ruler in Wolfenbüttel from 1494.
* Henry V 1514-1568. Son of Henry IV. Converted to Lutheranism.
* Julius 1568-1589. Son of Henry V. Acquired Calenberg in 1584 on the death
of his cousin Eric II.
* Henry Julius 1589-1613, son.
* Frederick Ulrich 1613-1634, son. Last of the male-line descendants of Henry
the Mild.
House of Dannenberg
On Frederick Ulrich's death, his complex of
territories passed to a line of distant cousins ruling in Lüneburg. Wolfenbüttel
was eventually awarded to Augustus, son of Henry of Dannenberg.
* Augustus 1635-1666
* Augustus's sons succeeded him, sometimes ruling together:
* Rudolph Augustus 1666-1704
* Anthony Ulrich 1685-1702, 1704-1714. Disputed
with Hanover. Deposed 1702-1704 for allying with France in the War of the Spanish
Succession. Converted to Catholicism 1709.
* Anthony Ulrich's sons succeeded him in sequence:
* Augustus William 1714-1731
* Louis Rudolph 1731-1735
House of Brunswick-Bevern
* Ferdinand Albert March-September 1735. Grandson of Augustus
the Younger.
* Charles I 1735-1780. Son of Ferdinand Albert. Moved the ducal court from Wolfenbüttel
to Brunswick in 1753.
* Charles William Ferdinand 1780-1806. Son of Charles I. Died in battle at Jena.
* Frederick William 1806-1807, 1813-1815. Son of Charles William Ferdinand.
From 1806 to 1813, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was occupied by France in the
Napoleonic Wars. Died in battle at Quatre Bras.
Frederick William's son Charles (a minor at the time of his
death) became the first Duke of independent Brunswick.
Duchy of Brunswick
The territory of Wolfenbüttel was recognized
as a sovereign state by the congress in 1815. It had been a portion of the medieval
Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. From 1705 onward, all other portions of Brunswick-Lüneburg
except Wolfenbüttel had been held by the Duke of Calenberg and Celle, i.e
the Elector of Hanover, as the Wolfenbüttel line retained its independence
from Hanover.
The Wolfenbüttel principality had for the period from
1807 to 1813 been held as part of the Kingdom of Westphalia. The Congress of
Vienna of 1815 turned it into an independent country under the name Duchy of
Brunswick.
Charles II (1815-1830)
The underage Duke Charles, the eldest son of
Duke Frederick William (who had fallen in battle), was put under the guardianship
of George IV, the Prince Regent of the United Kingdom and Hanover. First
the young duke had dispute over the date of his majority. Then, in 1827, Charles
declared some of the laws made during his minority invalid, which caused conflicts.
After the German Confederation intervened, Charles was forced to accept those
laws. His administration was considered corrupt and misguided. In
the aftermath of the July Revolution in 1830, Charles finally had to abdicate.
The palace in Brunswick was completely destroyed.
William VIII (1830-1884)
When Charles' brother William VIII, arrived
in Brunswick on 10 September, he was received joyfully by the people. William
originally considered himself only his brother's regent, but after a year declared
himself ruling duke. Charles made several desperate attempts, unsuccessfully,
to depose his brother. William left most government business
to his ministers, and spent most of his time outside of his state at his possessions
in Oels. While William joined the Prussian-led North
German Confederation in 1866, his relationship to Prussia was strained, since
Prussia refused to recognize Ernest Augustus II of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland,
his nearest male-line relative, as his heir. While the
kingdom of Hanover was annexed by Prussia in 1866, the Duchy of Brunswick remained
sovereign and independent. It joined first the North German Confederation and
in 1871 the German Empire.
In 1870s at latest it became obvious that the then senior branch
of the House of Welf (dukes of Brunswick) would go extinct. By house law, the
House of Hanover would have ascended the ducal throne, but there was strong
Prussian pressure against having George V of Hanover or his son, the Duke of
Cumberland, succeed to a member state of the German Empire, at least without
severe conditions, including swearing allegiance to the German constitution.
By a law of 1879, the Duchy of Brunswick established a temporary council of
regency to take over at the Duke's death, and if necessary appoint a regent.
With the 1884 death of Duke William, the Wolfenbüttel line came to an end.
The duchy would have passed on to the Hanover line, but
since the Hanoverians refused to accept the Prussian annexation of their kingdom,
they were not allowed to accede to rule in Brunswick. A constitutional crisis
ensued in Brunswick. The Duke of Cumberland proclaimed himself Duke of Brunswick
at the Duke's death, and lengthy negotiations ensued, but were never resolved.
Key identification notes: The leaping horse narrows coins
to a Brunswick duchy, from there check the ruler's name from the coin legend
or their monogram to determine for sure which duchy you have. Wolfenbüttel
coins, to my knowledge, never have the actual word "Wolfenbüttel"
or an abbreviation of it on the coin itself, they all show as Brunswick-Lüneburg.
Thaler (shown at 300% enlarged compared to other coins)
More coming soon...