of Saxe-Lauenburg as fixed by Duke Julius Francis and confirmed by
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1671. First quarter: the
Ascanian barry of ten
sable and
Or, covered by a crancelin of
rue bendwise in
vert. Second quarter:
azure, an eagle crowned Or. Third quarter:
argent, three
water lily leaves
gules. Fourth quarter:
party per
fess sable and argent, the
electoral swords () gules, representing the Saxon office as
Imperial Arch-Marshal (, ), pertaining to Saxon privilege as
Prince-elector, besides the right to elect the new emperor after the decease of the former. Saxe-Lauenburg always claimed the privilege, but could not prevail after 1356.
Early history In 1203, King
Valdemar II of Denmark conquered the area later composing Saxe-Lauenburg, but it reverted to
Albert I, Duke of Saxony in 1227. In 1260, Albert I's sons
Albert II and
John I succeeded their father. A deed of 20 September 1296 mentions the Vierlande, Sadelbande (Land of Lauenburg), the Land of Ratzeburg, the Land of Darzing (later Amt Neuhaus), and the Land of Hadeln as the separate territory of the brothers. This acquisition included much of the trade route between
Hamburg and Lübeck, thus providing a safe passage for freight between the cities. Eric III only retained a life tenancy. The city of Lübeck and Eric III had stipulated that, upon his death, Lübeck would be entitled to take possession of the pawned areas until his successors repaid the credit and simultaneously exercised the repurchase of Mölln (contracted in 1359), altogether amounting to the then enormous sum of 26,000 Lübeck Marks. In 1401, Eric III died without issue. The Lauenburg Elder Line was thus extinct in the male line and Eric III was succeeded by his second cousin
Eric IV of Saxe-Ratzeburg-Lauenburg of the Younger Line. In the same year, Eric IV, supported by his sons
Eric (later ruling as Eric V) and
John, forcefully captured the pawned areas, without making any repayment, before Lübeck could take possession of them. Lübeck acquiesced for the time being. , 1420 In 1420, Eric V attacked Prince-Elector
Frederick I of Brandenburg, and Lübeck allied with Hamburg in support of
Brandenburg. Armies of both cities opened a second front and conquered Bergedorf, Riepenburg castle and the Esslingen river toll station (today's
Zollenspieker Ferry). This forced Eric V to agree with
Hamburg's burgomaster Hein Hoyer and
Burgomaster Jordan Pleskow of Lübeck to the
Treaty of Perleberg on 23 August 1420, which stipulated that all the pawned areas, which Eric IV, Eric V and John IV had violently taken in 1401, were to be irrevocably ceded to the cities of Hamburg and Lübeck, becoming their bi-urban condominium of
Bergedorf (Beiderstädtischer Besitz). From the 14th century, Saxe-Lauenburg termed itself as
Lower Saxony (). However,
Saxony as a naming for the area comprising the older
Duchy of Saxony in its borders before 1180 still prevailed. So, when the Holy Roman Empire established the
Imperial Circles in 1500 as tax levying and army recruitment districts, the circle comprising Saxe-Lauenburg and all its neighbours became designated as
Saxon Circle, while the
Wettin-ruled Saxon electorate and duchies at that time formed the
Upper Saxon Circle. The naming of
Lower Saxony became more colloquial and the
Saxon Circle was later renamed the
Lower Saxon Circle. In 1659, Duke
Julius Henry decreed in his
general disposition (guidelines for his government) "to also esteem the woodlands as heart and dwell [of revenues] of the Principality of Lower Saxony."
After the Reformation The people of Hadeln, represented by their estates of the realm, adopted the
Lutheran Reformation in 1525 and Duke
Magnus I confirmed Hadeln's
Lutheran Church Order in 1526, establishing Hadeln's separate ecclesiastical body existing until 1885. Magnus did not promote the spreading of Lutheranism in the rest of his duchy. Lutheran preachers, most likely from the southerly adjacent
Principality of Lunenburg (Lutheran since 1529), held the first Lutheran preaches; at the northern entrance of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Lauenburg upon Elbe, one is recalled for
Saint John's Eve in 1531. In 1566, Francis I appointed the
Superintendent Franciscus Baringius as the first spiritual leader of the church in the duchy, not including Hadeln. Francis I conducted a thrifty reign and resigned in favour of his eldest son
Magnus II once having exploited all his means in 1571. Magnus II promised to redeem the pawned ducal demesnes with funds he gained as a Swedish military commander and by his marriage to
Princess Sophia of Sweden. However, Magnus did not redeem pawns but further alienated ducal possessions, which ignited a conflict between Magnus and his father and brothers
Francis (II) and
Maurice as well as the
estates of the duchy, further escalating due to Magnus' violent temperament. In 1573, Francis I deposed Magnus and reascended to the throne while Magnus fled to
Sweden. The following year, Magnus hired troops in order to retake Saxe-Lauenburg via force. Francis II, an experienced military commander in imperial service, and Duke
Adolphus of Schleswig and Holstein at Gottorp, then
Lower Saxon Circle Colonel (
Kreisobrist), helped Francis I to defeat Magnus. In return Saxe-Lauenburg ceded the bailiwick of
Steinhorst to Gottorp in 1575. Francis II again helped his father to inhibit Magnus' second military attempt to overthrow his father in 1578. Francis I then made Francis II his vicegerent actually governing the duchy. in
Lauenburg upon Elbe, seat of the Lauenburg Younger Line by the end of the 16th century, until its destruction in 1616 Shortly before his death in 1581 (and after consultations with his son Prince-Archbishop
Henry of Bremen and
Emperor Rudolph II, but unconcerted with his other sons Magnus and Maurice), Francis I made his third son, Francis II, whom he considered the ablest, his sole successor, violating the rules of
primogeniture. This severed the already difficult relations with the estates of the duchy, which fought the ducal practice of growing indebtedness. Baringius was held responsible for these grievances and replaced by Gerhard Sagittarius in 1582. Finally in 1585, after consultations with his brother Prince-Archbishop Henry, Francis II decreed a constitution (Niedersächsische
Kirchenordnung; Lower Saxon Church Order), authored by Lübeck's Superintendent Andreas Pouchenius the Elder, for the Lutheran church of Saxe-Lauenburg. It constituted the Lutheran state church of Saxe-Lauenburg, with a general superintendent (as of 1592) and
consistory seated in the city of Lauenburg, which merged into that of Schleswig-Holstein in 1877. Francis II's attempts in 1585 and 1586 to merge Hadeln's Lutheran church body with that in the rest of the duchy were unanimously rejected by Hadeln's clergy and estates. The violation of the primogeniture, however, gave grounds for the estates to perceive the upcoming duke Francis II as illegitimate. This forced him into negotiations, which ended on 16 December 1585 with the constitutional act of the "Eternal Union" () of the representatives of Saxe-Lauenburg's nobility (Ritterschaft, i.e. knighthood) and other subjects (Landschaft), mostly from the cities of Lauenburg upon Elbe and Ratzeburg, then altogether constituted as the estates of the duchy (Ritter-und-Landschaft), led by the Land Marshal, a hereditary office held by the family
von Bülow. Francis II accepted their establishment as a permanent institution with a crucial say in government matters. In return, Ritter-und-Landschaft accepted Francis II as legitimate, and rendered him homage as duke in 1586. The relations between Ritter-und-Landschaft and the duke improved since Francis II redeemed ducal pawns with money he had earned as imperial commander. After the residential castle in Lauenburg upon Elbe (started in 1180–1182 by Duke
Bernard I) had burnt down in 1616, Francis II moved the capital to
Neuhaus upon Elbe. In 1619, Duke
Augustus moved Saxe-Lauenburg's capital from Neuhaus upon Elbe to Ratzeburg, where it remained since. He confirmed the existing privileges of the nobility and the Ritter-und-Landschaft. In 1658, he forbade his
vassals to
pledge or else alienate
fiefs, thus fighting the integration of manor estates in Saxe-Lauenburg into the monetary economies of the neighbouring economically powerful
Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck. He entered with both
city-states into frontier disputes on manor estates which were in the process of evading Saxe-Lauenburgian overlordship into the competence of the city-states.
Disputed succession With the 1689 death of Duke
Julius Francis, a son of Julius Henry, the Lauenburg line of the
House of Ascania became extinct in the male line. On 17 May 1705, the Lutheran superintendency was moved from Lauenburg to Ratzeburg and combined with the pastorate of St. Peter's Church. When he died on 28 August the same year, Saxe-Lauenburg passed to his nephew, George I Louis, elector of Hanover, afterwards king of
Great Britain as
George I. Saxe-Lauenburg (except for Hadeln) passed to the
House of Welf and its cadet branch
House of Hanover, while the legal heirs, Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg, never waiving their claim, were dispossessed and the former exiled to
Bohemian Ploskovice.
Emperor Leopold I rejected Celle's succession and thus retained Hadeln, which was out of Celle's reach, in his custody. In 1728, his son, Emperor
Charles VI,
enfeoffed Saxe-Lauenberg to George I's son and successor
George II Augustus, thus legitimizing the de facto takeover by George William in 1689 and 1693.
George III ascended in 1760 and endorsed all the laws, the constitution and the Ritter-und-Landschaft of Saxe-Lauenburg by a writ issued in
St. James' Palace on 21 January 1765.
Napoleonic era gyronny in black and white, its official colours, and showed the horse head in silver. The duchy was occupied by French troops from 1803 to 1805, In 1815
Denmark gained the portion of Lauenburg north of the Elbe, now ruled in
personal union by the Danish
House of Oldenburg, from Sweden, which thus again compensated Danish claims to Swedish Pomerania. On 6 December 1815
Frederick VI of Denmark issued his
Asseveration Act (Versicherungsacte) affirming the given laws, the constitution and the Ritter-und-Landschaft of Saxe-Lauenburg. In 1816, his administration took possession of the duchy. During the
First Schleswig War (1848–1851), the Ritter-und-Landschaft prevented a Prussian conquest by requesting Hanoverian troops as peace-keeping occupational forces on behalf of the
German Confederation. In 1851, King
Frederick VII of Denmark was restored as Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg. Prussian and
Austrian forces invaded the duchy during the
Second Schleswig War. By the
Treaty of Vienna (1864), King
Christian IX of Denmark abdicated as duke and ceded the duchy to Prussia and Austria. After receiving a £300,000 financial compensation, Austria waived its claim to Saxe-Lauenburg by the
Gastein Convention in August 1865. The Ritter-und-Landschaft then offered the ducal throne to
William I of Prussia. In September of the same year, he accepted and ruled the duchy in a
personal union. William appointed the then
Minister President of Prussia,
Otto von Bismarck, as minister for Saxe-Lauenburg. In 1866, Saxe-Lauenburg joined the
North German Confederation. However, its vote in the
Bundesrat was counted along with those of Prussia. In 1871, Saxe-Lauenburg was one of the
component constituent states founding
united Germany. However, in 1876, the ducal government and the Ritter-und-Landschaft decided to dissolve the Duchy with effect on 1 July 1876. Its territory was then integrated into the Prussian
Province of Schleswig-Holstein as the district
Herzogtum Lauenburg, meaning the Duchy of Lauenburg. For the further history see
Herzogtum Lauenburg. == Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg ==