County of Kriechingen

The County of Kriechingen was a state of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. It was originally a part of the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy. It was founded in 959 following t ...

, and was raised to an imperial estate in 1617. It belonged to the

Upper Rhenish Circle The Upper Rhenish Circle (german: Oberrheinischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former Duchy of Upper Lorraine and large parts of Rhenish Franconia including the Swabi ...

. In 1697, Kriechingen was inherited by the Principality of

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

, and later by the County of

Wied-Runkel Wied-Runkel was a small German sovereign state. Wied-Runkel was located around the town and castle of Runkel, located on the Lahn River. It extended from the town of Runkel to further north of Schupbach, but also held an exclave east of Villmar ...

. In 1793 Kriechingen was occupied by France; this was recognized by the Holy Roman Empire in the

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary doma ...

of 1801. The county was named after its capital, Kriechingen, today

Créhange Créhange (; Lorraine Franconian and German ''Krischingen'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The writer Joël Egloff (born 1970) was born in Créhange. It had a population of 3,868 in 2017. Until ...

. At the end of its existence, it had an area of approximately 100 km² and a population of 4000. Between 1766, when Lorraine became a part of France, and 1793, Kriechingen formed two exclaves of the Holy Roman Empire surrounded by French territory. {{Authority control Kriechingen Kriechingen