Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a historical state in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

river and the southeast part of the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

. It was founded in the 1640s under a separate branch of the House of Lippe. In 1910 it had an area of 1215 Kmq and over 150,000 inhabitants.

History

The founder of what would become the County of Lippe (1528–1789), then the Principality of Lippe (1789–1918) was Bernhard I, who received a grant of territory from

Lothair III Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg (1075 – 4 December 1137), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before ...

in 1123. Bernhard I assumed the title of ''

Edler Edler () was until 1919 the lowest rank of nobility in Austria-Hungary and Germany, just beneath a ''Ritter'' (hereditary knight), but above untitled nobles, who used only the nobiliary particle ''von'' before their surname. It was mostly given to ...

Herr zu Lippe'' ("Noble Lord at Lippe"). The history of the dynasty and its further acquisitions of land really began with Bernard II. His territory was probably formed out of land he acquired on the destruction of the

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

following the demise of

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180. Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...

in 1180. From 1196 to 1666 the descendants of Bernard II passed their holdings from father to sons for sixteen generations. Thereafter until 1905, a collateral branch passed Lippe from father to sons for eight generations. A distant relation then became the last ruler until the Revolution of 1918 when Lippe became the

Free State of Lippe The Free State of Lippe (german: Freistaat Lippe) was a German state formed after the Principality of Lippe was abolished following the German Revolution of 1918. After the end of World War II and Nazi regime, Lippe was restored. This autonom ...

. Simon V was the first ruler of Lippe to style himself as a count (''

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

'') in 1528. Following the death of Simon VI in 1613, the county was partitioned between his three sons; Lippe-Detmold went to Simon VII, Lippe-Brake to Otto and Lippe-Alverdissen went to

Philip I Philip(p) I may refer to: * Philip I of Macedon (7th century BC) * Philip I Philadelphus (between 124 and 109 BC–83 or 75 BC) * Philip the Arab (c. 204–249), Roman Emperor * Philip I of France (1052–1108) * Philip I (archbishop of Cologne) (1 ...

. The county of Lippe-Brake was reunited with the main Detmold line in 1709. A son of Simon VII, Jobst Herman, founded another branch of the family, the Lippe-Biesterfeld line; the

Lippe-Weissenfeld The House of Lippe-Weissenfeld (German spelling: Lippe-Weißenfeld) is one of the junior branches of the House of Lippe, a dynasty ruling the Principality of Lippe until the German Revolution of 1918–19. Branches of the House of Lippe The Li ...

branch later separated from the Lippe-Biesterfelds. Both Lippe-Biesterfeld and Lippe-Weissenfeld were ''paragiums'' (non-sovereign estates of a cadet-branch) within the County of Lippe, and both branches, owning only modest manor houses in the county, acquired property in other states 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. The Counts of

Lippe-Detmold Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a historical 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 was founded in the 1640s under a separ ...

were granted the title of

Imperial prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. '' Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors ...

in 1789. Shortly after becoming a member state of the German Empire in 1871, the Lippe-Detmold line died out on 20 July 1895. This resulted in an inheritance dispute between the neighbouring

principality of Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, 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 capital at Bück ...

and the Lippe-Biesterfeld line. The dispute was resolved by the Imperial Court in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

in 1905, with the lands passing to the Lippe-Biesterfeld line who, until this point, had no territorial sovereignty. The Principality of Lippe came to an end on 12 November 1918 with the abdication of Leopold IV, with Lippe becoming a Free State. In 1947, Lippe merged into the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. The princely family still owns the estate and in

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 t ...

."Wo Deutschland fast noch eine Monarchie ist"
by Andreas Fasel, ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'', 25 December 2015

Rulers of Lippe

House of Lippe

Partitions of Lippe under Lippe rule

Table of rulers

Line of succession

* '' Rudolph Ferdinand, Count of Lippe-Sternberg-Schwalenberg (1671–1736)'' ** '' Frederick Karl Augustus, Count of Lippe-Sternberg-Schwalenberg (1706–1781), since 1762 of Lippe-Biesterfeld'' *** '' Karl Ernest Casimir, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1735–1810)'' **** '' William Ernest, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1777–1840)'' ***** '' Julius Peter Hermann August, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1812–1884)'' ****** '' Ernest Kasimir Frederick Karl Eberhard, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1842–1904), regent of the Principality 1897–1904'' ******* Leopold IV, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld 1904–1905, Regent 1904–1905 and 6th Prince of Lippe 1905–1949 (1871–1949), ''abdicated 1918'' ******** Armin, 7th Prince 1949–2015 (1924–2015) ********* Stephan, 8th Prince 2015–present (born 1959) ********** (1) Bernhard Leopold,

Hereditary Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

of Lippe (born 1995) ********** (2) Prince Heinrich Otto (born 1997) ********** (3) Prince Benjamin (born 1999) ******* ''Prince Julius Ernst (1873–1952)'' ******** '' Prince Ernst August (1917–1990)'' ********* (4) Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (born

out of wedlock Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

1947) ********* (5) Prince Ernst August (born 1952) ****** ''Prince Rudolf Wolfgang Ludwig Ernst Leopold (1856–1931)'' ******* ''Prince August Friedrich Wilhelm (1890–1938)'' ******** (6) Prince Rudolf Ferdinand Ludwig Eberhard Bernhard (born 1937) ********* (7) Prince Jean Friedrich Christian Wladimir Hermann Simon Heinrich (born 1982)

Notes

References

Attribution *

External links

Ordinances and by-laws of the county of Lippe online

Guidelines for the integration of the Land Lippe within the territory of the federal state North-Rhine-Westphalia
of 17 January 1947 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lippe, Principality States and territories disestablished in 1918 States and territories established in 1123 States of the Confederation of the Rhine States of the German Empire Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle Lists of princes Former principalities Principalities of the Holy Roman Empire 1120s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1123 establishments in Europe 1918 disestablishments in Germany Former states and territories of North Rhine-Westphalia States of the North German Confederation