Simon III, Lord of Lippe ( – 1410) was Lord of Lippe from 1360 until his death. He was the son of

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

, from whom he inherited the city of

Lemgo Lemgo (; ) is a university and old Hanseatic League, Hanseatic town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser Uplands, 25 km east of Bielefeld and 70 km west of H ...

. His control of the surrounding areas was initially uncertain. As late as 1368, the

castellans A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

of his castles and representatives of the cities of Horn,

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 ...

and Blomberg published a joint declaration, stating that in the future, they would only recognize the heir as their sovereign only if the two main cities in the Lordship, Lippstadt and Lemgo, would agree. In the ancestral lands around the cities of

Lippstadt Lippstadt () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest town within the district of Soest. Lippstadt is situated about 60 kilometres east of Dortmund, 40 kilometres south of Bielefeld and 30 kilometres west of Paderborn. Geo ...

and Rheda, however, the situation was complicated, because after the death of his uncle Bernard V, around 1365, his widow Richarda had initially given his part of Lippe to Count Otto VI of Tecklenburg, who was the husband of her eldest daughter. In 1366, she had revoked the gift and acknowledged Simon III as her husband's heir. Otto VI, however, refused to return the gift. This led to a struggle that would last several decades. Matters were further complicated when Otto VI took Simon III prisoner in 1371. Simon III was released in 1374, but he had to pay a very high ransom. He ended up having to pledge half of Lippstadt in 1376 to the relatives of his mother, the

House of La Marck The House of La Marck () was an ancient German nobility, German noble family, which from about 1200 appeared as the Counts of Mark. History The family history started with Count Adolf I, Count of the Mark, Adolf I, scion of a cadet branch of th ...

. In 1379, a short-lived alliance consisting of the bishoprics of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

and

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, the cities of

and

, and Count

Engelbert III of the Marck Engelbert III of the Mark (1333–1391) was the Count of Mark from 1347 until 1391. Adolph was the eldest son of Count Adolph II of the Marck and Margaret of Cleves, Countess of the Marck, Margaret of Cleves. After his father died in 1347, Engelb ...

conquered the Lordship and City of Rheda. However, they did not hand it to Simon III. Instead, they gave it back to Otto VI, after the latter had paid 8000 guilders. Around 1400, the cities of

Barntrup Barntrup () is a town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has an area of 59.46 km2 and 8,501 inhabitants (2019). It lies 40 km east from Bielefeld and 9 km west from Bad Pyrmont at the east border of NRW to ...

and Salzuflen and Sternberg Castle were pledged to Simon III. In 1405, the rest of the County of Sternberg followed. In 1403, Simon III agreed a treaty of inheritance with the childless Count Herman VII of Everstein. However, the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg objected. They claimed that Everstein was a fief of Brunswick, and would therefore fall back to them when the Everstein family died out. In 1405, the conflict escalated to a

feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

, which was fought mostly on Lippe's territory. In 1408, Herman VII renounced his rights and gave Everstein to Brunswick. Simon III was married to Irmgard of Hoya and had seven children. He died in 1410 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Bernard VI.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon 03, Lord of Lippe Lords of Lippe Lords of Rheda 1340s births 1410 deaths 14th-century German nobility 14th-century lords in Europe