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52-512: The District has roughly the same territory as the County of Bentheim , a state of the Holy Roman Empire that was dissolved in 1803. The district's north-western region named Niedergrafschaft  [ de ] ( low county ) protrudes into Dutch territory, and borders it to the north, west and south. The Vechte River (Dutch Vecht ) traverses the district from south to north and flows into

104-827: A fraction of the old debt of the Count of Bentheim-Bentheim to Hanover and obtained the possession of the County of Bentheim despite the protest of the Elector of Hanover. In July 1806, by the Act of the Confederation of the Rhine , the Grand Duchy of Berg mediatised the Imperial immediate Counties of Steinfurt and Bentheim that belonged to the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt. In 1808, the Grand Duchy of Berg mediatised

156-617: A mortgage to the King of Hanover and England." For almost 700 years prior to this, Grafshaft Bentheim was independently ruled by the Counts of Bentheim and that they might have continued thus had it not been for the circumstances of 1753. At the end of the Holy Roman Empire , the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt and the Count of Bentheim-Bentheim each had one voice in the Assembly of the Imperial Circle of

208-625: A profitable export trade to other parts of present-day Germany and the Netherlands . Around 500–600 CE Germanic tribes settled in the area . The Saxon tribes lost their independence in 804 CE after the Franks won the Saxon Wars . Between 800 and 850 Emperor Charlemagne had them forced to convert to Christianity. The scholten system was introduced, and Emlichheim, Uelsen, Veldhausen, and Nordhorn become church and court districts. The county of Bentheim

260-518: Is commonly referred to as the elector of Hanover after his residence. Hanover acquired Bremen-Verden in 1719. The electorate was legally bound to be indivisible: it could add to its territory, but not alienate territory or be split up among several heirs; and its succession was to follow male primogeniture. The territory assigned to the electorate included the Brunswick-Lüneburg principalities of Calenberg, Grubenhagen, and Lüneburg (even though at

312-446: Is in charge for the next four days, and instructs the other neighbors as to their duties. He is responsible for contacting the pastor (officiant), the bell ringer, and the gravedigger and making the burial arrangements. The town bell would be sounded one toll for each year the deceased had lived. If the death occurred after 9:00 p.m., this would wait until 9:00 the following morning. The casket builder would then begin his work, and

364-637: The British Army , supported by troops from Prussia, Hesse-Kassel and the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , again expelled the occupants. Hanover remained unaffected for the rest of the war. After the war ended, peace prevailed until the French Revolutionary Wars started. The War of the First Coalition against France (1792–1797) with Great Britain, Hanover and other war allies forming

416-588: The Continental System , the French Empire annexed in late 1810 all of the continental North Sea coast (as far as Denmark) and the areas along the sections of the rivers navigable for seagoing vessels, including Bremen-Verden and Saxe-Lauenburg and some adjacent territories of Hanover proper. The government of George III did not recognise the French annexation, however, and was at war continuously with France for

468-672: The French Empire , since 1804 France's new government, ceded Hanover, which it no longer held, to Prussia, which captured it in early 1806. On 6 August 1806, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, thereby abolishing the function of prince-electors electing its emperors. After Prussia had turned against France in the War of the Fourth Coalition , it was defeated in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (11 November 1806), and France recaptured Hanover. Following

520-523: The French invaded Hanover and defeated George II's son Prince William, Duke of Cumberland , leading the Anglo-Hanoverian army , at the Battle of Hastenbeck and drove him and his army into remote Bremen-Verden, where in the former Zeven Convent  [ de ] he capitulated on 18 September ( Convention of Kloster-Zeven ). George II did not recognise the convention, however. The following year,

572-767: The German Chancery , situated in St James's Palace in London. During the French and Indian War (1754–1763) in the North American colonies, Britain feared a French invasion of Hanover. George II formed an alliance with his Prussian cousin Frederick II combining the North American conflict with the Brandenburg-Prusso–Austrian Third Silesian, or Seven Years' War (1756–1763). In the summer of 1757,

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624-717: The Hanoverian Succession . The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg had been split in 1269 between different branches of the House of Welf . The Principality of Calenberg , ruled by a cadet branch of the family, emerged as the largest and most powerful of the Brunswick-Lüneburg states. In 1692, the Holy Roman Emperor elevated the Prince of Calenberg to the College of Electors , creating the new Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The fortunes of

676-525: The House of Habsburg elevated Duke Ernest Augustus of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line of Calenberg , to the rank of prince-elector of the empire as a reward for aid given in the Nine Years' War . There were protests against the addition of a new elector, and the elevation did not become official until the approval of the Imperial Diet in 1708. Calenberg's capital, Hanover , became colloquially eponymous for

728-511: The House of Hanover since 1662. After Britain, this time without any allies, had declared war on France (18 May 1803), French troops invaded Hanover on 26 May . According to the Convention of Artlenburg (5 July 1803), confirming the military defeat of Hanover, the Hanoverian Army was disarmed, and its horses and ammunitions were handed over to the French. The Privy Council of Hanover, with

780-619: The Kaiser and under Hitler . Through all this they came with good courage. If you ask them today about their identity, they just might tell you, 'Wy bin't Groofschappers' (We are from the County)." Arranged marriages have been a longstanding tradition in Grafschaft (county) Bentheim. In former times, the parents arranged for their children to marry a distant relative. Weddings lasted three days with each invited guest giving about 100 DM ($ 50 in 1988) to

832-406: The Netherlands . The arms are identical to the arms of the historic County of Bentheim . The origin of these arms is unknown. Free municipalities 52°25′N 7°05′E  /  52.42°N 7.08°E  / 52.42; 7.08 County of Bentheim The County of Bentheim ( Grafschaft Bentheim , Low German Benthem ) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire , located in

884-673: The North Sea . In 1700, the territories forming the electorate introduced, like all other Protestant territories of imperial immediacy , the Improved Calendar, as the Gregorian calendar was called by Protestants to avoid mentioning the name of Pope Gregory XIII . Sunday, 18 February (Old Style) was thus followed by Monday, 1 March ( New Style ). In 1692, the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, elevated George's son, Duke Ernest Augustus to

936-839: The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , which changed the Habsburgs' inheritance law. It took George II Augustus until 1733 to persuade Charles VI to enfeoff him also with the Duchy of Bremen and the Principality of Verden, colloquially called Duchies of Bremen-Verden. At both enfeoffments, George II Augustus swore that he would respect the existing privileges and constitutions of the estates in Bremen-Verden and in Hadeln, thus confirming 400-year-old traditions of estate participation in government. In Hanover ,

988-480: The Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, the new Kingdom of Westphalia was founded, ruled by Napoléon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte , then including territories of the former Electorate of Hesse-Kassel , the ducal Brunswick-Lüneburgian principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and formerly Prussian territories. In early 1810 Hanover proper and Bremen-Verden but not Saxe-Lauenburg were also annexed by Westphalia. In an attempt to assert

1040-429: The " death messengers " would be dispatched to inform the citizenry of the death with a message akin to "You are asked to attend the funeral of the departed ____________ at (time and date)." All in attendance at the funeral would wear unadorned black clothing. From 850 CE to about 1850 CE, burial was done in the churchyard, the idea being that the "church on earth" was the closest place to the "Church Triumphant." A grave

1092-509: The Counts of Bentheim-Steinfurt and Bentheim-Tecklenburg the title of Prince. Since 1854, the Princes of Bentheim-Steinfurt and Bentheim-Tecklenburg were hereditary members of the House of Lords of Prussia . Today, the still extant branches of the House of Bentheim are the princes of Bentheim-Steinfurt with their seat at Steinfurt Castle (also still owners of the ancestral seat Burg Bentheim ) and

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1144-558: The German provinces of Lower Saxony and Westphalia , and the Dutch region of Twente as the electorate covered large portions of the original stem Duchy of Saxony . The electorate comprised large parts of the modern German state of Lower Saxony in Northern Germany . Beside the Principality of Calenberg it also included the former princely lands of Göttingen and Grubenhagen as well as

1196-605: The Higher Church Council to help administer the spiritual matters of Bentheim, as well as establishing the Reformed Church of Bentheim in all three of the counties. When Arnold Jobst died in 1643, the County of Bentheim-Steinfurt was partitioned into Bentheim-Steinfurt and Bentheim-Bentheim, the latter comprising the County of Bentheim. In 1753, the County of Bentheim was seized by the elector of Hanover . "In 1753, trouble within made them (the Counts of Bentheim) take out

1248-524: The Lordship ( Herrschaft ) of Rheda and the County of Hohenlimburg , the independent possessions of the Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg. Bentheim was annexed by France in 1810 with the Kingdom of Holland and many northwest German regions. The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) put Steinfurt and Rheda under overlordship of Prussia, and Bentheim under overlordship of Hanover. In 1817, the King of Prussia granted

1300-745: The Lower Rhine-Westphalia. As members of the College of the Counts of Westphalia, they were represented in the Council of Princes of the Imperial Diet ( Reichstag ). These representation made the House of Bentheim a member of the German High Nobility. In 1803 the Bentheim-Bentheim branch became extinct. In 1804 the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt made a bargain with the Government of France. He paid

1352-514: The Napoleonic Wars against the French. French control lasted until November 1813, when the territory was overrun by Allied troops after the Battle of Leipzig spelled the definitive end to the Napoleonic client state of Westphalia, as well as the entire Confederation of the Rhine , and the rule of the House of Hanover was restored. The former electorate became the Kingdom of Hanover , which

1404-498: The armed neutrality. During the War of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802), Napoléon Bonaparte urged Prussia to occupy the continental British dominions. In 1801, there was an invasion of 24,000 Prussian soldiers that surprised Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April they arrived at Bremen-Verden's capital, Stade , and stayed there until October. The British first ignored Prussian hostility, but when

1456-618: The capital of the electorate, the Privy Council of Hanover (electoral government) installed a new ministry in charge of the Imperial Estates ruled by the electors in personal union. It was called the Department of Bremen-Verden, Hadeln, Lauenburg and Bentheim . Nonetheless, the electors spent most of their time in England. Direct contact with the electorate was maintained through the office of

1508-518: The coalition, did not affect Hanoverian territory since the first French Republic was fighting on several fronts, even on its own territory. Men were drafted to recruit the 16,000 Hanoverian soldiers fighting in the Low Countries under British command against France. In 1795, the Holy Roman Empire declared its neutrality, including Hanover, but a peace treaty with France was being negotiated until it failed in 1799. Prussia, however, ended for its part

1560-506: The counts of Bentheim would annex and purchase various territories in Rheda , Steinfurt , and the Netherlands. In 1277, the County of Bentheim was partitioned into Bentheim-Bentheim (containing the County of Bentheim) and Bentheim-Tecklenburg (containing the County of Tecklenburg). The first County of Bentheim-Bentheim endured until 1530, when its line of counts had become extinct and Bentheim

1612-643: The deceased: three years for the spouse, two years for the children, one year for the siblings, and 6 weeks for the next-door neighbor. During this period, unadorned black was to be worn, and this was strictly enforced. The modern Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim which covers approximately the same territory takes its name from the former county and continues to use its coat of arms. Circles est. 1500: Bavarian , Swabian , Upper Rhenish , Lower Rhenish–Westphalian , Franconian , (Lower) Saxon Electorate of Hanover The Electorate of Hanover ( German : Kurfürstentum Hannover or simply Kurhannover )

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1664-463: The ducal family, the change needed imperial confirmation, which Emperor Leopold I granted in 1692. In 1692, at its upgrading to the rank of electorate, its territory comprised the Brunswick-Lüneburgian principalities of Calenberg and Grubenhagen , which the line of the former had already inherited in 1665. Before the confirmation of the electorate by the Imperial Diet in 1708, however,

1716-465: The ears, "so the ears would grow nice and close to the face." Children born during the week would be baptized in the Reformed tradition that coming Sunday, attended by the neighbors and midwife to stand as witnesses. In former times, the new mother would not leave the house during the first six weeks after giving birth. When a family member dies, the next-door neighbor is the first to be contacted. He

1768-562: The electorate were tied to those of Great Britain by the Act of Settlement 1701 and Act of Union 1707 , which settled the succession to the British throne on Queen Anne's nearest Protestant relative, the Electress Sophia of Hanover , and her descendants. The prince-elector of Hanover became king of Great Britain in 1714. As a consequence, a reluctant Britain was forced time and again to defend

1820-453: The electorate, but it officially used the name Chur-Braunschweig-Lüneburg of the entire ducal dynasty. The electoral coat of arms and flag (see info box upper right of this article) displayed the Saxon Steed (German: Sachsenross, Niedersachsenross, Welfenross, Westfalenpferd ; Dutch : Twentse Ros / Saksische ros/paard ; Low Saxon : Witte Peerd ) is a heraldic motif associated with

1872-469: The entire period, and Hanoverian ministers continued to operate out of London . The Privy Council of Hanover maintained its own separate diplomatic service, which maintained links with countries such as Austria and Prussia. The Hanoverian Army was dissolved, but many of the officers and soldiers went to England, where they formed the King's German Legion . That was the only German army to fight continually throughout

1924-526: The king's German possessions. Nonetheless, Hanover remained a separately ruled territory with its own governmental bodies, and the country had to sign a treaty with Great Britain whenever Hanoverian troops fought on the British side of a war. Merged into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, it was re-established as the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, and the personal union with the British crown lasted until 1837. In 1692, Emperor Leopold I of

1976-552: The latter joined the pro-French coalition of armed neutral powers, including Denmark-Norway and Russia , Britain began to capture Prussian ships. After the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) , the coalition fell apart and Prussia withdrew its troops. As part of the German Mediatisation of 25 February 1803, the electorate received the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück in real union , which had been ruled by every second ruler of

2028-644: The minister Friedrich Franz Dieterich von Bremer holding up the Hanoverian stake, fled to Saxe-Lauenburg , across the Elbe , which was ruled by Britain and Hanover in personal union. Soon, the French also occupied Saxe-Lauenburg. In the autumn of 1805, at the beginning of the War of the Third Coalition against France (1805), the French occupying troops left Hanover in a campaign against Austria . British, Swedish and Russian coalition forces captured Hanover . In December,

2080-402: The newly married couple. The couple signs the marriage contract before the ceremony. The presentation of the dowry and hope chest was part of the ceremony. Until the 1950s, most gave birth, with aid of a midwife , in their own home. After birth, the baby would have its lower body tightly wrapped to prevent it becoming bowlegged and a tight fitting cap would be placed on its head, covering

2132-511: The princes of Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda with their seats at Rheda Castle and Hohenlimburg Castle, also owners of the former monasteries of Herzebrock and Clarholz. Although Bentheim is a German county, the dialect spoken, plattdeutsch , or "low german," is heavily influenced by the Dutch language. "In spirit," writes Harger, "the people of Bentheim have never lost their independence. They became Hanoverians; they were invaded by Napoleon . Prussia took them over in 1866. They lived under

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2184-630: The rank of elector of the empire as a reward for aid given in the War of the Grand Alliance. There were protests against the addition of a new elector, and the elevation did not become official (with the approval of the Imperial Diet) until 1708, in the person of Ernest Augustus's son, George Louis. Though the elector's titles were properly duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he

2236-403: The south-west corner of today's Lower Saxony , Germany . The county's borders corresponded largely to those of the modern administrative district ( Landkreis ) of Grafschaft Bentheim . Geographically, Bentheim is composed largely of fenland , and early settlement was concentrated along the banks of the rivers which pass through the county. Deposits of Bentheim sandstone formed the basis of

2288-422: The territory of the former County of Hoya . In 1705, Elector George I Louis inherited the Principality of Lüneburg with the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg upon the death of his uncle Duke George William of Brunswick-Lüneburg . In 1715, he purchased the duchies of Bremen-Verden from King Frederick IV of Denmark (confirmed by the 1719 Treaty of Stockholm ), whereby his former landlocked electorate gained access to

2340-442: The time Lüneburg was ruled by Ernest Augustus's older brother) and the counties of Diepholz and Hoya. In 1714, George Louis became king of Great Britain and Ireland and so the electorate and Great Britain and Ireland were ruled in personal union . The possessions of the electors in Germany also grew, as they de facto purchased the formerly Swedish -held duchies of Bremen and Verden in 1719. George Louis died in 1727 and

2392-402: The war with France by the Treaty of Basel (1795), which stipulated that Prussia would ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all of the latter's territories north of the demarcation line of the River Main , including the British continental dominions of Hanover, Bremen-Verden, and Saxe-Lauenburg. To that end, Hanover also had to provide troops for the so-called demarcation army maintaining

2444-401: Was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire located in northwestern Germany that arose from the Principality of Calenberg . Although formally known as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg ( German : Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg ), it made Hanover its capital city. For most of its existence, the electorate was ruled in personal union with Great Britain and Ireland following

2496-404: Was confirmed at the Congress of Vienna in 1814. The electorate was legally indivisible: it could add to its territory, but not alienate territory or be split up among several heirs, as had been the rule before, which led at times to a multitude of Brunswick-Lüneburgian principalities. Its succession was to follow male primogeniture . Since that was against Salic law , which was then valid for

2548-410: Was family-owned, and could be reused for another family member after 30 years. Napoleon decreed the establishment of cemetery yards outside of the city or village (for sanitary reasons) in 1808, an edict which was resisted in Bentheim, but finally adopted in 1850. The funeral was followed by a church service featuring songs about resurrection. The length of the mourning period varied by relationship to

2600-486: Was granted to Arnold II of Bentheim-Steinfurt . In 1544, Arnold officially converted to Lutheranism , beginning a slow process of introducing the Reformation in Bentheim and other territories he ruled. Protestant preachers were introduced into Bentheim during the autumn of 1587. The following year Bentheim officially gained a new Church constitution, which was later introduced in Tecklenburg (1589) and Steinfurt (1591). In 1613, Count Arnold Jobst of Bentheim-Steinfurt created

2652-448: Was in existence by c. 1050 AD, although little is known of its history before 1115. In that year, the county passed to Count Otto, of the House of Salm . His heir and daughter, Countess Sophia, married Dirk VI, Count of Holland , and they co-ruled the county until Dirk's death in 1157. Sophia died in 1176, and the title of count passed to her son Otto I. In 1263, Bentheim annexed the County of Tecklenburg , and over time various branches of

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2704-410: Was succeeded by his son George II Augustus . In 1728, Emperor Charles VI officially enfeoffed George II (gave him land in exchange for a pledge of service), with the reverted fief of Saxe-Lauenburg , which had de facto been ruled in personal union with Hanover and with one of its preceding Principality of Lüneburg since 1689. In 1731, Hanover also gained Hadeln . In return, Hanover recognised

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