County of Oldenburg

The County of Oldenburg (German: Grafschaft Oldenburg) was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1667-1773, it was also part of the kingdom of Denmark.

The ruling House of Oldenburg rose to European prominence in 1448, when Count Christian ascended the throne as king of Denmark and left Oldenburg to be governed by his brothers. His descendants also include the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp.

When the main line of the House of Oldenburg became extinct in 1667, the county passed to the Danish branch, which administered it from Copenhagen. By the Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo in 1773, Denmark transferred control of Oldenburg to Frederick August I of the Holstein-Gottorp line. Subsequently, Oldenburg was elevated to a duchy in 1774.

The town was first mentioned in 1108, at that time known under the name of Aldenburg. It became important due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river. Oldenburg became a small county in the shadow of the much more powerful Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region now called Oldenburg were a Teutonic people- the Chauci. The genealogy of the counts of Oldenburg can be traced to the Saxon hero Widukind (opponent of Charlemagne), but their first historical representative was Huno of Rustringen (died 1088, founded the monastery of Rastede in 1059). Huno's descendants appear as vassals of the dukes of Saxony and were occasionally rebellious. They were given the title of princes of the Empire when the emperor Frederick I dismembered the Saxon duchy in 1189. At this time the county of Delmenhorst formed part of the dominions of the counts of Oldenburg, but afterwards it was on several occasions separated from them to form an appanage for younger branches of the family, namely in ca. 1266-1436, 1463-1547, and 1577-1617.

The northern and western parts of what would become the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg were in the hands of independent, or semi-independent, Frisian princes, who were usually pagan, and the counts of Oldenburg seized much of these lands in a series of wars during the early part of the 13th century. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the bishop of Münster also frequently warred with the counts of Oldenburg.

In 1448, the 31-year-old King of Denmark, Christopher III, died unexpectedly and without heirs. Owing to the Kalmar Union, he had also been King of Norway and Sweden. The union treaty required the three kingdoms to choose a successor jointly, but tensions between Denmark and Sweden precluded negotiations. When the Swedish Privy Council allowed Karl Knutsson to be crowned King of Sweden, the Danish Privy Council sought an alternative candidate. Their first choice, Duke Adolf VIII of Schleswig and Holstein, declined but recommended his nephew Christian, the young Count of Oldenburg, who had been raised at his court.

Following Adolf’s recommendation, the Danish Privy Council elected Christian king in September 1448. In 1449 he was also elected King of Norway, and the two kingdoms were formally united in 1450 with the Treaty of Bergen. Finally, after the deposition of Karl Knutsson in 1457, Christian also gained the Swedish crown.