Oldenburg: Germany

Oldenburg: Germany
Oldenburg is an Independent City in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands at the Hunte river. It has a population of 157,868 (as of 2004) which makes it the fourth biggest in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Brunswick and Osnabrück.
History
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 Hanseatic city of Bremen.
The earliest recorded inhabitants of the district now called Oldenburg were a Teutonic people, the Chauci, who were afterwards merged in the Frisians. The genealogy of the counts of Oldenburg can be traced to the Saxon hero, Widukind, the opponent of Charlemagne, but their first historical representative is Elimar (d. 1108). Elimars descendants appear as vassals, although sometimes rebellious ones, of the dukes of Saxony; but they attained the dignity 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 apanage for younger branches of the family. This was the case between 1262 and 1447, between 1463 and 1547, and between 1577 and 1617.
The northern and western parts of the present grand-duchy of Oldenburg were in the hands of independent, or semi-independent, Frisian princes, who were usually heathens, and during the early part of the 13th century the counts carried on a series of wars with these small potentates which resulted in a gradual expansion of their territory. The free city of Bremen and the bishop of Munster were also frequently at war with the counts of Oldenburg.
In 1448, the successor of Count Dietrich (d. 1440), called Fortunatus, was his son Christian, who became king of Denmark under the name Christian I. Although far away from the Danish borders, Oldenburg was now a Danish exclave. The control over the town was left to the king’s brothers, who established a short reign of tyranny.
In 1450 Christian became king of Norway and in 1457 king of Sweden; in 1460 he inherited the duchy of Schleswig and the county of Holstein, an event of high importance for the future history of Oldenburg. In 1454 he handed over Oldenburg to his brother Gerhard (about 1430-1499) a wild prince, who was constantly at war with the bishop of Bremen and other neighbors. In 1483 Gerhard was compelled to abdicate in favor of his sons, and he died whilst on a pilgrimage in Spain.
Early in the 16th century Oldenburg was again enlarged at the expense of the Frisians. Protestantism was introduced into the county by Count Anton I (1505-1573), who also suppressed the monasteries; however, he remained loyal to Charles V during the war of the league of Schmalkalden, and was able thus to increase his territories, obtaining Delmenhorst in 1547. One of Anton’s brothers, Count Christopher of Oldenburg (about 1506-1560), won some reputation as a soldier.
Anton’s grandson, Anton Gunther (1583-1667), who succeeded in 1603, considered himself the wisest prince who had yet ruled Oldenburg. Jever had been acquired before he became count, but in 1624 he added Knyphausen and Varel to his lands, with which in 1647 Delmenhorst was finally united. By his neutrality during the Thirty Years War and by donating valuable horses to warlord Count of Tilly, Anton Gunther secured for his dominions an immunity from the terrible devastations to which nearly all the other states of Germany were exposed. He also obtained from the emperor the right to levy tolls on vessels passing along the Weser, a lucrative grant which soon formed a material addition to his resources. In 1607 he erected a Renaissance castle.
Oldenburg was a wealthy town in a time of war and terror and its population and power considerably grew. After the death of Anton-Günther Oldenburg fell again under Danish authority. In 1667 the town was struck by a disastrous plague epidemic, and shortly after a fire destroyed Oldenburg. The Danish kings were not much interested in helping the town, so that it lost its importance completely.
In 1773 the Danish rule ended, and Oldenburg became a duchy. It was only now, that the destroyed buildings were rebuilt in a Classicist style. In 1810-14 Oldenburg was occupied by France. In 1893 a canal connecting the Hunte and the Ems rivers was finished, hence connecting the port of Oldenburg with the North Sea. Now the town gained economic importance. It remained a duchy until 1918.
After World War II in 1945, Oldenburg grows to more than 100,000 citizens when refugees migrated into the city that was only sparingly bombed during World War II.