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Electorate of Brunswick-Luneburg

Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Electorate of Hanover
Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg
Kurfürstentum Hannover
State of the Holy Roman Empire (1692–1714)
Personal union with Great Britain (1714–1800)
Personal union with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1807)
1692–1807
Flag Coat of arms
Electorate of Hanover in 1789
Capital Hanover
Languages West Low German
Government Principality
Prince-elector
 •  1692–1698 Ernest Augustus
 •  1698–1727 George I Louis
 •  1727–1760 George II Augustus
 •  1760–1806 George III William Frederick
History
 •  Elevation to Electorate 1692
 •  Inherited Lüneburg and Saxe-Lauenburg 1705
 •  Electorate formally approved 1708
 •  Personal union with Great Britain 1714
 •  Acquired Bremen-Verden 1715
 •  Merged into Kingdom of Westphalia 1807
 •  Re-established as Kingdom of Hanover 1814
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Principality of Calenberg
Kingdom of Westphalia

The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (German: Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg), colloquially Electorate of Hanover (Kurfürstentum Hannover or simply Kurhannover), was established in 1692 as the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire and formally approved in 1708.

It was ruled by the House of Hanover, a cadet branch of the House of Welf, which then ruled and earlier had ruled a number of principalities, which had several times been partitioned among several heirs from the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After 1705, only two of these territories existed. One was the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, which remained independent as the Duchy of Brunswick (new title adopted in 1815) until 1918. The other, the new Electorate, was based on the dynastic line of the Principality of Calenberg.

With the ascension of its prince-elector as King of Great Britain in 1714, it became ruled in personal union with Great Britain. As a consequence, a reluctant Great Britain was forced time and again to become involved with the fate of the German possessions of its King. However, internally, it remained a separately ruled territory with its own government and bodies. Merged into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, it was re-established as the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, with the personal union with the British crown lasting until 1837.

In 1692, Emperor Leopold I 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 the electorate; however, officially it used the name Chur-Braunschweig-Lüneburg of the entire ducal dynasty.


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Wikipedia

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