County of Wernigerode

County of Wernigerode
Grafschaft Wernigerode
State of the Holy Roman Empire
1121–1429
Coat of arms
The County of Wernigerode (  red) around the middle of the 13th century. The highlighted territories (  cream) are the Margraviate of Brandenburg (east), of whom Wernigerode became a vassal in 1268, and the neighbouring Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg (north and west, which is shown merely for clarity).
Capital		Wernigerode
Government		County
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	1121
•	Vassals of Brandenburg	1268
•	Vassals of Magdeburg	1381
•	Inherited by Stolberg	1429
•	Division into      Stolberg-Wernigerode	31 May 1645
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Saxony County of Stolberg

Coat of arms

The County of Wernigerode (German: Grafschaft Wernigerode) was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Harzgau region of the former Duchy of Saxony, at the northern foot of the Harz mountain range. Its capital was Wernigerode, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg from 1429 until its mediatization to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1806.

The territory belonged to the counts of Wernigerode who established themselves as relatively independent, aristocratic rulers in the North Harz, between the River Oker and the glacial valley of the Großes Bruch, for more than two centuries from the High Middle Ages. Their male line finally died out in 1429.

The body of source material gives no indication why, in the early 12th century Count Adalbert, who originated from Haimar near Hildesheim, who was mentioned for the first time in 1103 and who is named in 1117 as comes Adelbertus de villa Heymbere (Count Adalbert of the town of Heymbere), appears on just one occasion as Adelbertus comes de Wernigerode (Adalbert, Count of Wernigerode), where he is one of the witnesses (Zeugenreihe) to a document by Bishop Reynard of Halberstadt on 18 October 1121.