Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
State of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806)
1269–1815
Coat of arms
The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1789
Capital		Brunswick 1235–1432, 1753-1815 Wolfenbüttel 1432–1753
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages Early modern era
•	Partitioned from     Brunswick-Lüneburg	1269
•	Acquired Göttingen	1495
•	Joined     Lower Saxon Circle	1500
•	Line extinct, restored     to Wolfenbüttel	1584
•	To Lüneburg-Celle	1635
•	Merged, with     Lüneburg-Celle,     to Hanover	1815
•	Reformed as     Duchy of Brunswick	1815
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg Duchy of Brunswick

Coat of arms

The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (German: Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel) was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose history was characterised by numerous divisions and reunifications. Various dynastic lines of the House of Welf ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. As a result of the Congress of Vienna, its successor state, the Duchy of Brunswick, was created in 1814.

After Otto the Child, grandchild of Henry the Lion, had been given the former allodial seat of his family (located in the area of present-day eastern Lower Saxony and northern Saxony-Anhalt) by Emperor Frederick II on 21 August 1235 as an imperial enfeoffment under the name of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the dukedom was divided in 1267/1269 by his sons.

Albert I (also called Albert the Tall) (1236-1279) was given the regions around Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Einbeck-Grubenhagen and Göttingen-Oberwald. He thus founded the Old House of Brunswick and laid the basis for what became, later, the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. His brother John (1242-1277) inherited the land around Lüneburg and founded the Old House of Lüneburg. The town of Brunswick remained under joint rule.