Principality of Grubenhagen
| Principality of Grubenhagen | ||||||||||
| Fürstentum Grubenhagen | ||||||||||
| State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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| Capital |
Einbeck, Herzberg from 1486 |
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| Languages | Eastphalian | |||||||||
| Government | Principality | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Henry the Admirable Prince of Grubenhagen | 1291 | ||||||||
| • | Joined Lower Saxon Circle | 1500 | ||||||||
| • | Line extinct, annexed by Wolfenbüttel | 1596 | ||||||||
| • | Ceded to Lüneburg | 1617 | ||||||||
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Coat of arms
The Principality of Grubenhagen was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruled by the Grubenhagen line of the House of Welf from 1291. It is also known as Brunswick-Grubenhagen. The principality fell to the Brunswick Principality of Lüneburg in 1617; from 1665 the territory was ruled by the Calenberg branch of the Welf dynasty.
The principality was located on the southwestern edge of the Harz mountain range in present-day South Lower Saxony. It included two separate territories, one around the town of Einbeck with Grubenhagen Castle, and another domain around the towns of Osterode and Duderstadt (ceded to Mainz in 1366) with Clausthal, Herzberg, and Herzberg Castle. The dominion also comprised the eastern exclave of Elbingerode, today part of Saxony-Anhalt.
Grubenhagen was split off from the Brunswick Principality of Wolfenbüttel in 1291, when the sons of late Duke Albert the Tall (1236–1279) finally divided their heritage. Its first ruler was Duke Henry the Admirable. Henry's sons split the small principality further in 1322 as they themselves had numerous heirs; Otto, son of Duke Henry II, in view of his small share left for Montferrat, married Queen Joan I of Naples in 1376 and became Prince of Taranto in 1383. The ongoing fragmentation weakened the position of the Grubenhagen branch regarding estate distributions involving their Wolfenbüttel, Lüneburg and Calenberg cousins.
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