Stolberg-Wernigerode
| County of Stolberg-Wernigerode | ||||||||||
| Grafschaft Stolberg-Wernigerode | ||||||||||
| State of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806) | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Wernigerode | |||||||||
| Government | County | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
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Wernigerode inherited by counts of Stolberg |
1429 | ||||||||
| • | Partitioned from Stolberg-Stolberg |
1645 | ||||||||
| • | Partitioned to create Stolberg-Gedern |
1677 | ||||||||
| • | Under Vogterei of Prussia |
1714 | ||||||||
| • | Acquired Stolberg-Schwarza |
1748 | ||||||||
| • | Reacquired Stolberg-Gedern |
1804 | ||||||||
| • | Mediatised to Westphalia | 1807 | ||||||||
| • | Awarded to Prussia | 1815 | ||||||||
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Coat of arms
The County of Stolberg-Wernigerode (German: Grafschaft Stolberg-Wernigerode) was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz region around Wernigerode, now part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg.
The Counts of Wernigerode had become extinct in 1429 and their lands were inherited through Salic law by the Counts of Stolberg, sovereign counts of the Empire since the early 11th century. On 31 May 1645, the Harz line of Stolberg-Stolberg was divided between a senior Stolberg-Wernigerode line and a junior Stolberg-Stolberg line. Because Wernigerode was heavily damaged by the Thirty Years' War, the Counts of Stolberg-Wernigerode also resided in the castle of Ilsenburg.
The town of Gedern in Hesse, acquired in 1535, became the seat of the cadet branch of Stolberg-Gedern in 1677. This junior line, raised to an imperial principality by Emperor Charles VII of Wittelsbach in 1742, was reacquired by Stolberg-Wernigerode in 1804. The Wernigerode line also re-acquired Stolberg-Schwarza on 14 September 1748.
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