Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein

Jutland and Northernmost Germany showing Schleswig and Holstein in today's German Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein.

The Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein were titles of the Holy Roman Empire. The dynastic family came from Schauenburg near Rinteln (district Schaumburg) on the Weser in Germany. Together with its ancestral possessions in Bückeburg and Stadthagen, the family of Schauenburg ruled the County of Schauenburg and Holstein.

Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein

• 1110–1131 Adolf I
• 1131–1164 Adolf II
• 1164–1225 Adolf III
• 1225–1238 Adolf IV

Lines of the family of Schauenburg

After 1261 the family divided into six lines. This division ended in 1390 when the Holstein-Rendsburg line assembled the large part of the possessions in Holstein except of Holstein-Pinneberg, which existed until 1640 and then merged with the rest of Holstein.

Holstein-Kiel

After the death of Count Adolf IV of Holstein in 1261, his elder son John received county Holstein-Kiel. Counts of Holstein-Kiel were:

• 1261 – 1263 John I (1229 – 1263)
• 1263 – 1273 Adolf V "the Pomeranian" (1252 – 1308)
• 1263 – 1316 John II "the One-Eyed" (1253 – 1321)
• 1316 – 1359 John III the Mild (ca. 1297 – 1359), from 1350 also Count of Holstein-Plön
• 1359 – 1390 Adolf VII (d. 1390), also Count of Holstein-Plön

After the death of John I, his sons Adolf V and John II reigned jointly in Holstein-Kiel. In 1273 they partitioned Holstein-Kiel and John II continued ruling over Kiel; Adolf V then received Segeberg and founded the line of Holstein-Segeberg. Lacking a male successor upon the death of Adolf V in 1308, Holstein-Segeberg was reincorporated into Holstein-Kiel. John III succeeded John II in 1316--he was the son of Gerhard II of Holstein-Plön. After the death in 1350 of Count Gerhard V of Holstein-Plön, a nephew of John III, the Holstein-Plön line became extinct and John III inherited their possessions. His son Adolf VII also died in 1390 without issue and Count Gerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg succeeded to the territories of Holstein-Kiel and Holstein-Plön.

Holstein-Itzehoe

When Holstein was partitioned in 1261, Adolf IV's second son Gerhard I of Holstein-Itzehoe received the County Holstein-Itzehoe. After Gerhard's death in 1290 the county was divided between his sons.

Holstein-Segeberg

There were two counts of Holstein-Segeberg: Count Adolf V der Pommerer, who died in 1308 without male heirs, and Count Albrecht II of Holstein-Segeberg from the line Holstein-Rendsburg who died without issue.

Holstein-Plön

This line was founded by Gerhard II of Holstein-Plön, the elder son of Gerhard I of Holstein-Itzehoe. Counts of Holstein-Plön were:

• 1290 - 1312 1254 – 1312)
• 1312 - 1323 Gerhard IV (d. 1323)
• 1312 - 1316 John III the Mild, once he became the heir of Kiel, he abandoned his co-regency leaving Plön exclusively for his brother Gerhard IV.
• 1323 - 1350 Gerhard V (ca. 1315 – 1350)
• 1350 - 1359 John III the Mild, keeping Kiel, he additionally inherited Plön, since his nephew Gerhard V died
• 1359 - 1390 Adolf VII, also Count of Holstein-Kiel

After the death of Gerhard II his sons John III and Gerhard IV ruled in Holstein-Plön together. In 1316 Count John II of Holstein-Kiel ceded his possession to John III, who became in that way a Count of Holstein-Kiel. After the direct male line of the line of Plön became extinct in 1350 he received again Holstein-Plön. His son Adolf VII died in 1390 childless and Count Gerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg inherited Holstein-Plön and Holstein-Kiel .

Holstein-Pinneberg

The line of Holstein-Pinneberg was founded by the third son of Gerhard I of Holstein-Itzehoe. This line is also known as Holstein-Schauenburg. Members of this family ruled also in County of Schauenburg south of the Elbe and received in 1620 the title of Prince. Counts of Holstein-Pinneberg were:

• 1290 - 1315 Adolf VI (1256 – 1315)
• 1315 - 1354 Adolf VII
• 1354 - 1370 Adolf VIII
• 1370 - 1404 Otto I
• 1404 - 1426 Adolf IX
• 1426 - 1464 Otto II. (1400 – 1464)
• 1464 - 1474 Adolf X (1419 – 1474)
• 1474 - 1492 Erich (1420 – 1492)
• 1492 - 1510 Otto III (1426 – 1510)
• 1510 - 1526 Antonius (1439 – 1526)
• 1526 - 1527 John IV (1449 – 1527)
• 1527 - 1531 Jobst I (1483 – 1531)
• 1531 - 1560 John V (joint rule with his brother Otto IV since 1544)
  • 1531 - 1581 Jobst II (ca. 1520 – 1581) ruled the Herrschaft of Gemen
• 1544 - 1576 Otto IV. (1517 – 1576), prince-bishop of Hildesheim in 1531-1537 as Otto III, converts to the teachings of Martin Luther and began Reformation in 1559, joint with his brother John V till 1560
• 1576 - 1601 Adolf XI (1547 – 1601)
• 1601 - 1622 Ernst (1569 – 1622)
• 1622 - 1635 Jobst Hermann (1593 – 1635)
• 1635 - 1640 Otto V (1616 – 1640)

After the childless death in 1640 of Count Otto V, the rule of the House of Schaumburg ended in Holstein. The County of Holstein-Pinneberg was merged under Christian IV with the Duchy of Holstein, which is now part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The County of Schauenburg proper, however, was partitioned among the Schauenburg heirs into three parts, one incorporated into the ducal Brunswick and Lunenburgian Principality of Lüneburg, the second becoming the County of Schaumburg-Lippe and the third continuing the name County of Schaumburg, ruled in personal union by Hesse-Cassel. All the three are now part of the state of Lower Saxony.

Holstein-Rendsburg

The line of Holstein-Rendsburg was founded by the fourth son of Gerhard I of Holstein-Itzehoe. Members of this family were titled also as Counts of Holstein. Counts of Holstein-Rendsburg were:

• 1290 - 1304 Henry I (1258 – 1304)
• 1304 - 1340 Gerhard III der Große (ca. 1293 – 1340), as Gerhard I Duke of Schleswig
• 1340 - 1382 Henry II der Eiserne (1317 – 1384?)
• 1382 - 1404 Gerhard VI (d. 1404)
• 1390 - 1397 Nikolaus (ca. 1321 – 1397)
• 1397 - 1403 Albrecht II (d. 1403)
• 1404 - 1427 Henry IV (1397 – 1427)
• 1427 - 1433 Gerhard VII (1404 – 1433), as Gerhard II Duke of Schleswig
• 1427 - 1459 Adolf VIII (1401 – 1459), as Adolf I Duke of Schleswig

Adolf VIII was succeeded by his sister's son Christian I of Denmark. For following dukes, see List of Rulers of Schleswig-Holstein.

See also

• List of Rulers of Schleswig-Holstein

External links

• List of rulers of Holstein
• Genealogy of Schauenburg
• (German) Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein