Separated gentlemen
A number of dukes in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein , whose rule was not recognized by the estates of the duchies, were designated as separated lords (Danish Afdelte hertuger ) .
background
The background was the handfests ( election surrender ) of King Christian I when he was elected Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein, the so-called Treaty of Ripen of 1460, in which it was determined that Schleswig and Holstein should always be ruled by a common sovereign in future . Duke of the countries should be the Danish king in personal union .
The treaty was broken in 1544 when the Danish King Christian III. the duchies between himself and his half-brothers Johann and Adolf I. aufteilte. The three brothers shared the government. Each was entitled to a third of the income of the duchies. After Johann (Hans the Elder) died without an heir, his share fell to the two surviving brothers. Adolf founded the ruling house of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf .
However, when King Christian's son Friedrich II shared his domain again with his brother Johann (Hans the Younger) in 1564 , the estates refused to pay homage to him . Johann received rank and title (and thus founded a branch line of the House of Oldenburg , the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg line ), as well as the income from his own lands, but the de facto rule over Schleswig and Holstein remained with his brother and uncle. The divided duchy was thus a titular duchy that was neither granted a right to mint nor was it allowed to maintain standing troops.
The divided duchy ( Paragium ) was divided among Johann's children and various divided branches of the house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg were created. It was only after most of these lines had died out in the 18th century that the Danish king ruled the entire state alone .
literature
- Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen, Elke Imberger, Dieter Lohmeier, Ginger Momsen, Frauke Witte, Marion Hartwig (eds.): The princes of the country. Dukes and Counts of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg . 1st edition. Wachholtz, 2008, ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5 .