Kingdom of Hanover

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Kingdom of Hanover
Königreich Hannover (German)
1814–1866
Flag of Hanover
Top: Flag (1814–1837);
Royal standard (1837-1866)
Bottom: Flag (1837-1866)
Coat of arms of Hanover
Coat of arms
Motto: Suscipere et Finire
"Support and Finish"
Anthem: Heil dir, Hannover
"Hail to you, Hanover"
Roman Catholicism
GovernmentConstitutional monarchy
King 
• 1814–1820
George III
• 1820–1830
George IV
• 1830–1837
William IV
• 1837–1851
Ernest Augustus
• 1851–1866
George V
Legislature
German revolutions
13 March 1848
14 June 1866
23 August 1866
• Annexed by Prussia
20 September 1866
CurrencyHanoverian thaler
(1814–1857)
Hanoverian vereinsthaler
(1857–1866)
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Electorate of Hanover
Kingdom of Westphalia
Province of Hanover
Today part ofGermany
Netherlands[dubious – discuss]
100 thaler banknote from 1857

The Kingdom of Hanover (German: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover,[2] and joined 38 other sovereign states in the German Confederation in June 1815. The kingdom was ruled by the House of Hanover, a cadet branch of the House of Welf, in personal union with Great Britain between 1714 and 1837. Since its monarch resided in London, a viceroy, usually a younger member of the British royal family, handled the administration of the Kingdom of Hanover.

The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 upon the accession of

semi-Salic law prevented females from inheriting the Hanoverian throne while a dynastic male was still alive. Her uncle Ernest Augustus thus became the ruler of Hanover. His only son succeeded him to the throne as George V. However, as he backed the losing side in the Austro-Prussian War, his kingdom was conquered by Prussia in 1866 and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, becoming the Prussian Province of Hanover. Along with the rest of Prussia, Hanover became part of the German Empire upon the unification of Germany in January 1871. Briefly revived as the State of Hanover in 1946, the state was later merged with some smaller states to form the current state of Lower Saxony in West Germany
.

History

Main article: History of Hanover (region)

The territory of Hanover had earlier been a principality within the Holy Roman Empire before being elevated into an electorate in 1708, when Hanover was formed by union of the dynastic divisions of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, excepting the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

After his accession in 1714, George Louis of the House of Hanover ascended the throne of Great Britain as

client states
, and the electorate was restored to the House of Hanover.

The terms of the Congress of Vienna in 1814 not only restored Hanover but also elevated it to an independent kingdom with its Prince-Elector, George III of the United Kingdom, as King of Hanover. The new kingdom was also greatly expanded and became the fourth-largest state in the German Confederation (behind Prussia, Austria and Bavaria) and the second-largest in northern Germany.

George III never visited the kingdom during his 60-year reign. Having succumbed to

later years of George III's reign and the reigns of Kings George IV and William IV from 1816 to 1837, was Adolph Frederick, George III's youngest surviving son. When Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne in 1837, the 123-year personal union of Great Britain and Hanover ended. Unlike in Britain, semi-Salic law
operated in Hanover, prohibiting the accession to the throne by a female if any male of the dynasty had survived.

Ernest Augustus, now the eldest surviving son of George III, succeeded to the throne as King of Hanover. Adolph Frederick, the younger brother and long-time Viceroy, returned to Britain. Ernest Augustus had a personally-strained relationship with his niece Queen Victoria, and they frequently squabbled over family affairs. Domestically, his reign began with a constitutional crisis as he tried to suspend parliament and nullify the written constitution of 1819. He also presided over the country during the turbulent Revolutions of 1848.

His son, George V, assumed the throne in 1851. During the Austro-Prussian War (1866), Hanover attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation. Hanover's vote in favor of the mobilisation of Confederation troops against Prussia on 14 June 1866 prompted Prussia to declare war. The outcome of the war led to the dissolution of Hanover as an independent kingdom, which was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and became the Prussian Province of Hanover. Along with the rest of Prussia, it became part of the German Empire in 1871.

After George V fled Hanover in 1866, he raised forces loyal to him in the

Princess Viktoria Luise and swore allegiance to the German Empire. The Duke then renounced his claim to Brunswick in favour of his son, and the Bundesrat allowed the younger Ernest Augustus to take possession of Brunswick as a kind of dowry
compensation for Hanover.

The

Nazi
government.

Revival and modern history

Map of the Kingdom of Hanover (1814-1866), recreated in 1946 as the State of Hanover

With Prussia on the verge of official dissolution (1947), Hanoverian politicians in 1946 took advantage of the opportunity and advocated that the

Control Commission for Germany (British Element) [de] (CCG/BE) revive Hanoverian statehood, reconstituting the Prussian Province of Hanover as the State of Hanover. The state saw itself in the tradition of the kingdom. Its prime minister, Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf, played a central role when the state of Lower Saxony
was founded just a few months later by merging Hanover with several smaller states, with the city of Hanover as its capital. The former territory of Hanover makes up 85 percent of Lower Saxony and is the origin of its coat of arms.

Reorganisation of religious bodies

See also: Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover

The

general superintendent
chaired each consistory.

In 1848, the Lutheran parishes were democratised by the introduction of

presbyteries (German: Kirchenvorstände, singular Kirchenvorstand; literally: church boards), elected by all major male parishioners and chairing each congregation in co-operation with the pastor, being before the sole chairman. This introduction of presbyteries was somewhat revolutionary in the rather hierarchically structured Lutheran church. In 1864, Carl Lichtenberg, Hanoverian minister of education, cultural and religious affairs (1862–65), persuaded the Ständeversammlung (lit. Estates Assembly, the Hanoverian parliament) to pass a new law as to the constitution of the Lutheran church. The constitution provided a state synod (parishioners' parliament, German: Landessynode). But its first session only materialised in 1869 when, after the 1866 Prussian
annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover, the Hanoverian Lutherans desired a representative body separate from Prussian rule, though it was restricted to Lutheran matters only.

After the Prussian conquest in 1866, on 19 September 1866, the day before the official Prussian annexation took place and with the last summus episcopus, King George V of Hanover, in exile, the Kingdom's six consistories joined to form today's still-existing church body, the Lutheran State Church of Hanover. An all-Hanoverian consistory, the Landeskonsistorium (state consistory), was formed with representatives from the regional consistories.

While the

Huguenot origin were organised in the Lower Saxon Confederation (German: Niedersächsische Konföderation). The Lutheran church being the state church of Hanover also supervised the Calvinist diaspora parishes outside East Frisia and Bentheim. In 1848 the new Hanoverian law also provided for presbyteries in these Calvinist parishes, which exactly fit the presbyterian structure of Calvinism.[4]

Catholics formed an overall minority in Hanover, but regionally majorities in the former prince-bishoprics. By the annexations in 1803 and 1814 Hanover had become a state of three Christian denominations. In 1824 Hanover and the Holy See thus agreed to integrate diaspora parishes which were located in prevailingly Protestant areas, until then supervised by the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of the Nordic Missions
, into the existing dioceses of the former prince-bishoprics, whose diocesan territories were thus extended into the diaspora areas.

Napoléon Bonaparte restricted the rights of Jews in the French-annexed territory by his so-called décret infâme. The Jewish congregations became subject to French regional Jewish consistories or the Royal Westphalian Consistory of the Israelites [he], respectively. When Hanover resumed independence and sovereignty in 1813 its government deprived the Jews their legal equality. Arguing it was the French or Westphalian state and not Hanover, which had emancipated the Jews, the government took the decisions of the German Confederation on the rights of the Jews, in Johann Smidt's manipulated formulation, as the legal grounds.[5]

In 1842, Hanover finally granted equal rights to Jews and promoted to build up Jewish congregations, where this did not already happen earlier, and a superstructure of four regional land-rabbinates. These were the Emden Land-Rabbinate (Aurich and Osnabrück regions), the Hanover Land-Rabbinate [de] (Hanover and Lüneburg regions), the Hildesheim Land-Rabbinate (Hildesheim region and Clausthal Mountain Captaincy [de]), and the Stade Land-Rabbinate [nds] (Stade region).[6]

In many diaspora areas Jews regarded this a progress and a burden alike, because of the implied financial burden for

broken anchor], chairing the land-rabbinates, simultaneously fulfilled religious and state functions, like supervising Jewish elementary schools and the teaching of Jewish religion in all schools. The Kingdom of Hanover was thus one of the few states within the German Confederation, where rabbins held a similar semi-state authoritative position as to Jews as did, e.g., Lutheran clergy towards Lutherans.[7]

Kings

See also: King of Hanover and House of Hanover

In 1813, George III was restored to his Hanoverian territories, and in October 1814, they were constituted as the independent Kingdom of Hanover at the Congress of Vienna. The

semi-Salic law
, prevented a female inheriting the title if there was a surviving male heir (in the United Kingdom, a male took precedence only over his own sisters).

Portrait Name Lifespan Reign began Reign ended Succession Notes
George III
German
: Georg III. 		4 June 1738 –
29 January 1820
(aged 81) 		12 October 1814 29 January 1820 Previously Prince Elector of Hanover from 1760 to 1806. George III was mentally incapacitated during these years, and his constitutional powers were exercised by his eldest son, George Augustus Frederick (the future George IV), as Regent. In Hanover, his youngest son, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, officiated as Viceroy from 1816.
George IV
German: Georg IV. 		12 August 1762 –
26 June 1830
(aged 67) 		29 January 1820 26 June 1830 Son of George III. Prince regent 1811–1820, represented in Hanover by his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, as Viceroy
William IV
German: Wilhelm IV. 		21 August 1765 –
20 June 1837
(aged 71) 		26 June 1830 20 June 1837 Son of George III  • Younger brother of George IV. Last monarch to rule both Hanover and the United Kingdom, represented in Hanover by his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, as Viceroy
Ernest Augustus
German: Ernst August. 		5 June 1771 –
18 November 1851
(aged 80) 		20 June 1837 18 November 1851 Son of George III  • Younger brother of George IV and William IV. The accession of Queen Victoria separated the crowns of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and the latter passed to her uncle.
George V
German: Georg V. 		27 May 1819 –
12 June 1878
(aged 59) 		18 November 1851 20 September 1866 Son of Ernest Augustus. Hanover was annexed by Prussia in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War.

Territory and administrative subdivisions

Border marker of Hanover

The Congress of Vienna instituted a territorial adjustment between Hanover and Prussia to form more contiguous borders. Hanover increased its area substantially, gaining the

exclaves
in the east were lost.

Hanover thus comprised a number of territories, which had been Imperial Estates within the Holy Roman Empire. Their respective governments, now called provincial governments, were organised according to partially very old traditions, including different levels of estate participation in rule. In 1823, the kingdom was reorganised into high-bailiwicks (German: Landdrosteien, singular: Landdrostei), each led by a high-bailiff (German: Landdrost) according to unitary standards, thus doing away with the inherited provincial peculiarities.

The high-bailiwicks were subdivided into bailiwicks (

Amtleute).[8]
The high-bailiwicks, named after their capitals, were the following:

The Hanoverian subdivisions into high-bailiwicks and bailiwicks remained unchanged until 1 April 1885, when they were replaced by Prussian-style provinces (Regierungsbezirke) and districts (Kreise).

Image gallery

Army

Main article: Hanoverian Army

The Kingdom of Hanover maintained an army after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1832, King William IV of Hanover and the United Kingdom issued his troops with British Army uniforms, but they differed slightly from their original British versions. When the personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 and Ernst August ascended to the crown of Hanover, he replaced their uniforms with Prussian Army-style ones, which included the pickelhaube spiked helmet for his Guard Corps. By 1866 they wore a more Austrian style of uniform, with only the guard corps keeping the Prussian one. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Hanoverian Army fought and defeated the Prussians during its march south towards Austria, at the Battle of Langensalza. However, it was later surrounded and forced to surrender to Prussia.[9]

Standard, ensign and coat of arms

After the personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 with the accession of Queen Victoria, Hanover kept the

Archtreasurer
). As Hanover no longer was ruled by the British monarchs, the arms of Hanover was simultaneously removed from the British coat of arms and royal standard, so it was no longer identical with that of the Kingdom of Hanover.

  • Royal standard of Hanover, 1816–1837
    Royal standard of Hanover, 1816–1837
  • Coat of arms of Hanover, 1837
    Coat of arms of Hanover, 1837
  • Civil ensign of Hanover[10][11]
    Civil ensign of Hanover[10][11]
  • Royal standard of Hanover after 1837[10][11]
    Royal standard of Hanover after 1837[10][11]

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 9780826266095
    . The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, the official church of the kingdom
  2. ^ known formally as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
  3. ISBN 9780826266095
    . The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, the official church of the kingdom
  4. Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover emerged, comprising all the Calvinist congregations in the prevailingly Lutheran Province of Hanover. The simultaneously Lutheran and Calvinist consistory in Aurich was made the consistory of that church body, becoming an exclusively Calvinist body only in 1922, following the constitutional reorganisation of the church bodies after the Weimar Constitution
    had decreed the separation of church and state in 1919.
  5. ISBN 3-7605-8673-2
    . In the German original: "Es werden den Bekennern des jüdischen Glaubens die denselben "in" ["von", respectively] den einzelnen Bundesstaaten bereits eingeräumten Rechte erhalten."
  6. ISBN 3-931987-11-6
    .
  7. Weimar constitution
     — until the Nazi Reich's government de facto abolished the constitution in 1938.
  8. ^ This translation follows Jakob Heinrich Kaltschmidt, Neues vollständiges Wörterbuch der englischen und deutschen Sprache nebst einem kurzen Abrisse der englischen und der deutschen Sprachlehre (English: A new and complete Dictionary of the English and German Languages with two Sketches of Grammar, 6th, rev. and enriched ed., Leipsic: Otto Holtze, 1890, p. 283. No ISBN
  9. ^ König, Lutz (1999). Kingdom of Hanover - German Civil War 1866. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  10. ^ a b Colton, J. H. "National Flags". J. H. Colton. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Alvin Jewett. "Johnson's New Chart of National Emblems". Alvin Jewett Johnson. Retrieved 18 May 2014.

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