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LIPPE

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 741 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LIPPE , a principality of See also:

Germany and constituent See also:state of the See also:German See also:empire, bounded N.W., W. and S. by the Prussian See also:province of See also:Westphalia and N.E. and E. by the Prussian provinces of See also:Hanover and See also:Hesse-See also:Nassau and the principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont. It also possesses three small enclaves—Kappel and Lipperode in Westphalia and Grevenhagen near See also:Hoxter. The See also:area is 469 sq. m., and the See also:population (1905) 145,610, showing a See also:density of 125 to the sq. m. The greater See also:part of the See also:surface is hilly, and in the S. and W., where the Teutoburger Wald practically forms its See also:physical boundary, mountainous. The See also:chief See also:rivers are the See also:Weser, which crosses the See also:north extremity of the principality, and its affluents, the Werre, Exter, Kalle and Emmer. The Lippe, which gives its name to the See also:country, is a purely Westphalian See also:river and does not See also:touch the principality at any point. The forests of Lippe, among the finest in Germany, produce abundance of excellent See also:timber. They occupy 28% of the whole area, and consist mostly of See also:deciduous trees, See also:beech preponderating. The valleys contain a considerable amount of See also:good arable See also:land, the tillage of which employs the greater part of the inhabitants. Small farms, the larger proportion of which are under 2 acres, are numerous, and their yield shows a high degree of prosperity among the See also:peasant farmers. The See also:principal crops are potatoes, beetroot (for See also:sugar), See also:hay, See also:rye, oats, See also:wheat and See also:barley. See also:Cattle, See also:sheep and See also:swine are also reared, and the " Senner " breed of horses, in the See also:stud See also:farm at Lopshorn, is celebrated.

The See also:

industries are small and consist mainly in the manufacture of See also:starch, See also:paper, sugar, See also:tobacco, and in See also:weaving and See also:brewing. See also:Lemgo is famous for its See also:meerschaum pipes and Salzuflen for its brine-springs, producing annually about 150o tons of See also:salt, which is mostly exported. Each See also:year, in See also:spring, about 15,000 brickmakers leave the principality and See also:journey to other countries, See also:Hungary, See also:Sweden and See also:Russia, to return See also:home in the See also:late autumn. The roads are well laid and kept in good repair. A railway intersects the country from See also:Herford (on the See also:Cologne-Hanover See also:main See also:line) to Altenbeken; and another from See also:Bielefeld to See also:Hameln traverses it from W. to E. More than 95% of the population in 1905 were Protestants. See also:Education is provided for by two gymnasia and numerous other efficient See also:schools. The principality contains seven small towns, the chief of which are Detmold, the seat of See also:government, Lemgo, See also:Horn and Blomberg. The See also:present constitution was granted in 1836, but it was altered in 1867 and again in 1876. It provides for a representative chamber of twenty-one members, whose functions are mainly consultative. For electoral purposes the population is divided into three classes, rated according to See also:taxation, each of which returns seven members. The courts of See also:law are centred at Detmold, whence an See also:appeal lies to the See also:court, of appeal at See also:Celle in the Prussian province of Hanover.

The estimated See also:

revenue in 1909 was £113,000 and the See also:expenditure £116,000. The public See also:debt in 1908 was £64,000. Lippe has one See also:vote in the German Reichstag, and also one vote in the Bundesrat, or federal See also:council. Its military forces See also:form a See also:battalion of the 6th Westphalian See also:infantry. See also:History.—The present principality of Lippe was inhabited in See also:early times by the Cherusii, whose See also:leader See also:Arminius (See also:Hermann) annihilated in A.D. 9 the legions of Varus in the Teutoburger Wald. It was afterwards occupied by the See also:Saxons and was subdued by See also:Charlemagne. The founder of the present reigning See also:family, one of the most See also:ancient in Germany, was See also:Bernard I. (1113-1144), who received a See also:grant of the territory from the See also:emperor See also:Lothair, and assumed the See also:title of See also:lord of Lippe (edler Herr von Lippe). He was descended from a certain Hoold who flourished about 950. Bernard's successors inherited or obtained several counties, and one of them, See also:Simon III. (d.

1410), introduced the principles of See also:

primogeniture. Under Simon V. (d. 1536), who was the first to See also:style himself See also:count, the See also:Reformation was introduced into the country. His See also:grandson, Simon VI. (1555-'613), is the ancestor of both lines of the princes of Lippe. In 1613 the country, as it then existed, was divided among his three sons, the lines founded by two of whom still exist, while the third (See also:Brake) became See also:extinct in 1709. Lippe proper was the patrimony of the eldest son, Simon VII. (1587-1627), upon whose descendant See also:Frederick See also:William See also:Leopold (d. 1802) the title of'See also:prince of the empire was bestowed in 1789, a dignity already conferred, though not confirmed, in 1720. See also:Philip, the youngest son of Simon VI., received but a scanty part of his See also:father's possessions, but in 164o he inherited a large part of the count-See also:ship of Schaumburg, including See also:Buckeburg, and adopted the title of count of Schaumburg-Lippe. The ruler of this territory became a See also:sovereign prince in 1807.

Simon VII. had a younger son, See also:

Jobst Hermann (d. 1678), who founded the line of See also:counts of Lippe-Biesterfeld, and a See also:cadet See also:branch of this family were the counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld. In 1762 these two counties—Biesterfeld and Weissenfeld—passed by arrangement into the See also:possession of the See also:senior and ruling branch of the family. Under the prudent government of the princess Pauline (from 1802 to 1820), widow of Frederick William Leopold, the little state enjoyed See also:great prosperity. In 1807 it joined the See also:Confederation of the See also:Rhine and in 1813 the German Confederation. Pauline's son, See also:Paul See also:Alexander Leopold, who reigned from 1820 to 1851, also ruled in a See also:wise and liberal spirit, and in 1836 granted the See also:charter of rights upon which the constitution is based. In 1842 Lippe entered the German Customs See also:Union (See also:Zollverein), and in 1866 threw in its See also:lot with See also:Prussia and joined the North German Confederation. The line of rulers in Lippe See also:dates back, as already mentioned, to Simon VI. But besides this, the senior line, the two See also:collateral lines of counts, Lippe-Biesterfeld and Lippe-Weissenfeld and the princely line of Schaumburg-Lippe, $y c s ton also trace their descent to the same ancestor, and these dispute. three lines stand in the above See also:order as regards their rights to the Lippe See also:succession, the counts being descended from Simon's eldest son and the princes from his youngest son. These facts were not in dispute when in See also:March 1895 the See also:death of Prince Woldemar, who had reigned since 1875, raised a dispute as to the succession. Woldemar's See also:brother Alexander, the last of the senior line, was hopelessly insane and had been declared incapable of ruling. On the death of Woldemar, Prince Adolph of Schaumburg-Lippe, See also:fourth son of Prince Adolph See also:George of that country and brother-in-law of the German emperor, took over the regency by virtue of a See also:decree issued by Prince Woldemar, but which had until the latter's death been kept See also:secret.

The Lippe See also:

house of representatives consequently passed a See also:special law confirming the regency in the See also:person of Prince Adolph, but with the proviso that the regency should be at an end as soon as the disputes touching the succession were adjusted; and with a further proviso that, should this dispute not have been settled before the death of Prince Alexander, then, if a competent court of law had been secured before that event happened, the regency of Prince Adolph should continue until such court had given its decision. The dispute in question had arisen because the heads of the two collateral countly lines had entered a See also:caveat. In order to adjust matters the Lippe government moved the Bundesrat, on the 5th of See also:July 1895, to pass an imperial law declaring the Reichsgerichl (the supreme tribunal of the empire) a competent court to adjudicate upon the claims of the See also:rival lines to the succession. In consequence the Bundesrat passed a See also:resolution on the 1st of See also:February 1896, requesting the See also:chancellor of the empire to bring about a See also:compromise for the See also:appointment of a court of See also:arbitration between the parties. Owing to the See also:mediation of the chancellor a compact was on the 3rd of July 1896 concluded between the heads of the three collateral lines of the whole house of Lippe, binding " both on themselves and on the lines of which they were the heads." By clause 2 of this compact, a court of arbitration was to be appointed, consisting of the See also:king of See also:Saxony and six members selected by him from among the members of the supreme court of law of the empire. This court was duly constituted, and on the 22nd of See also:June 1897 delivered See also:judgment to the effect that Count Ernest of Lippe-Biesterfeld, See also:head of the line of Lippe-Biesterfeld, was entitled to succeed to the See also:throne of Lippe on the death of Prince Alexander. In consequence of this judgment Prince Adolph resigned the regency and Count Ernest became See also:regent in his See also:stead. On the 26th of See also:September 1904 Count Ernest died and his eldest son, Count Leopold, succeeded to the regency; but the question of the succession was again raised by the prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, who urged that the See also:marriage of Count William Ernest. father of Count Ernest,with Modeste von Unruh, and that of the count regent Ernest himself with Countess Carline von Wartensleben were not ebenbiirtig (equal See also:birth), and that the issue of these marriages were therefore excluded from the succession. Prince George of Schaumburg-Lippe and the count regent, Leopold, thereupon entered into a compact, again referring the See also:matter to the Bundesrat, which requested the chancellor of the empire to agree to the appointment of a court of arbitration consisting of two See also:civil senates of the supreme court, sitting at See also:Leipzig, to decide finally the matter in dispute. It was further provided in the compact that Leopold should remain as regent, even after the death of Alexander, until the decision of the court had been given. Prince Alexander died on the 13th of See also:January 1905; Count Leopold remained as regent, and on the 25th of See also:October the court of arbitration issued its See also:award, declaring the marriages in question (which were, as proved by document, contracted with the consent of the head of the house in each See also:case) ebenbiirlig, and that in pursuance of the award of the king of Saxony the family of Lippe-Biesterfeld, together with the collateral lines sprung from Count William Ernest (father of the regent, Count Ernest) were in the order of nearest See also:agnates called to the succession. Leopold (b.

1871) thus became prince of Lippe. Sec A Falkmann, Beitrage zur Geschichte See also:

des Ffirstenthums Lippe (Uctmold, 18J7–1892; 6 vols.); Schwanold, Das Furstentum Lippe, das Land and See also:seine Bewohner (Detmold, 1899); Piderit, See also:Die li ppischen Edelherrn See also:im ilfitlelalter (Detmold, 1876) ; A. Falkmann and O. Preuss, Lippische Regenten (Detmold, 186o–1868); H. Triepel, Der Streit See also:urn die Thronfolge im Flirstentum Lippe (Leipzig, 1903); and P. Laband, Die Thronfolge im Furstentum Lippe (Frei-See also:burg, 1891) ; and Schiedsspruch in dem Rechtstreit fiber die Thronfolge im Furstentum Lippe vom 25 Okt. 1905 (Leipzig, 1906).

End of Article: LIPPE

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