Electorate of Hanover

Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg
*Kurfürstentum Hannover*
*Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg*
Electorate of Hanover ; Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg Kurfürstentum Hannover; Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg
1692–1814
	Flag Coat of arms; (1708–1714)
	Electorate of Hanover in 1789
Status	State of the Holy Roman Empire (1692–1806); Personal union with Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom (1714–1807);
Capital	Hanover
Common languages	West Low German
Religion	Lutheran
Government	Principality
Prince-elector
• 1692–1698	Ernest Augustus
• 1698–1727	George I Louis
• 1727–1760	George II Augustus
• 1760–1806	George III William Frederick
History
• Elevation to Electorate	1692
• Inherited Lüneburg and Saxe-Lauenburg	1705
• Electorate formally approved	1708
• Personal union with Great Britain and Ireland	1714
• Acquired Bremen-Verden	1715
• Merged into Kingdom of Westphalia	1807
• Re-established as Kingdom of Hanover	1814
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Principality of Calenberg
1807:; Kingdom of Westphalia
1814:; Kingdom of Hanover
Today part of	Germany

The Electorate of Hanover (German: Kurfürstentum Hannover or simply Kurhannover) was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, located in northwestern Germany and taking its name from the capital city of Hanover. It was formally known as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (German: Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg). For most of its existence, the electorate was ruled in personal union with Great Britain and Ireland following the Hanoverian Succession.

The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg had been split in 1269 between different branches of the House of Welf. The Principality of Calenberg, ruled by a cadet branch of the family, emerged as the largest and most powerful of the Brunswick-Lüneburg states. In 1692, the Holy Roman Emperor elevated the Prince of Calenberg to the College of Electors, creating the new Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The fortunes of the electorate were tied to those of Great Britain by the Act of Settlement 1701 and Act of Union 1707, which settled the succession to the British throne on Queen Anne's nearest Protestant relative, the Electress Sophia of Hanover, and her descendants.^[1]

The prince-elector of Hanover became king of Great Britain in 1714. As a consequence, a reluctant Britain was forced time and again to defend the king's German possessions.^{[note 1]} However, Hanover remained a separately ruled territory with its own governmental bodies, and the country had to sign a treaty with Great Britain whenever Hanoverian troops fought on the British side of a war. Merged into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, it was re-established as the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, and the personal union with the British crown lasted until 1837.^[3]

^ Heide Barmeyer. "Hannover und die englische Thronfolge" (PDF). H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
^ Auguste Himly, Histoire de la formation territoriale des États de l'Europe centrale. 1876, vol. 1, pp. 95–96.
^ Nick Harding (2007). Hanover and the British Empire, 1700–1837. Boydell & Brewer. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-84383-300-0.

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

[barm-1] Heide Barmeyer. "Hannover und die englische Thronfolge" (PDF). H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved 20 March 2020.

[2] Auguste Himly, Histoire de la formation territoriale des États de l'Europe centrale. 1876, vol. 1, pp. 95–96.

[Harding2007-4] Nick Harding (2007). Hanover and the British Empire, 1700–1837. Boydell & Brewer. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-84383-300-0.

[1]

[note 1]

[3]