The Occasion

In the year 2010 Schaumburg is celebrating a great anniversary. Exactly 900 years ago, the name Schaumburg appeared for the first time in history, that is in historiography. A chronicle written in the 12th century reports that in the year 1110 AD Lothar of Supplingenburg, the Saxon duke and later Emperor Lothair III, granted the "noble man Adolf of Schaumburg" the County of Holstein and Stormarn in fief. In those days Schaumburg was only one of about forty territories in the area covered by today's federal state Lower Saxony, but Adolf of Schaumburg, who is supposed to have built the castle of the same name, and his descendants knew how to strongly establish themselves in the power structure of northern Germany. They became related to other noble families and ruling dynasties by marriage, reclaimed land, and founded towns. Thus Schaumburg became a county.

A few years after the passing of Prince Ernst, the male line of the noble family of Schaumburg became extinct. The County of Holstein was sold to the Danish king. Small parts of the County of Schaumburg fell to Brunswick-Lunenburg. From the remains the Hessian County of Schaumburg as an associated territory of Hesse and the County (later Principality) of Schaumburg-Lippe emerged. The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the four states which were joined together in the year 1946 and became the federal state of Lower Saxony. Since 1977 Schaumburg has been an administrative district of Lower Saxony, as a result of local government restructuring now covering most of the original area of Schaumburg.

These 900 years of history have left their marks on the country. Here, more than anywhere else, people identify themselves with their region. In Stadthagen and Rinteln, in Bückeburg and Bad Eilsen, in Obernkirchen and Bad Nenndorf, in Sachsenhagen and Rodenberg, everywhere people profess themselves to be Schaumburger. Therefore, when Prince Ernst travels in time from the Renaissance to this day and age to celebrate the anniversary in 2010, he can be sure that his subjects will give him a heart-warming and dignified welcome.