CHAPTER 4

THE POLITICAL & ECONOMIC LEGACY
OF NORTHERN GERMANY

Many of the settlers of the Batesville region claimed their country of origin as "Hannover". How this state came into existence, its relationship with Geat Britain, and its demise under Prussian Germany tells us much about the economic and political history of the settlers of the Batesville region. Hannover's ties with Britain as well as its Saxon origins help to explain why much of this north German heritage has been so easily assimilated-and forgotten-in Anglo-American culture.

HISTORY OF HANNOVER TO 1866

Over the years, the Saxon rulers of northern Germany expanded their domains and eventually these were divided. Upper Saxony to the southeast became known as the Kingdom of Saxony, while Lower Saxony (where most of southeastern Indiana's Saxon ancestors originated) was primarily a part of the hereditary lands controlled by the ancient Guelph(Welfen) royal family.

During the 13th century these lands became divided among several branches of the Guelph family. By 1634, due to the failure of heirs among these branches, these lands were merged into the two Duchies of Brunswick (Braunschweig) and Lueneburg. In 1705 they were united under George Louis whose father, Ernest August, had been made an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. These two duchies became known as the Electorate of Hannover. Hannover was the name of the city from which they ruled.

George Louis was the son of Ernest August of Hannover and Electress Sophia, the grand daughter of King James I of England. In 1701, England's Parliament, by the Act of Succession, provided that upon the death of Queen Anne, if she had no children, the crown of Great Britain should pass to Electress Sophia or her descendants. In 1714 Anne died and Sophia's son, George Louis of Hannover also became King George I of Great Britain.

These Hannoverian kings included King George III against whom Americans fought the American Revolution. The ancient Saxon peoples were united under one crown, but Anglo-Saxon had become English and the Hannovian Kings of England spoke German.

In the 1800s, Hannover became a pawn in European politics between England, France, and the rising power of Prussia-Brandenburg with its center in Berlin. in the settlement of the "War of the Second Coalition" in 1803, "Napoleon sought to destroy the power of the ecclesiastical states. Most of the Catholic Bishopric of Muenster was given to Prussia.

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