Lippe
(1813-1871 Lippe-Detmold)
The Principality of Lippe, a German state since the twelfth century, was a member state of the Germanic Confederation from 1815 to 1866. Lippe allied with Prussia during the 1866 war against Austria. After the Austro-Prussian War, it became a member state of the North German Confederation in 1867. It became a member state of the German Empire in 1871.
There were arguments over the succession in this house. Woldemar, Prince of Lippe died in 1895. His brother Alexander, the last of the senior line (Detmold), succeeded him. Alexander was hopelessly insane, single, and had been declared incapable of ruling. A struggle over the succession ensued between the regents, Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe and Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld. The Bundesrat requested that the Chancellor of the Empire refer the question of the succession to a special court of arbitration. This court was presided over by King Albert of Saxony, who determined in 1897 that Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld was the rightful successor and was sole regent of the principality. The Schaumburg-Lippe’s launched a counter-offensive by challenging Count Ernst’s marriage, attempting to declare it morganatic. Count-Regent Ernst died in 1904 and his eldest son Leopold became regent. The Kaiser especially objected to Leopold, as his grandmother was an American. The Kaiser refused to recognize him as regent and once again, the issue of who was the legitimate regent raged. It was so contentious that the Kaiser ordered the officers of the Prussian regiments stationed in Lippe not to provide the customary salute and bowing to any of the Countesses of Lippe. The Biesterfeld line assumed sovereign status on the extinction of the Detmold line in 1905, when the insane Prince Alexander died and the Court of Justice declared that the descendants of Count-Regent Ernst were entitled to the crown. Leopold, who had a morganatic marriage, was named the regent. He remained as regent, and the court of arbitration declared the marriage in question to be equal; thus, Leopold (b. 1871) became Prince of Lippe.
Lippe was a hereditary constitutional monarchy. The constitution called for a parliament of twenty-one members, known as the Landtag. The franchise for electoral purposes was similar to the Prussian three-tier system except for that the vote was secret. The population was divided into three classes based on taxation, each of which sent seven members to the Landtag. Lippe had one vote in the German Reichstag, and also one vote in the Bundesrat.
There were 154,000 inhabitants in 1914. More than 95 percent of the population was Protestant. The capital was Detmold.