Bentheim

Bentheim was a small imperial county in Westphalia, ruled from its sandstone castle. In 1337 Count Simon I held the original county after the division of the Bentheim lands in 1277.

Count Arnold II of Bentheim-Steinfurt adopted Lutheranism in 1544, followed by a Reformed church constitution in 1588. In 1753 the counts mortgaged Bentheim to the Elector of Hanover, who took possession. It was mediatised to Berg in 1806, annexed by France in 1810 and assigned to Hanover at the Congress of Vienna.