Schauenburg

Schauenburg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire on the Weser, named for a castle near Rinteln. In 1337 Count Adolf VII ruled the lands of the Holstein-Pinneberg line.

The counts acquired Sternberg in 1377, and the county came to be called Schaumburg around 1485. The Reformation followed in 1559; Count Ernst moved his residence from Stadthagen to Bückeburg, and the county became a principality in 1619. Otto V died childless in 1640, and the lands were divided chiefly between Hesse-Kassel and the counts of Lippe.