Diepholz

Diepholz grew beside the moated castle of the lords who took their name from the place. Its settlement received town rights in 1380, although it remained a small residence town amid the lowlands between Bremen and Osnabrück. The ruling family styled itself counts of Diepholz from 1530. When the line died out in 1585, the lordship passed to the dukes of Brunswick and Lüneburg. The castle and town remained the administrative centre of a small territory whose history had long been bound to its resident lords.