Monarchy of Denmark
The Monarchy of Denmark, colloquially known as the Danish Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes not only Denmark, but the regions of Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark were already consolidated in the late 8th century, originally an elective monarchy, it became hereditary only in the 17th century during the reign of Frederick III. A decisive transition to a constitutional monarchy occurred in 1849 with the writing of the first Constitution, the current Royal House is a branch of the princely family of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, the same royal house as the Norwegian and former Greek royal families. The Danish Monarchy is constitutional and as such, the role of the monarch is defined and limited by the Constitution of Denmark, the monarch is, in practice, limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, diplomatic, Queen Margrethe II ascended the throne on the death of her father, King Frederick IX, on 14 January 1972.
On her accession, Queen Margrethe II became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margrethe I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375‒1412, during the Kalmar Union. Danish regnal names have traditionally alternated between Frederick and Christian, Margrethe has taken the place of a Christian, and accordingly her heir apparent is Crown Prince Frederik. The modern Kingdom of Denmark dates back to Harthacnuts son, Gorm the Old, the first King of a united Scotland was King Kenneth MacAlpin who died around 80 years before Gorm the Old was born. The Danes were united and officially Christianized in 965 CE by Harald Bluetooth, the Jelling stones attests that Harald had won Norway. The son of Harald, Sweyn Forkbeard, mounted a series of wars of conquest against England, the reign of Cnut represented the peak of the Danish Viking age, his North Sea Empire included Denmark, Norway and held strong influence over the north-eastern coast of Germany. The last monarch descended from Valdemar IV, Christopher III of Denmark, Count Christian of Oldenburg, descendant of Valdemar IVs aunt Richeza, was chosen as his successor and became the next monarch of Denmark, ruling under the name Christian I.
Originally the Danish monarchy was elective, but in practice the eldest son of the monarch was elected. Later a Coronation Charter was signed by the king to restrict the powers of the Danish monarch, in 1657, during the Second Northern War, King Frederick III launched a war of revenge against Sweden which turned into a complete disaster. The war became a disaster for two reasons, because Denmarks new powerful ally, the Netherlands, remained neutral as Denmark was the aggressor and Sweden the defender. Secondly, the Belts froze over in an occurrence during the winter of 1657-1658. In the following Treaty of Roskilde, Denmark–Norway capitulated and gave up all of Eastern Denmark, in addition to the counties of Bohuslän, but the Second Northern War was not yet over. Three months after the treaty was signed, Charles X Gustav held a council of war where he decided to simply wipe Denmark from the map
John, King of Denmark
John was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Denmark, Norway and as John II Sweden, from 1482 to 1513, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in joint rule with his brother Frederick. He currently remains the only King of Denmark since the century to not be named Christian or Frederick, if one does not include the current Queen of Denmark. The three most important political goals of King John were the restoration of the Kalmar Union, reduction of the dominance of the Hanseatic League, and the building of a strong Danish royal power. He was born at Aalborghus, in Aalborg, the son of Christian I of Denmark and Dorothea of Brandenburg, in 1478, he married Christina of Saxony, granddaughter of Frederick the Gentle of Saxony. This produced the following offspring, Christian II, Francis and Elisabeth, from about 1496 until 1512, he had a relationship with Edele Jernskjæg. In 1458, Johns father, King Christian I, had the Norwegian Council of the Realm commit to electing Christians eldest son as king of Norway upon his death.
A similar declaration was made in Sweden, in 1467, John was hailed as successor to the throne in Denmark. John used the title heir to the throne of Norway, in line with Norways old status as a hereditary kingdom, but this was a claim the Norwegian Council did not immediately recognise. Consequently, upon King Christians death in May 1481, Johns position was unchallenged in Denmark, whereas in Norway the Council of the Realm assumed royal authority, and an interregnum ensued. No serious rival candidates to the Norwegian throne existed, but the Council was determined to demonstrate Norways status as a sovereign kingdom. A meeting between the Councils of Denmark and Norway was appointed for 13 January 1483 at Halmstad, to work out the terms for electing John as king — his håndfæstning. The Swedish Council failed to turn up at the meeting, but the Norwegian and Danish councils proceeded to produce a joint declaration containing the terms for Johns rule and it was hoped that Sweden would accept the same document and thereby acknowledge John as king.
Subsequently, John was crowned King of Denmark in Copenhagen on 18 May, during the first years of his rule John carried out a balancing policy. By diplomatic means he tried to weaken the position of the Swedish regent Sten Sture, after the 1493 treaty, Ivan III of Russia imprisoned all Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod and instigated the Russo-Swedish War. The Hanseatic cities were troubled by a war by Danish privateers. Johns domestic policies were marked by economic support of the Danish merchants and by the use of commoners as officials or even as councillors. The most important of his initiatives was perhaps establishing a permanent Danish navy, according to the Privilege of Ribe the Noble Diets of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were to elect a duke among the sons of the previous duke
Helvig of Schauenburg
She was a daughter of Gerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg and his wife, Catherine Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Her brother was Adolf VIII/I, Count of Holstein/Duke of Schleswig, through their father, they were cognatic descendants of King Eric V of Denmark while through their mother, they were cognatic descendants of King Abel of Denmark. On 18 April 1417 Helvig was married to Prince Balthasar of Mecklenburg, in 1423 she was married to Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg. From her second marriage she had the children, Christian. In 1448, partly because of his mothers ancestry, he was elected King of Denmark and he inherited the counties of Schleswig and Holstein upon the death of his childless uncle, Adolf VIII. Maurice V of Delmenhorst, when his brother became king. Gerhard VI of Oldenburg, when his eldest brother had become king, he was given the county of Oldenburg, adelheid of Oldenburg, first married Ernest III, Count of Hohenstein and in 1474 Gerhard VI, Count of Mansfeld
Dorothea of Brandenburg
Dorothea of Brandenburg was Queen consort of Denmark and Sweden two times each by marriage to Christopher of Bavaria and Christian I of Denmark. She served as regent during the interregnum in 1448. Dorothea was born in 1430 or 1431 to John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and she had two sisters, who became Marchioness of Mantua, and Elisabeth, who became Duchess of Pomerania. From about the age of eight, she lived in Bayreuth, were he father was ruler, the engagement was proclaimed prior to the application of Papal dispensation for affinity in February 1445, which was approved 10 March. On 12 September 1445, the ceremony was conducted between Christopher and Dorothea in Copenhagen, followed by the coronation of Dorothea as queen. The King had financed it with a tax in all three Kingdoms, and the occasion is described as one of the most elaborate in Nordic Medieval history. On 15 September, she was granted dowers in all three Kingdoms, Ringsted and Skioldenses in Denmark, Jämtland in Norway, and Örebro, Närke and Värmland in Sweden.
Should she chose to live outside of Scandinavia as a widow, she would instead be given a fortune of 45,000 Rhine guilders, Queen Dorothea left for Sweden with the King in January 1446, were they visited Vadstena Abbey and her dower Örebro. During this visit, she met her future antagonist Charles, Lord High Constable of Sweden, according to the chronicle Karlskrönikan, their meeting was a good one during which presented her and her ladies-in-waiting with many gifts. The couple returned to Denmark in September, the marriage between Dorothea and Christopher was politically favorable, her father governed Christophers German domain and was a loyal supporter and adviser. It did not result in any offspring and according to Ericus Olai, in January 1448, King Christopher died childless, which resulted in a succession crisis that immediately broke the Kalmar Union of the three Kingdoms. Queen dowager Dorothea, being the royal in Denmark, was proclaimed interim regent of Denmark until a new monarch could be elected.
In Sweden, the Lord High Constable was elected as King Charles VIII, in September, Christian of Oldenburg was elected monarch as Christian I of Denmark and the queen dowager turned over the power to him upon his election. Queen Dorothea was given a proposal from king Casimir IV of Poland and Albert VI, Archduke of Austria, the wedding ceremony was conducted 26 October 1449, followed by the coronation of Christian and herself as king and queen of Denmark. She renounced her existing dower lands in Denmark and Norway, which were replaced with Kalundborg and Samsø in Denmark, and Romerike in Norway, Christian was crowned in Norway as well in 1450. In 1455, she appealed to the Pope. The king and queen returned to Denmark in July, in 1460, Christian bought the Duchy of Schleswig and Holstein, which placed him in debt, forced him to raise taxes and destroyed his support in Sweden, who again elected Charles VIII as king in 1464. The loss of her dower lands enabled her to personally pursue the Swedish cause in court
Frederiksborg Castle
Frederiksborg Castle is a palatial complex in Hillerød, Denmark. Situated on three islets in the Slotssøen, it is adjoined by a formal garden in the Baroque style. After a serious fire in 1859, the castle was rebuilt on the basis of old plans, thanks to public support and the brewer J. C. Jacobsen, the building and its apartments were fully restored by 1882 when it was reopened to the public as the Danish Museum of National History, open throughout the year, the museum contains the largest collection of portrait paintings in Denmark. The estate originally known as Hillerødsholm near Hillerød had traditionally belonged to the Gøyes, in the 1520s and 1530s, Mogens Gøye, Steward of the Realm, had been instrumental in introducing the Danish Reformation. He lived in a building on the most northerly of three adjoining islets on the estates lake. The property was known as Hillerødsholm, after his daughter, married the courtier and naval hero Herluf Trolle in 1544, the couple became its proprietors.
In the 1540s, Trolle replaced the old building with a manor house. As the old building with towers was too small for the king. At the kings request, Trolle remained on the premises until the work was completed, the king renamed the estate Frederiksborg. Interested in deer hunting, he used the castle with the neighbouring Bath House as a hunting lodge, centred as it was in the fields. The additions included a wall to the south, separating the estate from the town. Still standing today is the quadrangular red-brick, tip-roofed house on Staldgade known as Herluf Trolles Tower, adjoining this are two long, narrow red-brick stable buildings, the Kings Stables to the west and the Hussars Stables to the east. These in turn lead to a wall along the lake with two round towers completed in 1562 bearing the arms of Frederick II and his motto Mein Hoffnung zu Gott allein, on the central islet, the long pantry house with stepped gables can be seen today. The most important building from Frederick IIs times is the Bath House in the park northwest of the islets, completed in 1581 in the Renaissance style with three protruding step-gabled wings, it served the king as a hunting lodge during the summer months.
Frederiksborg Castle was the first Danish castle to be built inland, all previous castles had been on the coast or close to ports as the sea had traditionally been the principal means of travel. It was the first to be built for recreational purposes rather than for defence. Its location in Hillerød led to the development of improved roads
Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland
Margaret of Denmark, referred to as Margaret of Norway, was Queen of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 by marriage to King James III. She was the daughter of Christian I, King of Denmark and Sweden, Margaret was betrothed to James of Scotland in 1460. The marriage was arranged by recommendation of the king of France to end the feud between Denmark and Scotland about the taxation of the Hebrides islands, a conflict that raged between 1426 and 1460. Her father, King Christian I of Denmark and Norway, agreed to a considerable dowry and he was in need of cash, however, so the islands of Orkney and Shetland, possessions of the Norwegian crown, were pledged as security until the dowry was to be paid. In July 1469, at age 13, at Holyrood Abbey, william Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, was at that time the Norse Earl of Orkney. In 1472 he was made to exchange his Orkney fief to Castle Ravenscraig, Queen Margaret was given the largest jointure Scottish law allowed in her marriage settlement. She was interested in clothes and jewelry, and known for always being dressed in the latest fashion of the time and she may have taught her son James to speak Danish.
She became a queen in Scotland and was described as beautiful, gentle. Many historians called her far better qualified to rule than her spouse, the relationship between Margaret and James III was not described as a happy one. Reportedly, Margaret was not very fond of James and had intercourse with him only for procreation, one reason for their estrangement was the fact that James favored their second son before their eldest. In 1476, John MacDonald was trialed for treason and deprived of the title Earl of Ross by James, John MacDonald was allowed to remain as Lord of Parliament upon Margarets request. Politically, she did work for the reinstatement of her spouse in his powers as monarch during this incident, after the crisis of 1482, the couple lived apart, James III lived in Edinburgh, while queen Margaret preferred to live in Stirling with her children. Margaret died at Stirling Castle on 14 July 1486, and is buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey, a story given by her son claims that Margaret was killed by poison given to her by John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell, leader of one of the political factions.
However, as Ramsay was favoured by the family after the death of the queen. Reportedly, James III did mourn her death and sent a supplication to the Pope where he applied for her to be declared a saint. James IV James Stewart, Duke of Ross John Stewart, Earl of Mar. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Henderson
House of Oldenburg
The House of Oldenburg is a European royal house of North German origin. It is one of Europes most influential royal houses with branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Greece, Russia, Schleswig and Oldenburg. It rose to prominence when Count Christian I of Oldenburg was elected King of Denmark in 1448, of Norway in 1450, the house has occupied the Danish throne ever since. Marriages of medieval counts of Oldenburg had paved the way for their heirs to become kings of various Scandinavian kingdoms, through marriage with a descendant of King Valdemar I of Sweden and of King Eric IV of Denmark, a claim to Sweden and Denmark was staked, since 1350. At that time, its competitors were the successors of Margaret I of Denmark. In the 15th century, the Oldenburg heir of that claim married Hedwig of Schauenburg, since descendants better situated in genealogical charts died out, their son Christian became the king of all three kingdoms of the whole Kalmar Union. The House of Mecklenburg was its chief competitor regarding the Northern thrones, different Oldenburgine branches have reigned in several countries.
EU, retrieved August 2012
Denmark
The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979.
In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government.
The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions.
Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations.
Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg
He was called Fortunatus as he was able to secure Delmenhorst for his branch of the Oldenburgs. Dietrich was the father of Christian I of Denmark, an ancestor to the present-day Danish throne under Margarethe II of Denmark as well as the last Czar of imperial Russia. He is the male line ancestor of Charles, Prince of Wales, Dietrich of Oldenburg was the son of Christian V of Oldenburg and his wife, Countess Agnes of Honstein. His grandfather, Conrad I of Oldenburg had left his lands divided between Dietrichs father and uncle, Conrad II, Dietrich’s father, Christian V, managed to gain the upper hand when Conrad IIs son Maurice II died in 1420. After this, most of the Oldenburg family patrimony was under the power of Dietrich’s branch, the house had several minor branches that had estates and claims, as was usual in any medieval fief. Dietrich of Oldenburg was the grandson of Ingeborg of Itzehoe, a Holstein princess who had married count Conrad I of Oldenburg. Since other legitimate descent from King Valdemar apparently was extinct by this time, Dietrich was considered the general of Kings Valdemar I of Sweden.
Dietrich succeeded his father as head of the House of Oldenburg in 1423, all his legitimate children were born of the second wife. His second marriage strengthened this interest in Scandinavian monarchies, since Helvig was a descendant of King Eric V of Denmark, King Haakon V of Norway, at this time, all Scandinavia lived under the Kalmar Union erected by Queen Margarethe I of Denmark. In 1387 she had lost her own heir Olav IV of Norway, the new heirs now being Eric of Pomerania and his sister Catherine, Maurice V of Delmenhorst, when his elder brother became king, he was given the County of Delmenhorst. The third son got his name from usages of the mothers Holstein clan, first married Ernest III, Count of Hohnstein and then, in 1474, Gerhard VI, Count of Mansfeld. ^ Alternate names include, Medieval Latin, Teudericus de Oldenburg Medieval Scandinavian, Didrik af Oldenborg German, Dietrich von Oldenburg Medieval French, Thierry dOldenbourg
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, in the context of prehistory and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to tribal kingship. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate Latin rex or either Greek archon or basileus. In classical European feudalism, the title of king as the ruler of a kingdom is understood as the highest rank in the order, potentially subject. In a modern context, the title may refer to the ruler of one of a number of modern monarchies. The title of king is used alongside other titles for monarchs, in the West prince, archduke, duke or grand duke, in the Middle East sultan or emir, etc. Kings, like other royalty, tend to wear purple because purple was a color to wear in the past. The English term king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the Common Germanic *kuningaz, the Common Germanic term was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as kuningas.
The English term king translates, and is considered equivalent to, Latin rēx, the Germanic term is notably different from the word for king in other Indo-European languages. It is a derivation from the term *kunjom kin by the -inga- suffix, the literal meaning is that of a scion of the kin, or perhaps son or descendant of one of noble birth. English queen translates Latin regina, it is from Old English cwen queen, noble woman, the Germanic term for wife appears to have been specialized to wife of a king, in Old Norse, the cognate kvan still mostly refers to a wife generally. Scandinavian drottning, dronning is a derivation from *druhtinaz lord. The English word is of Germanic origin, and historically refers to Germanic kingship, the Early Middle Ages begin with a fragmentation of the former Western Roman Empire into barbarian kingdoms. The core of European feudal manorialism in the High Middle Ages were the territories of the kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire, in southern Europe, the kingdom of Sicily was established following the Norman conquest of southern Italy.
The Kingdom of Sardinia was claimed as a title held by the Crown of Aragon in 1324. In the Balkans, the Kingdom of Serbia was established in 1217, in eastern-central Europe, the Kingdom of Hungary was established in AD1000 following the Christianisation of the Magyars. The kingdoms of Poland and Bohemia were established within the Holy Roman Empire in 1025 and 1198, in Eastern Europe, the Kievan Rus consolidated into the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which did not technically claim the status of kingdom until the early modern Tsardom of Russia. In northern Europe, the kingdoms of the Viking Age by the 11th century expanded into the North Sea Empire under Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, England
Oldenburg
Oldenburg or simply Oldenburg is an independent city in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. During the French annexation in the wake of the Napoleonic war against Britain, the city is situated at the Rivers Hunte and Haaren, in the northwestern region between the cities of Bremen in the east and Groningen in the west. It has a population of 160,907, the city is the place of origin of the House of Oldenburg. Before the end of the German Empire, it was the administrative centre, archaeological finds point to a settlement dating back to the 8th century. The place was first mentioned in 1108 as Aldenburg in connection with Elimar I who is now seen as the first count of Oldenburg. The town gained importance due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river, Oldenburg became the capital of the County of Oldenburg, a small state in the shadow of the much more powerful Hanseatic city of Bremen. In the 17th century, Oldenburg was a town in a time of war and turmoil and its population. In 1667, the town was struck by a plague epidemic and, shortly after.
The Danish kings, who were counts of Oldenburg at the time, were not much interested in the condition of the town and it was only that the destroyed buildings in the city were rebuilt in a neoclassicist style. The Grand Duchy now became the Free State of Oldenburg, with the city remaining the capital, in the 1928 city elections, the Nazi Party received 9. 8% of the vote, enough for a seat on the Oldenburg city council. In the September 1930 Oldenburg state elections, the Nazi Partys share of the rose to 27. 3%, and on May 29,1932. By that autumn, a campaign of Aryanization began, forcing the sale of formerly Jewish-owed properties at steep discounts, in 1945, after World War II, the State of Oldenburg was part of the British zone of occupation. The British military government of the Oldenburg region resided in the city, several displaced persons camps were set up in the city that had suffered only 1. 4% destruction during the bombing campaigns of World War II. About 42,000 refugees migrated into Oldenburg, which raised the number of residents to over 100,000.
In 1946, the Free State of Oldenburg was dissolved, the city was now capital of the district. In 1978, the district was dissolved and succeeded by the newly formed Weser-Ems administrative region, the State of Lower Saxony dissolved all of the Regierungsbezirke by the end of 2004 in the course of administrative reforms. Local elections take place five years. The city council has 50 seats, the lord mayor is elected directly by the citizens
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