The Principality of Göttingen () was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire, with Göttingen as its capital. It was split off from the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1286 in the course of an estate division among members of the ruling House of Welf. In 1495 the Göttingen lands were incorporated as integral part of the newly established Brunswick Principality of Calenberg, with which they stayed united until the territory was merged into the Electorate of Hanover.
Geography
The principality covered the southern part of the Welf domains in the former Duchy of Saxony after the deposition of Duke Henry the Lion in 1180 (roughly corresponding to present-day South Lower Saxony). When in 1235 Emperor Frederick II had the Welf allodial lands restored as the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the ducal estates also comprised the lands on the Weser river, from Lauenförde up to Münden and the border with the Franconian lands of Hesse; as well as the Leine banks from Göttingen up to Northeim and Einbeck. The territory was separated from the northern Welf principalities of Lüneburg and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by the estates of the Hildesheim prince-bishops.
History
The Göttingen territory had already belonged to the allodial possessions of the Welf count palatine Henry the Elder in the early 13th century. After the death of the first Brunswick-Lüneburg duke Otto the Child in 1257, his sons Albert the Tall and John inherited their father's territories. Duke Albert initially governed for his brother, who then was still a minor.
When John came of age in 1267, the brothers finally agreed to divide the territory between them, the first step of a centuries-long fragmentation of the Brunswick-Lüneburg duchy. Effective from 1269, the territories around the cities of Wolfenbüttel and Göttingen in the south went to Albert, then ruling Prince of Wolfenbüttel. They were inherited by his sons Henry the Admirable, Albert II the Fat and William in 1279. When in 1286 the brothers again divided their heritage, Albert II chose Göttingen as his residence and moved into the Welf residency, which he rebuilt into a fortress. After his brother William had died in 1292, he was also able to acquire the subdivision around Wolfenbüttel against his elder brother Henry, who only retained the Principality of Grubenhagen.
After Albert the Fat's death in 1318, Göttingen passed to his eldest son Otto the Mild, who governed over both the "Principality of Göttingen" and the territory of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. These dukes joined Göttingen and surrounding towns in battles against aristocratic knights in the surroundings of Göttingen, in the course of which the citizens of Göttingen succeeded in destroying the fortress of Grone between 1323 and 1329, as well as the fortress of Rosdorf. Since Otto the Mild died in 1344 without leaving children, his younger brothers Magnus the Pious and Ernest divided the land between themselves. Ernest I received Göttingen, the poorest of all the Welf principalities, which was to remain separate from Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel for centuries. At this time, the territory consisted of the regions formerly owned by the Counts of Northeim, the towns of Göttingen, Uslar, Dransfeld, Münden, Gieselwerder at the border with Hesse and half of Moringen. Not much is known about the rule of Duke Ernest I but it is generally assumed that he continued to fight against aristocratic knights.