county · Germany and Central Europe
County of Barby
Origins
The lords of Barby held lands on the Elbe near the mouth of the Saale, between Magdeburg and Anhalt, from the 12th century. In 1497 Emperor Maximilian I raised them to imperial counts, though much of their territory was held in fief from the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and from Saxony.
Rule and society
The counts ruled a few small towns and villages, including Barby, Rosenburg and Mühlingen, from their castle at Barby. They introduced the Lutheran Reformation in the 1540s. The territory lived from farming in the fertile Elbe-Saale plain and from river trade.
Decline and legacy
When the last count, August Ludwig, died in 1659, the county was divided among his overlords: most of it went to the Saxon dukes of the Duchy of Saxe-Weissenfels, and some lands to Anhalt-Zerbst. Barby became part of Prussia in 1815.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- County of Barby was part of Holy Roman Empire1497 CE – 1659 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of Barby. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-barby
- MLA
- “County of Barby.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-barby. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “County of Barby.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-barby.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of Barby’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-barby (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻