County of Hoya

Origins

Count Henry, of a noble family from the area, acquired lands on the middle Weser and called himself Count of Hoya from about 1202. His descendants extended their rule along the river between Bremen and Minden, building a county around the towns of Hoya and Nienburg.

Rule and society

The county lay in flat farmland and marsh along the Weser, with river tolls and grain the main sources of wealth. It was divided at times into upper and lower counties ruled by separate branches. The counts were pressed between the Guelph dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the bishops of Minden and Verden. Lutheranism was introduced in the 1520s and 1530s.

Decline and legacy

When the last count, Otto VIII, died in 1582, the county was divided between branches of the Guelph house, the Principality of Lüneburg and the Principality of Wolfenbüttel. It later belonged to the Electorate of Hanover and is now in Lower Saxony.