principality · Germany and Central Europe

Principality of Birkenfeld

1817 CE – 1937 CE · capital Birkenfeld

Hunsrück exclave of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, ruled from the North Sea coast for more than a century.

Origins

At the Congress of Vienna, the Grand Duke of Oldenburg was awarded territory on the left bank of the Rhine. In 1817 he received a district of the former French Saar department around Birkenfeld in the Hunsrück, which became the Principality of Birkenfeld, an exclave hundreds of kilometres from Oldenburg.

Rule and society

The principality was governed by a regional government in Birkenfeld under Oldenburg's laws and had its own provincial council. Its people were mostly Protestant farmers, with gemstone cutting and agate working around Idar and Oberstein as a distinctive industry. After 1918 it formed a part of the Free State of Oldenburg.

Decline and legacy

Under the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, Oldenburg ceded Birkenfeld to Prussia, which made it a district of the Rhine Province. It is now part of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Lineage

Principality of BirkenfeldFree State of Prussia 1918 CE – 1947 CE

Connections (2)

More states of Germany and Central Europe →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Principality of Birkenfeld. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-birkenfeld
MLA
“Principality of Birkenfeld.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-birkenfeld. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Principality of Birkenfeld.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-birkenfeld.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Principality of Birkenfeld’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-birkenfeld (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻