Saxe-Lauenburg
| Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 | |||||||||
| Coat of arms (1507–1671) | |||||||||
| Attributed arms of the Saxe-Lauenburg The Saxon Steed | |||||||||
| The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1848 (map in Dutch) | |||||||||
| Status | 
 | ||||||||
| Capital | Lauenburg/Elbe Ratzeburg (from 1619) | ||||||||
| Religion | Earlier: Roman Catholic Later: Lutheran | ||||||||
| Government | Duchy | ||||||||
| Duke | |||||||||
| • 1296–1303  | Eric I (first) | ||||||||
| • 1865–1876  | William (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
| • Partitioned from Duchy of Saxony  | 1296 | ||||||||
| 1303–1401 | |||||||||
| 1689–1705 | |||||||||
| • Personal union with Hanover  | 1705–1803 | ||||||||
| • Dissolved during Napoleonic Wars  | 1803–1814 | ||||||||
| • Personal union with Denmark  | 1814–1864 | ||||||||
| • Personal union with Prussia  | 1865–1876 | ||||||||
| • Merged into Prussia  | 1876 | ||||||||
| 
 | |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg, Danish: Hertugdømmet Sachsen-Lauenborg), was a reichsfrei duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herzogtum Lauenburg and originally its eponymous capital was Lauenburg upon Elbe, though the capital moved to Ratzeburg in 1619.