Principality of Lichtenberg

The Principality of Lichtenberg on the Nahe was a small exclave of the Ernestine Saxon duchies in the Rhineland, held by Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld from 1816 to 1826 and by Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1826 until 1834, when it was sold to Prussia. The Congress of Vienna assigned the district to Duke Ernest III as a reward for his services as a general against Napoleon: an estate of about 8.25 square miles, some 22,000 inhabitants in the districts of St. Wendel and Baumholder, at first called the Lordship of Baumholder. The grant was made official on 11 September 1816. By a decree of Ernest III dated 6 March 1819 the territory was renamed after Lichtenberg Castle, which stands between Baumholder and Kusel, and St. Wendel became the seat of government. For a few years the little principality was also the residence of Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, the divorced mother of Prince Albert. In 1834 the duke sold the territory to Prussia, which incorporated it into the Rhine Province. Its former lands now lie in the Saarland district of St. Wendel and the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Birkenfeld.