Grand Duchy of, one of the states of the German Confederation, consists of three parts, separated from one another by other states. The duchy of Oldenburg properly so called, is bounded on the N. by the German Ocean, E. by Hanover and the territory of Bremen, S. and W. by Hanover; and lies between N. Lat. 52° 50' and 53° 44', and E. Long. 7° 40' and 8° 45'. The principality of Lübeck or Eutin is bounded by the duchy of Holstein, the territory of the free city Lübeck, and the Baltic. The principality of Birkenfeld, which forms the third portion of Oldenburg, lies in Southern Germany; and is bounded N. and W. by Rhenish Prussia, S. and E. by Coburg and Hesse-Homburg. Total area, 2433 square miles. The surface of Oldenburg proper is level throughout, as it forms part of the great plain of Northern Germany. Its uniformity is only here and there broken by low sand-hills, such as the Osenberge, between the towns of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. The land on the coasts of the North Sea and on the banks of the Weser and Jade is low, rich, and marshy; and is protected by embankments from the incursion of the water. The inland regions consist of moors and heaths. The sea-coast is lined with extensive sand-banks, called Wattens. The principality of Lübeck is also for the most part flat and barren; but near the sea there are some rich and fertile districts.

Birkenfeld is a rocky and mountainous region, with numerous valleys of no great extent. The duchy of Oldenburg is washed by the German Ocean, which forms two gulfs, those of Jade and Weser, at the mouths of the rivers of the same names; the principality of Lübeck is washed by the Baltic. The principal rivers in Oldenburg are the Weser, which forms its boundary on the side of Bremen and Hanover, and receives the Hunte with its tributary the Lethig, and the Ochtum with the Delme; the Hase and the Leda in the S., which join the Ems; and the Jahde, a small river near the coast. In the principality of Lübeck the Trave, a navigable river, and the Schwentente, both flow into the Baltic. In Birkenfeld the Nahe, an affluent of the Rhine, takes its origin. In Oldenburg and Lübeck there are numerous lakes, some of them of considerable size, but in Birkenfeld there are none. The most important in the duchy proper are the Zwischenahner-Meer, the Great and Little Dullenmeer, while Lübeck contains the Plöner-See, Eutiner-See, Keller-See, &c. The climate is temperate, but damp and foggy on account of the vicinity of the sea.

Agricultural and pastoral employments are extensively practised in Oldenburg. In the marshy land the principal crops raised are wheat, barley, oats, rape-seed, beans, and peas; in the sandy districts, barley, oats, potatoes, hops, flax, hemp, and tobacco, are raised; while in both kinds of land rye is produced, but not enough to supply the inhabitants. In Lübeck the soil is good, and the same crops are cultivated as in the duchy; in Birkenfeld, the stony nature of the ground prevents the raising of much corn, but potatoes, flax, &c., are produced. The whole amount of corn produced in the grand duchy is estimated at more than 3,000,000 bushels. Forests occur chiefly in the principality of Birkenfeld; there is little wood in Lübeck or in the alluvial tracts of Oldenburg, but part of the moorland region is covered with it. The rearing of cattle is carried on chiefly in Oldenburg proper and in the principality of Lübeck; the horses are remarkable for their strength, and the oxen are of good breed. The whole grand duchy contained in 1853–4, 38,193 horses, 198,823 head of cattle, 293,985 sheep, 86,488 swine, and 9905 goats. Poultry are also numerous, and bees are very generally kept. Mining operations are carried on in Birkenfeld only, and these principally in iron, for which there is a furnace, producing on an average about 500 tons yearly. Copper, lead, zinc, and precious stones, are also found in this principality. Manufactures are not extensively carried on in Oldenburg. Yarn-spinning, linen-weaving, and the making of woollen stockings, are the principal branches in which the people are employed. At Varel, the principal manufacturing place in the country, there are cotton factories; and the duchy also contains many breweries, distilleries, meal, oil, and paper mills, saw-mills, &c. Shipbuilding and navigation afford the means of subsistence to many of the inhabitants; and the trade of Oldenburg is of much more importance than the manufacturing industry. The exports consist of corn, cattle, horses, butter, cheese, bacon, hides, leather, yarn, linen, stockings, &c.; while the principal imports are wines, fruits, salt, woollen and silken stuffs, hardware, pottery, &c. The number of vessels that entered and cleared at the ports of Oldenburg in 1856, with their tonnage, was as follows:

| Vessels belonging to | Entered | Cleared | |---------------------|---------|---------| | Oldenburg | 5672 | 82,764 | | Other countries | 2397 | 68,622 | | Total | 7469 | 151,386 |

Oldenburg has no railways, but lines of telegraph extend from the town of Oldenburg to Elsfleth and to Bremen.

The government of Oldenburg is a limited monarchy. The office of grand duke is hereditary in the male line, and each prince on his accession has to take an oath that he will preserve the constitution inviolate, and rule according to the laws. According to the constitution of 1848, amended in 1852, there is a Diet in a single chamber, composed of members elected by the people. The people appoint electors, one for every 300 inhabitants; and these again elect the delegates to the Diet, of which there is one for every 6000 inhabitants. The number composing the Diet is at present forty-seven. Every citizen of twenty-five years old and upwards has a vote for an elector, and is eligible as an elector and as a member of the Diet.

The public receipts and expenditure for 1857 each amounted to L71,970, and the debt at the end of 1856 was L652,000. There is no established church in Oldenburg, but the grand duke and the majority of the people belong to the Lutheran body. The duchy contains also a considerable number of Roman Catholics, and a small proportion of Jews. The educational interests of the country are pretty well attended to, but the scarcity of villages, and the way in which the dwellings are scattered throughout the country, especially in the moorland regions, render it impossible to establish a number of schools sufficient for the population. There are in the entire state 4 gymnasia, 4 higher burgh schools, 2 normal schools, a military school, a school of navigation, and other superior and middle schools. The whole number of elementary schools in the grand duchy was (in 1855) 547, with 773 teachers, and 44,879 pupils. The judicial establishment of Oldenburg consists of an upper court of appeal at Oldenburg, courts of chancery in the duchy of Oldenburg and principality of Lübeck, a senate of justice in Birkenfeld, and several inferior courts. The people of Oldenburg are distinguished for order, courage, loyalty, patriotism, hospitality, and benevolence. The ducal family of Oldenburg is of very ancient origin, being descended from Wittekind, a Saxon chieftain, who submitted to Charlemagne in 785. The title of Count of Oldenburg was first assumed by Christian I. in 1156, after he had erected the castle of Oldenburg. In 1232 the county became independent of the empire, and towards the end of the century Count Otto, a younger brother of Christian III. of Oldenburg, obtained by purchase the lordship of Delmenhorst; but the two families were afterwards united by marriage under Dietrich the Lucky. His eldest son, Christian, became King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein; while from the younger son, Gerhard, the dukes of Oldenburg are descended. His successors enlarged their territory by the addition of Jever in 1575, and of Kniphausen during the Thirty Years' War. In 1667 the ducal family became extinct, and Oldenburg came into the possession of Denmark; under which kingdom it remained till 1773, when Christian VII. of Denmark transferred it to the elder branch of the Gottorp line in the person of the grand prince Paul, afterwards Emperor of Russia, as a compensation for the claim of the House of Holstein-Gottorp to Schleswig and Holstein. The new possessor of Oldenburg gave it over to the head of the younger branch of the same house, Frederick Augustus, the Prince and Bishop of Lübeck; and in 1777 Oldenburg was raised by the Emperor Joseph II. to the rank of a duchy. In 1810 the duchy was conquered by Napoleon I. and made a French department, but in 1813 it was restored to the ancient ducal family; and at the Congress of Vienna, the principality of Birkenfeld was ceded to it by Prussia. The title of grand duke was first assumed by Duke Augustus in 1829. The lordship of Kniphausen, which had been since 1825 under the supremacy of Oldenburg, became a part of the grand duchy in 1854. The capital of Oldenburg is the town of the same name, and the divisions of the grand duchy are as follows:

| Division | Population | |---------------------------|------------| | Oldenburg | 23,290 | | Ballinwicka | 108 | | Oldham | 34 |

capital of the above grand duchy, is a well built though dull town, in a flat country, on the banks of the Hunte, 24 miles W.N.W. of Bremen. The castle, where the grand duke resides, is a handsome freestone building, surrounded by beautiful pleasure-grounds. Here also are a palace for the princes, government offices, a barracks, which is a large and imposing edifice, and two theatres. The old church of St Lambert, the most remarkable of the three churches in Oldenburg, has a vault containing the tombs of the ducal family. For the intellectual culture of the inhabitants Oldenburg has many advantages: besides military, normal, and grammar schools, there are a collection of antiquities, a gallery of paintings, and a public library of 50,000 volumes. Sugar refineries, soap-works, breweries, distilleries, &c., are the principal manufactories; and timber, wool, &c., the chief articles of trade. The date of the foundation of the town is not known; but in 1155 it was first fortified as it still remains. Pop. (1852) 9226.

Henry, was born about 1626 in the duchy of Bremen in Lower Saxony. He came to London in 1653, where he held the office of consul for the town of Bremen for nearly two years. Being discharged from that employment, he was appointed tutor to Lord Henry O'Bryan, an Irish nobleman, whom he attended to the university of Oxford, where he was admitted to study in the Bodleian Library in the beginning of the year 1656. He was afterwards tutor to Lord William Cavendish, and gained the friendship of Milton the poet. During his residence at Oxford he became acquainted with the founders of the Royal Society, and was chosen assistant to Dr Wilkins, the secretary to that body. He applied himself with extraordinary diligence to the business of his office, and in the year 1664 began the publication of the Philosophical Transactions, which he continued to No. xxxvi., 25th June 1677. After this the publication was discontinued till the January following, when it was again resumed by his successor, Nehemiah Grew, who carried it on till the end of February 1678. Oldenburg died at Charleston, in Kent, in August 1678. In addition to a few short papers on medical and other subjects published in the Transactions, Oldenburg translated several works into English from the French and Latin, under the anagram Grubendot.