Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe: A look at 300 years of history

Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe: A look at 300 years of history

(district of Schaumburg) Exactly 300 years ago, Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe, a remarkable sovereign, was born in London. He campaigned with numerous reforms to improve the living conditions of his subjects in his county. In the middle of the Enlightenment, he introduced extensive changes in education, agriculture and craft. Count Wilhelm was known to bring important thinkers of his time, such as Thomas Abbbt and Johann Gottfried Herder, to Bückeburg and maintained intellectual exchange with philosophers such as Voltaire and Moses Mendelssohn. He is considered one of the most influential troop leaders and military theorists, who always saw morally justifiable warfare as the top priority.

In order to remember the merits and the versatile personality of the count, the Schaumburg landscape organized a festive inspection on the occasion of its 300th birthday. From August 30th to September 1, Count Wilhelm revived the Schaumburg region with a delegation of his infantry regiment. In contrast to the historical inspections from the 18th century, however, the count met the citizens of 2024.

Graf Wilhelm's visit to Mittelbrink

On September 1, Count Wilhelm visited the municipality of Mittelbrink, which has a very special connection to his person. At the place where the count laid the foundation for the colonist settlement over 250 years ago, he met Ralf-Uwe Seeger for a warm greeting by the residents, including the deputy mayor of Niedernwöhren. The atmosphere was festive and many citizens had gathered to honor the former sovereign. Ralf-Uwe Seeger gave the Count with obvious pride of the development of the settlement, which had grown from a barren settlement to a flourishing village, and received a lot of applause.

The residents of Mittelbrink were delighted with the Count's interest in their history and lively reported to him about past times and the development of the place since its ancestors. Count Wilhelm, who was impressed by the new living conditions and the changes in the settlement, took the time to chat with the citizens and ask further questions. It was a moment of joy and the exchange between past and the present.

Visit to the Meierhöfer house brewery

Afterwards the trip led the count to the Meierhöfer house brewery in Vehlen, where he found out about the traditional mill and the brewing law, which brewer Holger Meier had acquired in 1999. Count Wilhelm was enthusiastic about the art of craftsmanship, which is cultivated in Vehlen. It was particularly noteworthy for him that the beer was brewed after the old purity bid of 1514 and not served in cans, but fresh from the barrel or from glass bottles. This aroused his interest, and he did not miss the opportunity to assess the different types of beer and to assess the quality of the drink itself.

The Count's journey in Schaumburg not only praised the history and tradition of the region, but also the continuous development and the values for which he himself fought. Another part of the inspection trip will take place on October 3 when Count Adelmann Hagenburg, the island of Wilhelmstein and Steinhude visits to continue the tradition of inspections.