Archaeological finds point to a settlement on…
1345 CE
Archaeological finds point to a settlement on the site of Oldenburg dating back to the eighth century.
The place was first mentioned in 1108 as Aldenburg in connection with Elimar I (also known as Egilmar I) who is now commonly seen as the first count of Oldenburg.
The town gained importance due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river.
Oldenburg became the capital of the County of Oldenburg (later Duchy, Grand Duchy, and Free State), a small state in the shadow of the much more powerful Hanseatic city of Bremen.
The first known count of Oldenburg is Elimar I (d. 1108).
Elimar's descendants appear as vassals, though sometimes rebellious ones, of the dukes of Saxony; but they attained the dignity of princes of the empire in 1180 when the emperor Frederick I dismembered the Saxon duchy.
The county of Delmenhorst at this time formed part of the dominions of the counts of Oldenburg, but afterwards it was on several occasions separated from them to form an appanage for younger branches of the family.
During the early part of the thirteenth century the counts carried on a series of wars with independent, or semi-independent, Frisian princes to the north and west of the county, which resulted in a gradual expansion of the Oldenburgian territory.
The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the bishop of Münster were also frequently at war with the counts of Oldenburg.
The city of Oldenburg is chartered in 1345.