The county's borders corresponded largely to those of the modern administrative district (Landkreis) of Grafschaft Bentheim.

Geographically, Bentheim is composed largely of fenland, and early settlement was concentrated along the banks of the rivers which pass through the county.

Deposits of Bentheim sandstone formed the basis of a profitable export trade to other parts of present-day Germany and the Netherlands.

The scholten system was introduced, and Emlichheim, Uelsen, Veldhausen, and Nordhorn become church and court districts.

The first County of Bentheim-Bentheim endured until 1530, when its line of counts had become extinct and Bentheim was granted to Arnold II of Bentheim-Steinfurt.

In 1544, Arnold officially converted to Lutheranism, beginning a slow process of introducing the Reformation in Bentheim and other territories he ruled.

[5] In July 1806, by the Act of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Grand Duchy of Berg mediatised the Imperial immediate Counties of Steinfurt and Bentheim that belonged to the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt.

In 1808, the Grand Duchy of Berg mediatised the Lordship of Rheda[6] and the County of Hohenlimburg, the independent possessions of the Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg.

Bentheim was annexed by the French Empire in 1810 along with the Kingdom of Holland and much of northwest Germany, becoming part of the Department of Lippe.

"[9] Children born during the week would be baptized in the Reformed tradition that coming Sunday, attended by the neighbors and midwife to stand as witnesses.

He is responsible for contacting the pastor (officiant), the bell ringer, and the gravedigger and making the burial arrangements.

Napoleon decreed the establishment of cemetery yards outside of the city or village (for sanitary reasons) in 1808, an edict which was resisted in Bentheim, but finally adopted in 1850.

The modern Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim which covers approximately the same territory takes its name from the former county and continues to use its coat of arms.