County of Ravensberg

Its territory was in present-day eastern Westphalia, Germany, at the foot of the Osning or Teutoburg Forest.

The Counts of Ravensberg then had Sparrenberg Castle built in Bielefeld c. 1240–50, which they made their seat.

After the War of the Jülich succession, in the Treaty of Xanten in 1614, the County of Ravensberg came to the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, and was administered within Minden-Ravensberg from 1719–1807, when it was dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars.

Aside from Bielefeld, other communities in the County of Ravensberg were Borgholzhausen, Halle, Steinhagen, Versmold, Werther, Isselhorst (now part of Gütersloh), Enger, Hiddenhausen, Rödinghausen, Spenge, Herford (except for Falkendiek), Bünde (except for Dünne and Spradow), Vlotho (except for Uffeln), Kirchlengern south of the Werre, Preußisch Oldendorf (except for Hedem and Lashorst) and Bad Oeynhausen south of the Werre.

1348–1395 in Personal union with Berg, since 1437 with Jülich-Berg from 1521 a part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg from 1614 Margraves of Brandenburg and Kings of Prussia To France by the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia Media related to County of Ravensberg at Wikimedia Commons Circles est.

Sparrenburg Castle
Historic map of the County of Ravensberg (1798)
Map of a large region (in white) including all the territory of modern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, plus parts of most neighbouring countries, including most of Northern Italy. Some of the northwest part region is highlighted in color, including Münster, most of the Netherlands and parts of modern Belgium.
The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (red) within the Holy Roman Empire (white) after 1548