In 1495 the Göttingen lands were incorporated as integral part of the newly established Brunswick Principality of Calenberg, with which they stayed united until the territory was merged into the Electorate of Hanover.

The Göttingen territory had already belonged to the allodial possessions of the Welf count palatine Henry the Elder in the early 13th century.

At this time, the territory consisted of the regions formerly owned by the Counts of Northeim, the towns of Göttingen, Uslar, Dransfeld, Münden, Gieselwerder at the border with Hesse and half of Moringen.

Ernest I was succeeded after his death in 1367 by his son Otto I of Göttingen (the Evil; German: der Quade) (d 1394), who initially lived in the city's fortress and attempted to make it a permanent Welf residency.

Breaking with the policies of his predecessors, he frequently aligned himself with the aristocratic knights of the neighborhood in battles against the cities, whose growing power disturbed him.

However, Göttingen's citizens gained a victory over the Duke's army in a battle between the villages of Rosdorf and Grone, under their leader Moritz of Uslar, forcing Otto to acknowledge the independence of the town and its surrounding properties.

The Göttingen branch of the Welf dynasty became extinct, when Duke Otto II the One-Eyed died without male heirs in 1463.

When in 1482 William IV succeeded his father as Prince of Wolfenbüttel both territories were once again ruled in personal union, though only for a short time, as in 1491 he ceded Wolfenbüttel to his eldest son Henry IV the Evil and finally incorporated Göttingen as an integral part of the Principality of Calenberg, which he gave to his second son, Duke Eric I "the Elder" in 1495.