Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/818

Rh 758 O L D O L D by an official at Vechta; and the Catholics of Birkenfeld belong to the diocese of Treves. At the census of 1880 there were in the grand-duchy 260 ; 416 Protestants, 74,254 Roman Catholics, and 1654 Jews. The educational system of Oldenburg is on a similar footing to that of north Germany in general, though the scattered position of the farmhouses interferes to some extent with school attendance. The proportion of Oldenburg recruits in ] 882 unable to read or write was only 27 per cent., which compares favour ably with the average of 1 54 for the whole empire. There is no university in Oldenburg territory, but an ample supply of primary, secondary, and special schools. The constitution of Oldenburg, based upon a decree of 1849, revised in 1852, is one of the most liberal in Germany. It provides for a single representative chamber, elected indirectly by universal suffrage and exercising concurrent rights of legislation and taxation with the grand-duke. The chamber, which consists of thirty-four members (twenty-six for Oldenburg and four for each of the princi palities), meets at regular intervals of three years. The executive consists of three ministers, who are aided by a committee of the landtag, when that body is not in session. The local affairs of Birkenfeld and Lubeck are entrusted to provincial councils. All citizens are alike in the eye of the law, and all exemptions and privileges have been abolished. The municipal communities enjoy an unusual amount of independence. The nuances of each constituent state of the grand -duchy are managed separately, and there is also a fourth budget concerned with the joint administration. The last generally &quot;shows a sum of about 50,000 on each side, the expenditure including a matricular contribution of 33,500 to the imperial treasury. In the budget of 1882 the revenues of the duchy of Oldenburg, the principality of Lubeck, and the principality of Birkenfeld were estimated at 289,965, 40,419, and 43 864. while the estimated expenditure was in each case somewhat less. The duchy of Oldenburg has a debt of nearly 2,000. 000 and Liibeck one of 2000. while Birken feld and the grand-duchy as a whole are free of debt. An annual allowance of about 13,000 is made to the grand-duke, and he is believed to derive as much more from his private estates. The troops of Oldenburg furnish the German army with a regiment of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery. History. The earliest recorded inhabitants of this district were the Germanic Chauci, who were afterwards merged in the Frisians. Old chroniclers delight in tracing the genealogy of the counts of Oldenburg up to Wittekind, the stubborn opponent of Charlemagne ; but their first historical representative is Elimar I,, who flourished at the close of the llth century. His descendants appear as vassals of the powerful Saxon dukes, but attained the rank of independent princes of the empire on the dissolution of the Saxon power by Frederick Barbarossa (c. 1180). The countship of Delmenhorst at this time formed part of the Oldenburg dominions, but was after wards frequently separated from them, and was not lastingly united under the same ruler till the beginning of the 17th century. The northern and western parts of the present duchy of Oldenburg were in the hands of more or less independent Frisian princes, who had generally remained pagans ; and Oldenburg history for the next two centuries is largely concerned with feuds with these small potentates, and gradual extension of territory at their expense. Bremen and Miinster were also frequently at war with the counts of Oldenburg. In 1448 Count Christian VIII. was elected king of Denmark, and, a little later, duke of Holstein and Schleswig, the latter event pregnant with important consequences for future history. Oldenburg was made over to his brother Gerhard, an ambitious prince, whose turbulent disposition resulted in an abdica tion in favour of his sons, forced on him by a league of Hamburg, Liibeck, and Bremen. Protestantism was introduced by Anton I. (1531-1573), who, however, remained loyal to Charles V. in the Schmalkald war, and was thus enabled to increase his territories. On the accession of Anton Gunther in the beginning of the 17th century Oldenburg and Delmenhorst were finally welded into one, and about the same period the last free Frisian states, Jever and Kniphausen, were also absorbed by Oldenburg. Anton Gunther proved himself the wisest prince who had ruled in Oldenburg, and by his prudent neutrality in the Thirty Years War secured for bis domains immunity from the devastations to which most other German states were exposed. He also obtained from the emperor the right to levy tolls on vessels passing up the Weser, a lucrative grant, which soon formed one-fifth of his revenues. On his death without issue in 1667 the succession passed to the Danish reigning house, after the claims of the Holstein -Gottorp and Holstein-Sonder- burg branches of the family had been compromised. Oldenburg remained under the sway of the Danish monarchs for about a cen tury. a period, on the whole; of peaceful development. At length, in 1773, the Danish monarch agreed to a family compact, in accord ance with which he resigned Oldenburg to the Holstein-Gottorp line in return for a renunciation on their part of all claim to Schleswig and Holstein. The head of the Holstein-Gottorp family at this time was the grand-duke Paul of Russia (afterwards the emperor Paul I.) ; but he handed over Oldenburg, which was now created a duchy, to his cousin Frederick Augustus, bishop of Liibeck, representative of a younger line. The bishop s son, who followed his father in 1785, was a man of weak intellect ; and his cousin, Peter Frederick Louis, who acted as administrator and eventually succeeded to the throne, is the direct progenitor of the present grand-duke. Peter had the task of managing the duchy in the troublous times of the Napoleonic wars, and, though he joined the Confederation of the Rhine, had afterwards to see his domains forcibly annexed to France on his refusal to exchange them for Erfurt. This led him to join the allies, and his services were rewarded at the congress of Vienna by the addition of Birkenfeld to his dominions, which were also raised to the rank of a grand-duchy. The secularized bishopric of Lubeck had been already added to Oldenburg in 1803. Oldenburg did not escape the revolutionary wave that swept over Europe in 1848, but no very serious disturbances took place, and the grand- duke granted a constitution in 1849. This constitution was of an ultra-liberal character, and, as the country had hitherto been ruled in the spirit of an enlightened but absolute despotism, strengthened by the absence of a privileged class of nobles, the unimportance of the towns, and the comparative independence of the peasantry, it was inevitable that it should not work at once without friction. In 1852 it had to submit to some modification, which, however, still left it one of the most liberal constitutions in Germany. In 1864 the grand-duke seemed at first inclined to insist upon his claims to the Schleswig-Holstein succession, but he ultimately resigned them in favour of Prussia. In 1866 he sided with that power against Austria, and in 1871 the grand -duchy became a member of the German empire. See Halem, Gesch. d. Herzogth. Oldenburg (1794-96) ; Runde, Olderiburgische Chronik(3d ed., 1863); Bose, Das Grossherzogthum Oldenburg (1863); Kollmann, Das Herzogthum Oldenburg in seiner wirthscliaftlichen Entwickelung wdhrend der letzten 25 Jahre (1879) ; the publications of the Statistical Bureau of Oldenburg ; the annual Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Grossherzogthums Oldenburg. OLDENBUKG, the capital of the grand-duchy of that name, is a quiet and pleasant-looking town, situated 24 miles to the west of Bremen, on the Hunte, which is navigable for river-craft up to this point. The inner or old town, with its somewhat narrow streets, is surrounded by avenues laid out on the site of the former ramparts, beyond which are the villas, parks, and gardens of the more modern quarters. Oldenburg has almost nothing to show in the shape of interesting old buildings. The Lambertikirche, though dating from the 13th century, has been so transformed in the present century as to show no trace of its antiquity. The palaces of the grand -duke and the town -house are Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among the other prominent buildings all modern are the theatre, the law-courts, the gymnasium, the commercial school, the three hospitals, and the new Roman Catholic church. The grand-ducal picture-gallery in the Augusteum includes works by Veronese, Velazquez, Murillo, and Rubens ; and there are collections of modern paintings and sculptures in the two palaces. The public library contains 150,000 vols., and the duke s private library has 50,000. There is also a museum with a collection of antiquities and a cabinet of natural history. The industries of Oldenburg, which are of no great importance, include iron-founding and the making of tobacco, soap, and leather. A considerable trade is carried on in grain, and the horse-fairs are largely frequented. The population in 1880 was 20,575, or, includ ing the suburban village of Osternburg on the other side of the Hunte and the Hunte-Ems Canal, 24,678. About four-fifths of these are Protestants. According to popular tradition Oldenburg was founded by Walbert, grandson of Wittekind, and named after his wife Altburga ; but the first historical mention of it occurs in a document of 1108. It was fortified in 1155, and received a municipal charter in 1345. The subsequent history of the town is merged in that of the grand- duchy. (J. F. M.) OLDHAM, a municipal and parliamentary borough and important manufacturing town of south-east Lancashire, is situated on an eminence near the source of the Medlock, at the junction of several railway lines, 6 miles north-east of Manchester. By the Oldham canal it has water-com munication with Manchester, Ash ton, Stockport, and Rochdale. Although consisting chiefly of monotonous rows of workmen s houses, interspersed with numerous im mense factories and workshops, Oldham has some good