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| Capital (and largest city) |
Lingen | ||||
| Language | German | ||||
| Count | Moritz Kasimir VI | ||||
| Chancellor | Rudolph Passmann | ||||
| Population | 50,841 | ||||
| Independence | 1531 | ||||
| Currency | WFC | ||||
The County of Lingen is a small constitutional monarchy in western Europe. Munster-Westphalia borders it to the north, west and south, and Osnabruck is to the east. The capital is Lingen and the population around 50,000.
The official language is German.
The head of state is Count Moritz Kasimir VI.
It uses the Westphalian Crown (WFC).
History[]
The small county of Lingen is part of the Emsland, a sparsely populated fenland region on the Ems river. The county was originally part of Tecklenburg but repeated partitions reduced the Tecklenburg lands, especially as bankruptcies allowed much of these successor counties were swallowed up by the Bishops of Munster.
The Lingen counts maintained their solvency, and independence, by operating a mercenary company, the Lingen Company. Count Maximilian I would join the Schmalkaldic League and be part of the alliance which recaptured the Anabaptist 'Kingdom of Munster'.
The county escaped destruction during the Fifty Years War meaning much of the old town of Lingen retains a medieval character. The county is mostly agricultural and what little industry it did have moved to the Munster towns nearby as the Industrial Revolution took hold. In 1802 the local line of counts ran out and the county was inherited by a branch of the Electoral Saxon Wettins. Thereafter it was essentially allowed to govern itself as the counts were largely absent, residing and deriving much of their income from estates in Brandenburg and Electoral Saxony.
Government[]
Lingen is governed by a single-chambered Diet which is elected every five years. The counts rarely visit, and merely act as figureheads, their actual powers over the county is severely limited.
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