succession was possible by the Saxe-Lauenburgian laws. So the two surviving out of the three daughters of Julius Francis, Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg fought for the succession of the former, the elder sister. Their weakness was abused by Duke George William of the neighbouring Brunswick and Lunenburgian Principality of Lüneburg, who invaded Saxe-Lauenburg with his troops, thus inhibiting the ascension of the legal heiress to the throne Duchess Anna Maria. There were at least eight monarchies claiming the succession, resulting in a conflict involving further the neighbouring duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and of Danish Holstein, as well as the five Ascanian-ruled Principalities of Anhalt, the Electorate of Saxony, which had succeeded the Saxe-Wittenbergian Ascanians in 1422, Sweden and Brandenburg. Celle and Danish Holstein were militarily engaged, which agreed on 9 October 1693 (Hamburger Vergleich), that Celle (already de facto holding most of Saxe-Lauenburg( would retain the duchy, while the fortress in Ratzeburg, fortified under Celle rule and directed against Holstein, would be razed. In return, Danish Holstein, which had invaded Ratzeburg and ruined the fortress, would withdraw its troops. George William compensated John George III, Elector of Saxony, for his claim with a substantial sum of money, since the ancestors of both these princes had made treaties of mutual succession with former dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg. The Ritter-und-Landschaft then rendered homage to George William as their duke. On 15 September 1702 George William confirmed the existing constitution, laws and legislative bodies of Saxe-Lauenburg. On 17 May 1705, the Lutheran superintendency was moved from Lauenburg to Ratzeburg and combined with the pastorate of St. Peter's Church. When he died on 28 August the same year, Saxe-Lauenburg passed to his nephew, George I Louis, elector of Hanover, afterwards king of Great Britain as George I. The Lower Saxon Lutheran Church maintained its Church Order with the consistory and General Superintendent Severin Walter Slüter (1646–1697) in Lauenburg, succeeded by incumbents titled again superintendent only. Saxe-Lauenburg (except for Hadeln) passed to the House of Welf and its cadet branch House of Hanover, while the legal heirs, Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg, never waiving their claim, were dispossessed and the former exiled in Bohemian Ploskovice. Emperor Leopold I rejected Celle's succession and thus retained Hadeln, which was out of Celle's reach, in his custody. His son, Emperor Charles VI enfeoffed George II Augustus with Saxe-Lauenburg, would