the city of Lauenburg, which merged into that of Schleswig Holstein in 1877. Francis II's attempts in 1585 and 1586 to merge Hadeln's Lutheran church body with that in the rest of the duchy were unanimously rejected by Hadeln's clergy and estates. The violation of the primogeniture, however, gave grounds for the estates to perceive the upcoming duke Francis II as illegitimate. This forced him into negotiations, which ended on 16 December 1585 with the constitutional act of the "Eternal Union" () of the representatives of Saxe-Lauenburg's nobility (Ritterschaft, i.e. knighthood) and other subjects (Landschaft), mostly from the cities of Lauenburg upon Elbe and Ratzeburg, then altogether constituted as the estates of the duchy (Ritter-und-Landschaft), led by the Land Marshall, a hereditary office held by the family von Bülow. Francis II accepted their establishment as a permanent institution with a crucial say in government matters. In return, Ritter-und-Landschaft accepted Francis II as legitimate, and rendered him homage as duke in 1586. The relations between Ritter-und-Landschaft and duke improved since Francis II redeemed ducal pawns with money he had earned as imperial commander. After the residential castle in Lauenburg upon Elbe (started in 1180–1182 by Duke Bernard I) had burnt down in 1616, Francis II moved the capital to Neuhaus upon Elbe. In 1619, Duke Augustus moved Saxe-Lauenburg's capital from Neuhaus upon Elbe to Ratzeburg, where it remained since. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Augustus always remained neutral, however, billeting and alimenting foreign troops marching through posed a heavy burden onto the ducal subjects. Augustus was succeeded by his elder half-brother Julius Henry in 1656. He had converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism in expectation of becoming appointed Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in 1615, but guaranteed to leave the Lutheran state church and the Lower Saxon Church Order untouched. He confirmed the existing privileges of the nobility and the Ritter-und-Landschaft. In 1658 he forbade his vassals to pledge or else alienate fiefs, thus fighting the integration of manor estates in Saxe-Lauenburg into the monetary economies of the neighbouring economically powerful Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck. He entered with both city-states into frontier disputes on manor estates which were in the process of evading Saxe-Lauenburgian overlordship into the competence of the city-states. Disputed succession With the death of Duke Julius Francis, a son of Julius Henry, the Lauenburg line of the House of Ascania became extinct in the male line. However, female