town continued until the end of the 15th century, although the town officially remained a Welf property. Nevertheless, it is counted in some contemporaneous documents among the Imperial Free Cities. The Göttingen branch of the Welf dynasty became extinct, when Duke Otto II the One-Eyed died without male heirs in 1463. His territories were inherited by his cousin Duke William the Victorious, then Prince of Calenberg. After William had also inherited the Principality of Wolfenbüttel in 1473, he gave Göttingen to his eldest son William IV. 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. The town of Göttingen refused to pay homage to Eric I in 1504, and as a result, Eric I had Emperor Maximilian I declare the city outlawed. The subsequent tensions economically weakened Göttingen, leading to the town finally paying its homage to Eric I in 1512. Afterward the relationship between Eric and the town improved, because of Eric's financially dependence on Göttingen. With the Calenberg principality, Göttingen again came into possession of the Welf dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1584. Devastated in the Thirty Years' War under the rule of Duke Frederick Ulrich and his brother ("the mad") Christian, it passed to Duke George of the Lüneburg-Celle line in 1634, whose descendants ruled it thenceforth. Under the rule of Duke Ernest Augustus, in 1692, it was named as part of the indivisible territory of the Electoral state of Hanover. Princes of Brunswick-Göttingen Albert the Fat, 1286–1318, also Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1292 Otto the Mild, son, 1318–1344 Ernest I, brother, 1344–1367 Otto the Evil, son of Ernest, 1367–1394 Otto II, son, 1394–1463 Line extinct William the Victorious 1463–1473, also Prince of Calenberg, Prince of Wolfenbüttel from 1473 Frederick III, son, 1473–1484, William IV, brother, 1473–1495 Göttingen merged into Calenberg. External links Map of Lower Saxony 1789 Gottingen Gottingen Göttingen States and territories established in 1286 States and territories disestablished in 1495 1280s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1286 establishments in Europe 1490s disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1495 disestablishments in Europe Medieval Germany Former principalities