Editing Lower Saxony (section)

==== Medieval and early modern period ====
[[File:Herzogtum Sachsen 1000.PNG|thumb|The [[Duchy of Saxony]] around 1000]]

The name and coat of arms of the present state go back to the [[Saxons|Germanic tribe of Saxons]]. During the [[Migration Period]] some of the Saxon peoples left their homeland in [[Holstein]] about the 3rd century and pushed southwards over the [[Elbe]], where they expanded into the sparsely populated regions in the rest of the lowlands, in present-day Northwest Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the [[Netherlands]]. From about the 7th century the Saxons had occupied a settlement area that roughly corresponds to the present state of Lower Saxony, of [[Westphalia]] and a number of areas to the east, for example, in what is now west and north Saxony-Anhalt. The land of the Saxons was divided into about 60&nbsp;''[[Gau (country subdivision)|Gaue]]''. The [[Frisians]] had not moved into this region; for centuries they preserved their independence in the most northwesterly region of the present-day Lower Saxon territory. The original language of the folk in the area of Old Saxony was [[West Low German]], one of the varieties of language in the Low German dialect group.

[[File:Map of the Imperial Circles (1512)-en.png|thumb|[[Imperial circle]]s at the start of the 16th century. Red: the Lower Saxon Circle, light brown: the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle]]

The establishment of permanent boundaries between what later became Lower Saxony and Westphalia began in the 12th century. In 1260, in a treaty between the [[Electorate of Cologne|Archbishopric of Cologne]] and the [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg]] the lands claimed by the two territories were separated from each other.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/anzeigen.php?verzeichnis=kar&dateiname=kar38.jpg&bild_id=38 |title=Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe |department=Die Interessengebiete Kölns und Braunschweigs nach dem Vertrag von 1260 (map) |language=de |website=Lwl.org |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028052329/https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/anzeigen.php?verzeichnis=kar&dateiname=kar38.jpg&bild_id=38 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The border ran along the Weser to a point north of Nienburg. The northern part of the Weser-Ems region was placed under the rule of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

The word ''Niedersachsen'' was first used before 1300 in a Dutch rhyming chronicle (''Reimchronik''). From the 14th century it referred to the [[Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg]] (as opposed to [[Saxe-Wittenberg]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=6870&article_id=19881&_psmand=1000 |title=Land Niedersachsen: ''Der Weg zum Land Niedersachsen'' |publisher=Niedersachsen.de |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807114315/http://www.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=6870&article_id=19881&_psmand=1000 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the creation of the [[imperial circle]]s in 1500, a [[Lower Saxon Circle]] was distinguished from a [[Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle]]. The latter included the following territories that, in whole or in part, belong today to the state of Lower Saxony: the [[Bishopric of Osnabrück]], the [[Bishopric of Münster]], the [[County of Bentheim]], the [[County of Hoya]], the Principality of [[East Frisia]], the [[Prince-Bishopric of Verden|Principality of Verden]], the [[County of Diepholz]], the [[Duchy of Oldenburg|County of Oldenburg]], the [[County of Schaumburg]] and the [[Counts of Spiegelberg|County of Spiegelberg]]. At the same time a distinction was made with the eastern part of the old Saxon lands from the [[central German]] principalities later called [[Upper Saxony]] for dynastic reasons.<ref>See also: [[Electorate of Saxony]] and [[History of Saxony]]</ref>

The close historical links between the domains of the Lower Saxon Circle now in modern Lower Saxony survived for centuries especially from a dynastic point of view. The majority of historic territories whose land now lies within Lower Saxony were sub-principalities of the medieval, Welf estates of the [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg]]. All the Welf princes called themselves dukes "of Brunswick and Lüneburg" despite often ruling parts of a duchy that was forever being divided and reunited as various Welf lines multiplied or died out.