Bernard VII

Bernard VII was born on December 4, 1428 and was the eldest son of the lord (landgrave) Lippe Simon IV. This small state was part of the Holy Roman Empire . When he was a little more than one year old, his father died and he was proclaimed August 11 as the head of Lippe. Until 1433, his uncle Otto was the regent . After his death, cousin Grandfather Didrich von Moers, who was then the apostolic administrator of the Paderborn principality-bishopric, took over the regency and education by Bernard.

In 1446, Bernard VII began to independently lead his state. During his reign, he proved himself a strong-willed and purposeful ruler, so he received the nickname "Warlike". At the initial stage of his reign in the Holy Roman Empire from 1444, a civil war broke out, which lasted until 1449 .

From this war, the state of Bernard VII came out completely ruined. The city of Blomberg was completely destroyed.

Bernard also participated in the Hessian civil war, which took place from 1464 to 1471 .

He died on April 2, 1511 at the 83rd year of his life. He ruled his state (officially) for 81 years and 234 days.

• Bernard VII is the longest-lasting monarch in Europe, of those who know exactly the years of life and the years of rule ^[1] . Officially, Lippe was an independent state and was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
• Among the descendants of Bernard VII, the former Queen of the Netherlands Beatrix , her father also bore the name Bernard .

• Philippine Charlotte Auguste Piderit: Die lippischen Edelherrn im Mittelalter. Detmold 1876, p. 100ff. (Online: LLB Detmold ).
• Rudolf Falkmann: Bernhard VII .. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 424-426.
• Lippe, (Bernhard der VI. Graf von der). In: Zedlers Universal-Lexicon. Band 17, Leipzig 1738, Spalte 1538.
• Anne Bentkamp: Der Graf. Bernhard von Blomberg. Lippes letzter Ritter. Historischer Roman. Lage 2012, p. 232, ISBN 978-3-89918-033-6 .