Principality of Ratzeburg

The Principality of Ratzeburg was a former state, existing from 1648 to 1918. It belonged to the imperally immediate territory of Duchy of Mecklenburg and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Mecklenburg was split up in the third partition of Mecklenburg in the 1701 Treaty of Hamburg, which created the semi-ducal states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, with the latter made up of the Principality of Ratzeburg and the Lordship of Stargard. Most of the Principality is now within the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.