Bad Pyrmont

Bad Pyrmont is a town in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany, with a population close to 19,000. It is located on the River Emmer, about 10 km west of the Weser. Bad Pyrmont is a popular spa resort that gained its reputation as a fashionable place for princely vacations in the 17th and 18th centuries. The town is also the center of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Germany.HistoryFormerly called Pyrmont, it was the seat of a small county during much of the Middle Ages. The county gained its independence from the County of Schwalenberg in 1194. Independence was maintained until the extinction of the comital line in 1494, when the county was inherited by the County of Spiegelberg. In 1557, the county was inherited by Lippe, then by the County of Gleichen in 1583.In 1625, the county became part of the much larger County of Waldeck through inheritance. In 1668, the Reichskammergericht ruled against the Bishopric of Paderborn's claims that Pyrmont had been collateral in a loan, confirming the Count of Waldeck's rights over Pyrmont, who ceded the Amt of Lügde — previously the county's capital — to the bishopric in compensation. In January 1712, the Count of Waldeck and Pyrmont was elevated to hereditary prince by Emperor Charles VI, the count having combined the two titles the previous year.