Osnaburg

The Duke of York was Bishop of Osnaburg. Not prelate, but sovereign-bishop. By the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, it was decreed that the ancient bishopric should be vested alternately in a Catholic bishop and a Protestant prince of the House of Luneburg. Frederick, Duke of York, was the last sovereign-bishop of Osnaburg. In 1803 the district was attached to Hanover, and it now forms part of the kingdom of Prussia.

Osnaburg. A kind of coarse linen made of flax and tow, originally imported from Osnaburg.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.