Hessian Germany

The House of Hesse arose out of the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession in the 13th century. The Landgraviate of Hesse was founded in 1247 and was twice partitioned between the Upper (Southern) Landgraviate and Lower (Northern) Landgraviate before reuniting. During the 15th century, it acquired the Counties of Ziegenhain and Katzenelnbogen. In 1567, it was partitioned again—this time, permanently. I begin the database at that point.

 

The partition was among four sons of the Landgrave. Roughly, the Kassel entity consisted of the former Lower Landgraviate and Ziegenhain, the Marburg entity consisted of the former Upper Landgraviate, the Rheinfels entity consisted of the Lower County of Katzenelnbogen and some scattered lordships, and the Darmstadt entity consisted of the Upper County of Katzenelnbogen. The Rheinfels line was the first to die out in 1583 and its territory was split between Darmstadt (Katzenelnbogen) and Marburg (the scattered lordships). In that same year, Hesse-Kassel began absorbing territory of the Lordship of Schmalkalden (in Thuringia), completing the takeover in 1660. Also around that time, Hesse-Kassel acquired several exclaves previously belonging to the Counties of Hoya and Diepholz. The Marburg line died out in 1604 and its territory became the subject of a long-running dispute. In 1623, an initial decision was made to award it to Darmstadt, but in 1648, parts of it were awarded to Kassel. Also in 1648, Kassel was awarded the former Abbacy of Hersfeld and a portion of the former county of Schaumburg. Finally, in 1736, Kassel acquired the former County of Hanau-Münzenberg (near Frankfurt) and Darmstadt acquired the former county of Hanau-Lichtenberg (straddling the French border).

 

Both Kassel and Darmstadt generated a number of nonsovereign or semisovereign spinoff countries. In Darmstadt, the most prominent spinoff was Homburg. It survived until the end of the Holy Roman Empire, was abolished for 9 years during the Napoleonic Wars, then was revived with full independence in 1815. All other Darmstadt spinoffs were very short-lived. Kassel created the “Rotenburger Quart” in 1627 as a reserve for the ruling Landgrave’s sons. Rotenburg itself was the first spin-off, followed by Eschwege in 1632 and Rheinfels in 1649. In 1676, Rotenburg itself spun off Wanfried. Rheinfels ended up in personal union with both Rotenburg and Wanfried at different times. After 1755, the entire Quart was united under the Rotenburg name, and it remained so until the end of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

In the following list of countries in Hessian Germany, countries and dates outside the chronological scope of the database are shown in italics.

 

Core Hessian countries
  • Landgraviate of Hesse (1247-1308; 1311-1458; 1500-1567)
    • Upper Landgraviate of Hesse (1308-1311;1458-1500)
    • Lower Landgraviate of Hesse (1308-1311;1458-1500)
    • Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels (1567-1583)
    • Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg (1567-1604)
    • Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (1567-1806;1815-1866)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt-Butzbach (1609-1643)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt-Braubach (1643-1651)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt-Itter (1661-1676)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt-Homburg (1662-1806; 1815-1866)
        • Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt-Homburg-Bingenheim (1669-1681)
    • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (1567-1730; Swedish; 1751-1806)
      • Oberhessen to Hesse-Darmstadt (1623-1648) 
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg (1627-1806)
        • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel-Rheinfels (1658-1683; 1693-1711)
        • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg-Wanfried (1676-1755)
          • in personal union with Hesse-Kassels-Rheinfels (1711-1755)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Eschwege (1632-1655)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Rheinfels (1649-1755)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Philippsthal (1685-1806)
        • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1721-1806)
      • Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel-Hanau (1760-1785)
  • Grand Duchy of Hesse [Darmstadt] (1815-1866)
  • Electorate of Hesse [Kassel] (1815-1866)
  • Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg (1815-1866)

 

Peripheral Hessian countries added after 1400
  • County of Ziegenhain (1437-1567)
    • in personal union with Hesse (1450-1458; 1500-1567)
    • in personal union with Upper Hesse (1458-1500)
  • County of Katzenelnbogen (1479-1567)
    • in personal union with Upper Hesse (1479-1500)
    • in personal union with Hesse (1500-1567)
  • Lower County of Katzenelnbogen (1567-1755)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Rheinfels (1567-1583)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Darmstadt (1583-1648)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1648-1649)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel-Rheinfels (1649-1755)
    • Landesteil of Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg (1755-1794/1806)
  • Lordship of Plesse (1571-1755)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Rheinfels (1571-1583)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Marburg (1583-1604)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1604-1623)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Darmstadt (1623-1648)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1648-1649)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel-Rheinfels (1649-1693)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel-Wanfried (1693-1755)
    • Landesteil of Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg (1755-1806)
  • Lordship of Itter (1589-1650)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Marburg (1589-1604)
    • disputed between Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel (1604-1648)
    • condominium between Darmstadt and Kassel (1648-1650)
    • part of Hesse-Darmstadt (1650-1806)
  • Lordship of Schmalkalden (1583-1803)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1583-1803)
    • administered by Hesse-Darmstadt (1624-1648)
  • County of Schaumburg (in personal union with Hesse-Kassel) (1647-1806)
  • Principality of Hersefeld (1648-1755)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1648-1649)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel-Rheinfels (1649-1755)
    • Landesteil of Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg (1755-1806)
  • County/Principality of Hanau-Münzenberg
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1736-1760)
    • self-governing as Hesse-Kassel-Hanau (1760-1785)
    • in personal union with Hesse-Kassel (1785-1806)
  • County of Hanau-Lichtenberg (in personal union with Hesse-Darmstadt) (1736-1803)

 

Condominia with Hessian participation
  • Lordship of Itter (condominium with Mainz/Waldeck) see Jointly-Ruled Germany (1356-1567-1589)
  • Umstadt
  • Vier Herren auf der Einrich
  • Kleeberg
  • Ems