Christian (Hessen-Wanfried-Rheinfels)

Christian von Hessen-Wanfried (born July 17, 1689 in Wanfried ; † October 21, 1755 in Eschwege ) was a son of Landgrave Karl von Hessen-Wanfried (1649–1711) and his second wife Alexandrine Juliane von Leiningen -Dagsburg († 1703 ). From 1731 until his death he was Landgrave of Hessen-Wanfried and of Hessen-Rheinfels .

Early life

As the younger son from a second marriage in a Catholic branch of the House of Hesse , Christian was originally intended to be canon in Strasbourg . However, he returned in 1710 at the age of 21 and joined the military. He served in the army of Hessen-Kassel , most recently as a brigadier .

Inheritance dispute

After the death of his father in 1711 he took over the Landgraviate of Hessen-Wanfried. However, his older half-brother Wilhelm appeared in Wanfried that same year to assert his own claim to the inheritance. The dispute had to be settled by the emperor. Christian renounced the Landgraviate, but received the residential palace in Eschwege after it had been triggered by paying a debt to the Duke of Braunschweig-Bevern in 1713, as well as an annual allowance of 7,500 guilders. Christian renovated and expanded the neglected castle and built a Catholic chapel. Since he took over the residential palace in Eschwege, he called himself Christian von Hessen-Eschwege, and he retained this title when he inherited the Landgraviate of Hessen-Wanfried and Hessen-Rheinfels in 1731.

family

He was engaged to Maria Auguste , daughter of Prince Anselm Franz von Thurn und Taxis , but Emperor Karl VI. arranged for the engagement to be canceled so that, for political reasons, the bride could be married to the imperial field marshal and governor of the Kingdom of Serbia , Duke Karl Alexander von Württemberg , in May 1727 . Christian mourned his great love for a long time. At the age of 42, he married Maria Franziska von Hohenlohe-Bartenstein , stepdaughter of his sister Sophie Leopoldine. The marriage remained childless.

Landgrave

After the death of his half-brother Wilhelm, who died childless in 1731, Cristian succeeded him as Landgrave and in 1732 first moved into the Wanfried residence. With his cousin Landgrave Ernst Leopold in Rotenburg, he regulated in a contract in 1732 that his share of the Rotenburger Quart was administered from Rotenburg in a general chancellery. In the course of time he gradually moved his residence back to Eschwege, where he also had the royal stables built in 1735 . In 1735 he finally ceded the occupation rights of Rheinfels Castle to Hessen-Kassel .

Christian is described as "acceptable through his stature and intellectual education" and was very popular in Eschwege, where he mostly lived, as well as in Wanfried. Although he mostly lived in Eschwege in the later years of his life, he visited Wanfried frequently and supported the craftsmen there, as well as those in Eschwege, with commissioned work for himself and his court.

death

Christian died of a stroke on the stairs of the church in Eschwege on October 21, 1755. His body was buried in the family crypt on the Hülfensberg . With his death the branch line Hessen-Wanfried ended after 88 years. His widow moved to Frankfurt, where she died on December 11, 1757. According to the house contract, the Hessen-Wanfried region fell back to the Hessen-Rotenburg line.

Title

In the sources Christian von Hessen-Wanfried is dubbed Landgrave von Hessen-Eschwege after 1711.

literature

• Reinhold Strauss: Chronicle of the city of Wanfried . Braun, Wanfried 1908.
• Chronicle of Wanfried 2006 (unpublished).
• Eckhart G. Franz : The House of Hesse. A European family. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018919-0 ( Kohlhammer-Urban-Taschenbücher 606).

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilhelm II.	Landgrave of Hessen-Wanfried-Rheinfels 1731–1755	Landgrave of Hessen-Rotenburg Constantine