Georg Christian (Hessen-Homburg)

Georg Christian of Hessen-Homburg

Georg Christian (born December 10, 1626 in Homburg before the height ; † August 1, 1677 in Frankfurt am Main ) was the third Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg .

origin

Family tree Landgrave Georg Christian von Hessen-Homburg
Great grandparents	Philip I of Hesse ("the magnanimous") (* 1504; † 1567) ∞ Christina of Saxony (* 1505; † 1549)	Bernhard VIII. Zur Lippe (* 1527; † 1563) ∞ Countess Katharina von Waldeck – Eisenberg (* 1524; † 1583)	Count Georg I of Leiningen-Schaumburg (* 1533; † 1586) ∞ Countess Margareta of Isenburg-Birstein (* 1542; † 1612)	Baron Ungnad von Weißenwolff ∞ ?
Grandparents	Georg I of Hessen-Darmstadt (* 1547; † 1596) ∞ Magdalena zur Lippe (* 1552; † 1587)		Count Christoph von Leiningen-Westerburg (* 1575; † 1635) ∞ Anna Maria Ungnad, Freiin von Weißenwolff (* 1573; † 1606)
parents	Friedrich I of Hessen-Homburg (* 1585; † 1638) ∞ Margarete Elisabeth von Leiningen-Westerburg (* 1604; † 1667)
Georg Christian of Hessen-Homburg

Georg Christian was born as the fifth child of Landgrave Friedrich I of Hessen-Homburg and Countess Margarete Elisabeth of Leiningen-Westerburg . The family was of the Lutheran denomination . Since the father died in 1638, the children grew up under the tutelage of their mother. In 1642 she sent Georg Christian to the Sorø Akademi in Denmark , a knight academy . But since this turned out to be too expensive, he went to the University of Giessen from 1643 .

Military-political career

It was typical of Georg Christian that his demands on life were always greater than his possibilities. His life is therefore characterized by economically precarious situations and projects that have been started, not completed or have failed.

Spain

Due to the relationship between Landgrave Georg II Hesse-Darmstadt and the Spanish court, Georg Christian entered the Spanish Netherlands as a captain in 1648 as a captain . In 1651 he converted to the Roman Catholic Church; there are only guesses as to his motives. In 1652 he went to Madrid to audition with King Philip IV and to promote his career in Spanish service. However, he got involved in protocol disputes with the court bureaucracy over the form of his appearance before the king. Ultimately, in 1653 he was granted a patent as a "Capitan general" ( Field Marshal General ), but was at the same time deported back to the Spanish Netherlands. Here, however, even the patent did not give him the desired, prominent position, so that he quit his job in the same year.

France

He switched to French services. Cardinal Jules Mazarin put him on a diplomatic mission in Germany to strengthen French interests against the Habsburgs . In particular, he was the contact person for Count Palatine Philipp Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg , one of the possible opponents acceptable to France, in the upcoming emperor election . He was also involved in the negotiations on the “ first Rhine Confederation ”. When the election of Emperor ended in 1658 in favor of Leopold I , the services of Georg Christian of France were no longer needed. In the meantime, after having been appointed lieutenant general by the French , in 1656 he tried to recruit a regiment of infantry and cavalry each for France. Here, too, he overran himself: His economic resources were nowhere near enough to finance and organize such a company.

Saxony

Georg Christian then stayed in Saxony from 1660, how long he stayed there is not clear from the sources. There he was accepted into the Fruit Bringing Society by Duke Wilhelm IV of Saxe-Weimar at court in Weimar . Duke Wilhelm gave him the company name of the brave and as a motto in the open field . The Massilian star herb was assigned to him as an emblem. Georg Christian's entry can be found in the Koethen Society Register under number 755.

In September 1665 he served in the Netherlands as Commander in Chief of the Army Christoph Bernhard von Galens , who was allied with the English king. The military conflict over rule in Borkeloh ( Dutch : Borculo , outdated Heerlijkheid Borkelo ) ended with the intervention of France and Brandenburg to the disadvantage of Galen.

Landgraviate of Homburg

marriage

On October 11, 1666, Georg Christian married the wealthy merchant widow Anna Catharina von Pogwisch , widowed von Ahlefeldt (1633–1694), in Hamburg . The status of the marriage was doubtful, as Anna Catharina von Ahlefeldt was only of low nobility. However, she probably brought a considerable dowry into the marriage, from which the funds for the Landgrave's next step probably came: the purchase of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg. The life of the spouses together can only have lasted briefly: just two years after the marriage, the landgrave found himself in Homburg, his wife stayed in Hamburg. You probably didn't see each other after that. He does not mention them in his will . At the Landgrave's funeral she was neither present nor represented by a representative.

Sovereign

In 1669, Landgrave Georg Christian bought the Landgraviate of Homburg, consisting of the city and the office of Homburg , from his brother Wilhelm Christoph . He tried his hand at being a sovereign, was able to obtain the coin shelf for the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg from the Kaiser and began with individual reforms for the Landgraviate, which had bled to death in the Thirty Years War . But already in 1671 he had to sell them to his two main creditors , the Electorate Mainz councilor Johann Christian von Boyneburg and the Frankfurt banker Johann Ochs . Landgrave Ludwig VI. von Hessen-Darmstadt redeemed this pledge - from 1673 to 1679 Hessen-Homburg remained with Darmstadt.

Hanauer "great year"

In 1669 he was one of the main participants in the “Hanau Great Year” , a dispute between Count Friedrich Casimir , who ruled there - also a member of the Fruitful Society - and his agnates . The background was the catastrophic over-indebtedness and budget situation of the County of Hanau and the economically oversized projects of the Count. The project to set up and operate a colony on the Orinoco , on the north coast of South America , with Hanauisch India was outstanding . To compensate for the financial disaster, Count Friedrich Casimir considered pledging the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg to the Duke of Lorraine and converting to the Roman Catholic faith in order to secure appropriate support. The financial emergency measures also included the fact that Count Friedrich Casimir sold the Rodheim office to Landgrave Georg Christian for 9,000 thalers. He tried to get hold of the Dorheim office and the (Bad) Nauheim saltworks, which is located in it and which is economically very important for the County of Hanau . In order to eliminate the agnates of Count Friedrich Casimir opposing the sell-off of the County of Hanau, Georg Christian tried to get the reign of the county into his hands. In this situation, the relatives pulled the emergency brake: after much back and forth, the guardians of the nephews and later successors of Friedrich Casimir, Duke Christian II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld , obtained from Emperor Leopold I . that they were appointed as co-regents in the county of Hanau and so they had a veto right against decisions of the count. This was supported by the military from the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel , which also had considerable interests there due to an inheritance contract with the House of Hanau. The count's advisors, including Landgrave Georg Christian, were dismissed and had to flee.

Frankfurt am Main

From 1671 the Landgrave lived in Frankfurt am Main on the second floor of a building known as the Stiftshaus on the corner of Grosse Eschenheimer Gasse in a four-room apartment, constantly persecuted by creditors .

Death and burial

Epitaph of Landgrave Georg Christian in Mainz Cathedral

He died on August 1, 1677 in this apartment. At his will, he was buried in the Mainz Cathedral . This makes him one of the few members of the Hessen-Homburg family who is not buried in the crypt under the Homburg Castle Church. He received a baroque tomb, created by Arnold Harnisch , which, after restoration work in the cathedral in the 1870s, is now in the area of ​​the southern entrance of the crypt . At that time, the burial was also examined and moved within the cathedral. The inheritance was over-indebted, so that his heirs had considerable problems fulfilling the legacies promised .

literature

• H. Buchenau: A portrait medal of the Landgrave Georg Christian von Hessen-Homburg . In: Quarterly sheets of the historical association for the Grand Duchy of Hesse. 4th issue 1898.
• BD: Georg Christian Landgrave of Hessen-Homburg . In: Eckhart G. Franz : House of Hesse. Biographical Lexicon = work of the Historical Commission NF 34. Darmstadt 2012, p. 396f.
• Reinhard Dietrich : The state constitution in Hanau. In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 34, Hanau 1996, ISBN 3-9801933-6-5 .
• Reinhard Dietrich: ... because of large government led, but poor payment of debts ... On the financial situation of the County of Hanau in the 17th century. In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter. 31, Hanau 1993, pp. 123-148.
• Ferdinand Hahnzog : The Hanauer "great year" 1669. In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter. 20, 1965, pp. 147-153.
• Margarete Hintereicher: Georg Christian von Hessen-Homburg (1626-1677). Officer, diplomat and regent in the decades after the Thirty Years War . Hess. Histor. Commission, Darmstadt 1985, ISBN 3-88443-146-3 .
• Friedrich Schneider: The grave finds in the east choir of the cathedral at Mainz . In: Archives for Hessian history and antiquity 13/3 (1874).
• Friedrich Schneider: From a princely estate of the 17th century . In: Communications to the members of the Association for History and Antiquity in Frankfurt am Main. Vol. 5 (1874-79), pp. 567-591.

Web links

• Hessen-Homburg, Georg Christian Landgrave of. Hessian biography. (As of January 21, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 27.
2. ↑ Hintereicher, p. 230ff.
3. ↑ Hintereicher, p. 337: reproduction of the captain's patent v. December 21, 1648.
4. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 37.
5. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 46.
6. ↑ Hintereicher, p. 49.
7. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 59.
8. ↑ Hintereicher, p. 339: reproduction of the patent general v. July 3, 1653.
9. ↑ Hintereicher, p. 59ff.
10. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 60.
11. ↑ Hintreicher, pp. 107, 147.
12. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 149.
13. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 164.
14. ↑ Hintereicher, p. 337: Reproduction of the will of August 6, 1677.
15. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 222.
16. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 165.
17. ↑ Dietrich: ... because of large states that were led ; Hahnzog: The Hanau “great year” 1669 ; Hintreicher, p. 187ff.
18. ↑ Hintereicher, pp. 208, 216ff.
19. ^ Schneider: The grave finds .
20. ↑ Hintreicher, p. 225.

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilhelm Christoph	Landgrave of Hessen-Homburg 1669–1671	Friedrich II.