Henry III. (Hesse)

Henry III. "The rich" of Hesse (* October 15, 1440 , † January 13, 1483 in Marburg ) was from 1458 Landgrave of Upper Hesse in Marburg.

Life

Heinrich was the second son of Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse and his wife Anna of Saxony . Ludwig I had stipulated in his will that Heinrich and his brother Ludwig (1438–1471) were to share the landgraviate equally, but did not specify this provision until his death. Ludwig II first decided in favor of Lower Hesse and left Heinrich Marburg and the land on the Lahn, where he was named Heinrich III. ruled. He received his nickname “the rich” because of his marriage to Anna von Katzenelnbogen and the associated territorial gains, which were also accompanied by considerable financial gain, including the lucrative income from Rheinzöllen .

The dispute over the exact division of the landgraviate between the two brothers dragged on for more than ten years. Several division reports and arbitration awards had no effect. After the first assaults, the conflict finally escalated into an open feud in 1468/69 , the so-called Hessian Fratricidal War . A peace brokered by the third brother, Hermann , who later became Archbishop of Cologne , initiated renewed negotiations for partition. The result was another agreement in a Landtag of the Hessian estates in Spieskappel , on the traditional border between Lower and Upper Hesse, in 1470. Again, some points remained unresolved. No further discussion was necessary, however, since Ludwig II died in 1471. Henry III. took over the guardianship of the two sons of Ludwig II and ruled over Lower and Upper Hesse until his death in 1483.

The Marburg line became extinct with Heinrich's son, Wilhelm III. , in 1500, and their possessions fell by inheritance to the Kassel line.

family

Heinrich had four sons with his wife Anna von Katzenelnbogen, whom he married in 1458:

• Friedrich (died as a child)
• Ludwig (III.) (November 1461 - July 2, 1478)
• William III. (* September 8, 1471, † February 17, 1500), successor to his father in Upper Hesse
• Heinrich (* July 1474, died young)

and two daughters:

• Elisabeth (1466–1523), ⚭ 1482 Count Johann V of Nassau-Dillenburg (1455–1516)
• Mechthild (1473–1505), ⚭ 1489 Duke Johann II of Cleve (1458–1521).

With Christine (Steyna), the wife of the painter Johannes Dietz († 1480) in Marburg, Heinrich had a "uneliche tuchter" Contzel (* before 1471; † before 1508), ⚭ before 1489 with Ludwig Orth (around 1460–1523), who was an ancestor of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

literature

• Walter Heinemeyer :  Heinrich III. the rich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 358 ( digitized version ).
• Arthur Wyß :  Heinrich III. (Landgrave of Hesse) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 522 f.
• Karl Ernst Demandt : Culture and life at the court of the Katzenelnbogen counts. In: Nassau Annals. 61, 1950, pp. 149-180.

Web links

• Hessen, Heinrich III. Landgrave of. Hessian biography. (As of January 13, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to Carl Knetsch: Ahnentafel Johann Wolfgang Goethes (PDF; 144 kB) , Leipzig 1932 (revised version), Goethe-Ahnen No. 2015, 4030 and 4031 (online resource, accessed on February 2, 2013).

predecessor	Office	successor
Ludwig I.	Landgrave of Upper Hesse 1458–1483	William III.