Hessen-Eschwege

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The Landgraviate of Hessen-Eschwege was a Mediat Principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1632 to 1655 , ruled by a branch of the Hessen-Rotenburg branch of the House of Hessen , but under the sovereignty of the Landgraves of Hessen-Kassel .

history

1627–1632 prehistory

The starting point of this small rule was a decree by Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel , which he imposed on his eldest son and successor Wilhelm V shortly before his abdication . At the instigation of his second wife Juliane von Nassau-Dillenburg , Moritz decided that a quarter of his land, the so-called " Rotenburger Quart ", should be left to his sons from this second marriage. From these sons Hermann received the Rotenburg area, Friedrich Eschwege and Ernst the former sub-county Katzenelnbogen with seat at Rheinfels Castle .

1632–1655 Landgraviate of Hessen-Eschwege

Landgrave Friedrich von Hessen-Eschwege as a falconer. before 1655; Portrait in the Grunewald hunting lodge

Friedrich took over his inheritance in 1632 at the age of 15. During the Thirty Years War, Eschwege castle and town were destroyed and plundered at Easter 1637. It can be assumed that the then 20-year-old Friedrich only moved into his residence in Eschwege after his marriage in Stockholm in 1646. As a result, the residence was probably only occupied for a few years. Friedrich played a key role in the reconstruction of the city of Eschwege.

Friedrich fell in 1655, and with him the Hessen-Rotenburg branch line Hessen-Eschwege died out in the male line. His part of the landgraviate fell to his brother Ernst von Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg .

The Landgraviate of Hessen-Rotenburg also fell to Hessen-Rheinfels in 1658 after the death of the third brother, the childless Landgrave Hermann .

1655–1755 subsequent period

The residential palace in Eschwege , initially assigned as a widow's seat, was pledged in 1667 as a dowry for Friedrich's eldest daughter Christine to the family of her husband Ferdinand Albrecht I von Braunschweig-Bevern . Until 1667 the area of ​​the former Landgraviate of Eschwege was part of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Rotenburg. From 1667 this part of Eschweg was taken over by Karl von Hessen-Wanfried , a son of Landgrave Ernst von Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg and nephew of Friedrich von Hessen-Eschwege. Because he took his residence in Wanfried (the Eschwege residence was still pledged to Braunschweig-Bevern), he established a new branch line Hessen-Wanfried . Only his son Christian von Hessen-Wanfried , who had lived in Eschwege Palace since 1711 and followed his half-brother Wilhelm as Landgrave of Hessen-Wanfried in 1731 , gradually moved the residence back to Eschwege. The Landgraviates of Hessen-Wanfried and Hessen-Eschwege were geographically identical, but were predominantly governed by the residence in Wanfried. Hessen-Wanfried- (Eschwege) fell back to Hessen-Rotenburg after the death of the childless Christian , and the Hessen-Rotenburg branch line Hessen-Wanfried died out with him.

Landgrave of Hessen-Eschwege

See also

literature

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