Philip II (Hanau-Lichtenberg)

Philip II of Hanau-Lichtenberg (born May 31, 1462 in Hanau , † August 22, 1504 in Babenhausen ) ruled the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg since 1480.

childhood

Philip II was born on May 31, 1462 between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. as the second son of Count Philip I, the elder , von Hanau-Babenhausen and his wife Anna von Lichtenberg . He was baptized three days after his birth in the Marienkirche in Hanau . Godparents were Konrad Brelle , abbot of the Selbold monastery , Wenzel von Cleve and Meze von Gemmingen, widow of Eberhard Waißen.

His older brother, Johann, died as a child, so that Philipp succeeded him.

Pedigree of Count Philip II of Hanau-Lichtenberg
Great grandparents	Ulrich IV. Von Hanau (* approx. 1330; † 1380) ∞ Elisabeth von Wertheim (* 1347; † 1378)	Heinrich II. Von Nassau-Beilstein (*?; † 1412) ∞ Katharina von Randerode (*?; † 1415)	Ludwig IV of Lichtenberg (* 1387; † 1434) ∞ Anna von Baden (* 1399; † 1421)	Albrecht I von Haus Hohenlohe (* 1370; † 1429) ∞ Elisabeth (* 1395; † 1475)
Grandparents	Reinhard II. Von Hanau (* 1369; † 1451) ∞ Katharina von Nassau-Beilstein (*?; † 1459)		Ludwig V von Lichtenberg (* 1433; † 1471) ∞ Elisabeth von Hohenlohe († 1488)
parents	Philipp I von Hanau-Lichtenberg (* 1417; † 1480) ∞ Anna von Lichtenberg (* 1442; † 1474)
Philip II of Hanau-Lichtenberg

For the family cf. Main article: Hanau (noble family)

family

He married Anna von Isenburg († 1522) on September 9, 1480 , for which a papal dispensation was required because they were related in the fourth degree. From this marriage emerged:

1. Philip III (October 18, 1482 - May 15, 1538).
2. Anna (* 1485; † October 11, 1559), nun in the Marienborn monastery .
3. Margaretha (* 1486; † August 6, 1560 in Babenhausen), nun in the Marienborn monastery, interned in Babenhausen Castle until the end of her life because of a "misstep". She was buried in the town church of St. Nikolaus in Babenhausen.
4. Ludwig (born October 5, 1487 in Buchsweiler ; † December 3, 1553 in Willstätt ), spiritual.
5. Maria (* approx. 1487; † probably 1526), abbess of Klarenthal Monastery 1512 - 1525.
6. Amalie (born June 7, 1490 in Buchsweiler; † March 11, 1552 in Pfaffenhoffen ), spiritual, buried in St. Adelphi in Neuweiler .
7. Reinhard (born February 19, 1494 in Klingenberg , † October 12, 1537 in Strasbourg), canon in Strasbourg , buried in Neuweiler.

government

After his father's death, his younger brother Ludwig also raised claims to the rule. The primogeniture was anchored in the Hanau family statutes since the 14th century, but the general law of inheritance spoke in favor of a division of the country. With the mediation of Count Philipp I von Hanau-Münzenberg , an agreement was reached within a short time and Ludwig waived his claim. Shortly afterwards he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and died in 1484 on the way back.

Philip II initially ruled closely following the Electoral Palatinate , which was the feudal lord of parts of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg. Philip II supported Elector Philip of the Palatinate in the siege of Hohengeroldseck Castle .

Cooperation, but also a dispute, existed with the house of Zweibrücken-Bitsch , who were related by marriage , since a considerable part of the Lichtenberg rule was initially governed jointly. Not until 1487 did a dispute between the two about the Lichtenberg legacy arise. Together Count Philipp II. And Count Simon IV. Wecker von Zweibrücken-Bitsch took action against the mistress of their deceased father-in-law, Jakob von Lichtenberg , Bärbel von Ottenheim : After the death of Jakob von Lichtenberg in 1480, she was accused of witchcraft in the city of Hagenau imprisoned. The two appealed to the city council for a death sentence . Presumably it was about getting the property of the Bärbel von Ottenheim. Another possibility is that in the tense situation in the run-up to the peasant wars, a “peasant sacrifice” should be made to the subjects, since the mistress had extensive influence on the government and is said to have been hated by the people. Before there was a verdict, Bärbel died in prison - the cause remained unclear.

With Kurmainz there was a lengthy dispute regarding the Mainz fiefdom, which was finally settled in that Philip II ceded the city of Klingenberg to Mainz, but received half of Brumath as a fiefdom.

Philip took part in various diets, the main point of which was the danger of a Turkish invasion of Central Europe.

In the Landshut War of Succession 1503–1505 between the Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria, Philip remained neutral, but not his son and designated successor Philip III. von Hanau-Lichtenberg, who was involved on the part of the Electoral Palatinate. Landgrave Wilhelm II of Hesse was commissioned by the German King Maximilian I with the enforcement of the imperial ban against the Electoral Palatinate, classified as a civil breaker , and its allies. The rural area of ​​the Babenhausen office was already devastated before Philip II succeeded, with the help of Maximilian I and the fact that Babenhausen, as a Bohemian fief, belonged indirectly to the Habsburgs, to stem the campaign against their own possessions. Maximilian did not give him credit for the fact that his son was fighting on the “wrong” side. Philip's residence city of Babenhausen was at least spared. In 1503, Maximilian I gave her the privilege of holding a fair - the Nikolausmarkt.

Trip to Jerusalem

In 1491 Philip II made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. At Pentecost he stayed in Venice . In Jerusalem Philip was made Knight of the Holy Sepulcher. He was back at the beginning of winter.

Dietrich von Schachten's travelogue about his pilgrimage to Jerusalem mentions Count Philip II of Hanau-Lichtenberg several times.

death

Grave slab of Philip II of Hanau-Lichtenberg in the town church of Babenhausen (Hesse)

Due to his own bad experiences with his brother Ludwig, he had his sons sign a certificate stating that the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg should remain undivided after his death - a measure that was not really effective, as it turned out.

Count Philip II died on August 22, 1504 between four and five o'clock in Babenhausen, where he was buried in the town church of St. Nicholas . The tombstone is preserved on the right in the choir next to the main altar.

literature

• M. Goltzené: From the history of the office Buchsweiler. In: Pay d'Alsace. Issue 111/112, p. 64 f.
• Hatstein (handwritten chronicle in the archive of the Hanau History Association )
• E. Haug: Groß-Arnsburg near Baerental. In: Wasgaublick. Vol. 19, No. 10, 1991, pp. 364-419.
• Bernhard Herzog: Chronicon Alsatiae. Elsasser Chronick and a detailed description of the lower Alsace on the river Rhine ... Strasbourg 1592.
• JG Lehmann: Documented history of the county Hanau-Lichtenberg in the lower Alsace. 2 volumes, o. O. 1862 (?), ND Pirmasens 1970.
• Eckhard Meise : Bernhard Hundeshagen - no monument protection in Hanau in the early 19th century. In: New magazine for Hanau history. 2006, pp. 3-62.
• Wilhelm Morhardt: Hanau old's - in honor of b'halt's - The Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in history and stories (= Babenhausen then and now. 10). Babenhausen 1984.
• Reinhold Röhricht , Heinrich Meisner: German pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Berlin 1880.
• Sebastian Scholz: The inscriptions of the city of Darmstadt and the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Groß-Gerau (= The German inscriptions. Volume 49, = Mainzer series Volume 6). Edited by of the Academy of Sciences in Mainz. Wiesbaden 1999.
• Reinhard Suchier : Genealogy of the Hanauer count house. In: Festschrift of the Hanau History Association for its 50th anniversary celebration on August 27, 1894. Hanau 1894.
• Georg Wittenberger: Stadtlexikon Babenhausen. Babenhausen 1995.
• Ernst Julius Zimmermann : Hanau city and country. 3rd edition, Hanau 1919, ND 1978.

References

1. ↑ Often referred to in advance by Hanau-Lichtenberg.
2. ^ Only Wittenberger, p. 92, explicitly speaks of pregnancy.
3. ↑ Morhardt, p. 34.
4. ↑ Estimate based on the age of entry into the monastery and the number of siblings.
5. ↑ [Amelia von Ebnerstein] was “buried in Gernspach; Geschach anno domini 1546. She was laid to the grave in a black skirt, which had to be jerked off and a green wreath on top. At that time it is old frolin [Amalie] von Hanow, was the sister of old Count Philipsen and settled in Newweiler, lived in the Wildtpadt, didn't know anything about this. That same night this frewlis Amalei gaist is in all forms and shape, the way they were buried, came to the frewlin from Hanow in the Wildpadt, at irem bet, while she was still awake, appeared with a cheerful face and quietly, without ainich gebolder separated as if it were undulating. ”Complete text: Zimmerische Chronik . (Volume 3, p. 440 f. Wikisource ).
6. ↑ Printed in Röhricht / Meisner, p. 162 ff

predecessor	Office	successor
Philip I, the elder	Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg 1480–1504	Philip III