The mini-state Hesse-Wanfried existed from about 1700 to 1731. It was a principality (

Landgraviate Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

) of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

in the area of the today's Land of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. Governed by a cadet line of the House of Hesse under the sovereignty of the land of

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate (), was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon t ...

History

Maurice the Learned (1572–1632) was Landgrave of

from 1592 until 1627 when he abdicated in favour of his son

William V William V may refer to: * William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969–1030) * William V of Montpellier (1075–1121) * William V, Marquess of Montferrat (1191) * William V, Count of Nevers (before 11751181) * William V, Duke of Jülich (1299–1361) * Will ...

(1602–1637), his younger sons receiving apanages which created several cadet lines of the house (

Hesse-Rotenburg Hesse-Rotenburg (sometimes referred to as Hesse-Rheinfels) is a former German landgraviate created from the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel in 1627. Its independence ended in 1834 when the estates not bequeathed to princes Victor and Chlodwig of Hoh ...

, Hesse-Eschwege and

Hesse-Rheinfels Hesse-Rheinfels was created as a cadet line of Landgraviate of Hesse, Hesse for Philip II, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels (1541–1583), landgrave from 1567 until 1583, and as a cadet line of Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Kassel for Ernest, Lan ...

), of which, with amalgamation, that of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg survived till 1834. In 1627 Ernest (1623–1693), a younger son of

Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Maurice of Hesse-Kassel (; 25 May 1572 – 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned or Moritz, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627. Life Maurice was born in Kassel as the son o ...

(or Hesse-Cassel), received

Rheinfels Rheinfels Castle () is a castle ruin located above the left (west) bank of the Rhine in Sankt Goar, Germany. It was started in 1245 by Count Diether V of Katzenelnbogen. After expansions, it was the largest fortress in the Middle Rhein Valley be ...

and lower

Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbog ...

as his inheritance, and some years later, on the deaths of two of his brothers,

Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Eschwege (9 May 1617 – 24 September 1655) was from 1632 until his death Landgrave of the apanage of Hesse-Eschwege, which stood under the suzerainty of Hesse-Kassel. Background Frederick was born in Kassel. As ...

(1617–1655) and

Herman IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg Landgrave Hermann IV of Hesse-Rotenburg (15 August 1607 in Kassel – 25 March 1658 in Rotenburg an der Fulda), was the first Landgrave of the semi-independent Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg. He was the fourth son of the Landgrave Maurice of ...

(1607–1658), he added

Eschwege Eschwege (), the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. In 1971, the town hosted the eleventh ''Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Location The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river Wer ...

, Rotenburg,

Wanfried Wanfried () is a town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeasternmost Hesse, Germany. It is classified as a ''Landstadt'', a designation given in Germany to a municipality that is officially a town (''Stadt''), but whose population is below 5,000 ...

and other districts to his possessions. Ernest, who was a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, was a great traveller and a voluminous writer. About 1700 his two sons,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

(d. 1725) and Charles (or Karl) (d. 1711), divided their territories, and founded the families of Hesse-Rotenburg and Hesse-Wanfried.This source does not make it clear which branch of the family acquired Rheinfels and Eschwege . The latter family died out in 1755, when William's grandson,

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

(d. 1778), reunited the lands except Rheinfels, which had been acquired by Hesse-Kassel in 1735, and ruled them as Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg.

The governing Landgraves of Hesse-Wanfried

Notes

References

* *

History

The governing Landgraves of Hesse-Wanfried

Notes

References

Further reading