Hessian

An ancient noble family that ruled the Electorate of Hesse and the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Germany .

It is famous as a family that produced queens of several European countries, including the Russian Empire and Denmark . There was a time when he took the throne of Sweden, but it did not last long.

The roots of the Hessen family are the Ludowinger, who rule the ture ringgen , and the saint who was a princess of the Turninggen defense Roote VII and Hungary -Croatian kingdom . It started with Elizabeth 's daughter Jopy . Ludwig IV's father, Herman I, Utah[1] , Ludwig IV and Heinrich Raspe[2] Ludwig IV had a jopie with Herman III, but Hermand II died at a young age, and Heinrich Raspay died without heirs. Heinrich III, who was married to Brabant Henri II, and Utah's son of Meisen, who was married to Bravant's Duke of Brabant, and Meisen, a Betin family, confronted each other. Eventually, Heinrich III won and took Lingen, but he took part of the Ture Ringgen and gave it to Jopy, and Jopy gave his son Heinrich's land from Heinrich III.

Until 1509, it was divided into Oberhessen and Niederhessen, but was unified by Philip I. Philip I, who devoted himself to the Reformation and converted to the Lutheran Church, followed Martin Luther 's teachings not to discriminate against his children and established the Prince of Hesse to Hesse-Kassel for his eldest son Wilhelm IV , Hesse-Marburg for his second son Louis IV , and Hesse-Marburg for his third son Philip II. It was divided into four parts: Hesse-Rheinfels for the 4th son, and Hesse-Darmstadt for the 4th son Georg I.

Starting with Philip I's eldest son, Wilhelm IV , Wilhelm IV's son Moritz converted to the Calvinist Church and became a Calvinist state. king of sweden It also produced Frederick I , and during the American War of Independence , Prince Frederick II made a huge profit by selling Hessian mercenaries .

In general, there were many intermarriages with the Danish royal family, and although they had the right to inherit the Danish throne, the entire family gave up the throne to Christian IX of the Glücksburg dynasty . And Christian IX married Louise of Hesse-Kassel, the third of Charlotte's six children .

Originally, the Hohenzollern family 's Electorate of Brandenburg maintained diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Prussia for generations. During the Napoleonic Wars , Prince Wilhelm IX was appointed Elector and called the Electorate of Hesse . Even after the Napoleonic Wars, it did not lose its position as Elector and remained as the Elector of Hesse. It had been on the side of Prussia until now, but in the Prussian-Austrian War, it sided with the Austrian Empire just once, and its entire territory was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia. Although it was originally a head family, there are many people who do not know that it was a head family because the Grand Duchy of Hesse is more famous for various accidents and their fiefdom was lost.

Unlike its cousins, Marburg, Rheinfels, and Darmstadt, this was a son-rich family that had many sons. However, because the sons died young, were unable to have sons, were illegitimate , or married out of status , there was a lack of successors to the Hesse-Kassel family in the late 19th century, and Friedrich Karl, a collateral, became the head of the family. Charles was a descendant of Frederick, the youngest son of Prince Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel. Frederick II's remaining sons were not without sons, but the eldest died young, and the lineage of the second, Wilhelm IX, and the third, Charles, was cut off.

As an aside, Jewish It is a family related to the Rothschild family . Mayer Amschel Rothschild built his reputation through dealings with Prince Wilhelm IX of Hesse-Kassel. During World War II, there was a case of Hessian jewels being stolen .

It began with Louis IV, the second son of Philip I , and was discontinued when Louis IV died without an heir in 1604 . Later, Marburg was incorporated into Hesse-Kassel after a war of succession between Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt.

Starting with Philip II, the third son of Philip I , when Philip II died without an heir in 1583, his older brother Wilhelm IV recovered Rheinfels.

It began when Philip I's youngest son, Georg I, became the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt. He also adhered to the Lutheran Church, which began with Philip I. Like the Hesse-Kassel family, it maintained diplomatic relations with the Elector of Brandenburg and the Kingdom of Prussia , and later became the Hohenzollern dynasty of Prussia.[7] , Romanov dynasty of the Russian Empire[8] , intermarried with the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty of England . During the Napoleonic Wars, Prince Louis X declared the Grand Duchy of Hesse and became the first Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt , Louis I.

Meanwhile , there was the title of Prince of Hesse-Homburg, which started with Frederick I, another son of George I. Because Frederick I was not the eldest son, he could not become a prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, but instead inherited the Hesse-Homburg region, which was the border area of ​​Hesse-Darmstadt and owned by his father, George I, and Frederick I's descendants became princes of Hesse-Homburg. . Afterwards, the Hesse-Homburg princedom was cut off under Frederick III. This is because his son, Ludwig Gruno, who died before Frederick III, had no children. It was eventually recovered by the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Like its relative, the Electorate of Hesse, it almost lost its country by siding with the Austrian Empire during the Prussian-Austrian War . However, fortunately, because Princess Marie of Hesse , daughter of the 2nd Archduke Ludwig II , was the empress of Emperor Alexander II of the Russian Empire , complete annexation was avoided and only the territory north of the Main River was incorporated into the jurisdiction of the North German Federation , while the south was able to maintain the name of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Afterwards, it joined the German Empire and continued to exist, but due to the defeat in World War I, it abdicated when the monarchs of other British countries within the German Empire abdicated. Afterwards, in a plane crash that occurred in 1937, the family of Georg Donatus, who was the head of the family at the time , died, and his younger brother Ludwig also died without an heir, leaving him without an heir.

A characteristic of the Hesse-Darmstadt family is that the princesses gave birth to many children for generations. Although they were from a small country in Germany, thanks to the fact that they were prolific for generations and that they were part of a historic ruling family, monarchs from various countries, including Alexander II, took many princesses from Hesse-Darmstadt as spouses.[9] The princesses of Hesse-Darmstadt who became empresses or queens in this way gave birth to many children in the royal family they married, so although the direct line was completely cut off, numerous descendants remain through the maternal line.[10]