Katharina of Nassau-Beilstein (died 6 September 1459) was Countess of Hanau by marriage to

Reinhard II, Count of Hanau Reinhard II of Hanau ( – 26 June 1451 in Hanau) was Lord of Hanau and from 1429 Count of Hanau. He was one of the most important member of the House of Hanau. Youth The exact date of his birth is not known, not even the exact year, because ...

, and regent of Hanau during the minority of her son Reinhard III from 1452 until 1458.

Life

She was the daughter of Count Henry II of Nassau-BeilsteinFor details about her father, see: Pierre Even: ''Dynastie Luxemburg-Nassau. Von den Grafen zu Nassau zu den Großherzögen von Luxemburg. Eine neunhundertjährige Herrschergeschichte in einhundert Biographien'', Luxemburg, 2000, p. 83 and his wife, Katharina of Randerode. By marriage, she was a Countess of Hanau. She married on 18 January 1407 to Lord Reinhard II of Hanau, who was raised to Count of Hanau in 1429.

Regency

After the early death of her eldest son, Reinhard III, in 1452, she took up the regency for his son Philipp "the Younger", together with his maternal grandfather Count Palatine

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

of Mosbach and her youngest son, Philipp "the Elder". In 1458, the County of Hanau was divided between Philipp the Younger and Philipp the Elder, and the latter was appointed sole guardian of the former, relieving Katharina of her duties as regent. In the discussions that led to the county being divided, Katharina took the position that dividing the county and allowing Philipp the Elder to marry would increase the chances of survival for the House of Hanau and was therefore preferable to strictly observing the

primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

decree. Katharina had no preference as to whether the line would continue via her grandson Philipp the Younger or via her son Philipp the Elder. She held that the House of Hanau was in danger of dying out and that allowing Philipp the Elder to marry would be wiser than gambling on the ability of Philipp the Younger, who was only four years old, to procreate. Katharina died on 6 September 1459, and was buried in the Church of St. Mary in

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

Issue

She had the following children: #

Katharina Katharina is a feminine given name. It is a German form of Katherine. It may refer to: In television and film: *Katharina Bellowitsch, Austrian radio and TV presenter *Katharina Mückstein, Austrian film director *Katharina Thalbach, German actre ...

(1408–1460), married: ## in 1421 with Count Thomas II of Rieneck (1408–1431) ## between 1432 and 1434 with Count Wilhelm II of Henneberg-Schleusingen (1415–1444, died in a hunting accident) # Anna (born: 15 June 1409), after 1439

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

of the Patershausen monastery #

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

(1411–1441), married in 1440 with Gottfried VIII of

Eppstein Eppstein is a town in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. Eppstein lies west of Frankfurt am Main, around 12 km north east of the state capital Wiesbaden, and is at the edge of the Taunus mountains. The ruins of the Eppstein castle is ...

(d. 1466) # Reinhard III (1412–1452), succeeded his father in 1451 as ruler of the

County of Hanau The County of Hanau was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire, evolved out of the Lordship of Hanau in 1429. From 1456 to 1642 and from 1685 to 1712 it was divided into the County of Hanau-Münzenberg and the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg. ...

# Elisabeth (1416–1446), married on 4 May 1432 with

Wild- and Rhinegrave (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

Johann IV of Dhaun (1422–1476) # Philipp I "the Elder" (1417–1480), founder of the Hanau-Lichtenberg line

References

* Reinhard Dietrich: ''Die Landesverfassung in dem Hanauischen'', in: ''Hanauer Geschichtsblätter'', issue 34, Hanau, 1996, * Reinhard Dietrich: ''Die Abdankung Ulrichs V. von Hanau – Ursachen und Folgen'', in: ''Hanauer Geschichtsblätter'', issue 31, Hanau, 1993 * Reinhard Suchier: ''Genealogie des Hanauer Grafenhauses'', in: ''Festschrift des Hanauer Geschichtsvereins zu seiner fünfzigjährigen Jubelfeier am 27. August 1894'', Hanau, 1894 * Ernst J. Zimmermann: ''Hanau Stadt und Land'', 3rd ed., Hanau, 1919, reprinted 1978

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katharina of Nassau-Beilstein German countesses 15th-century German women House of Hanau House of Nassau 14th-century births 1459 deaths Year of birth uncertain 15th-century German people 15th-century women rulers Daughters of monarchs