Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach (1521 – 13 January 1561 in

Laubach Laubach () is a town of approximately 10,000 people in the Gießen (region), Gießen region of Hesse, Germany. Laubach is known as a ', a climatic health resort. It is situated east of Gießen. Surrounding Laubach are the towns of Hungen, Grünbe ...

) was

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Solms-Laubach Solms-Laubach was a County of southern Hesse and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The House of Solms had its origins in Solms, Hesse. History Solms-Laubach was originally created as a partition of Solms-Lich. In 1537 Philip, Count of S ...

from 1522 to 1548, and the ruling Count of Solms-Laubach from 1548 until his death. After the early death of his father Otto (1496–1522), Frederick Magnus I took up the government in his father's part of the County of Solms. He chose Laubach Castle as his permanent residence and gradually converted the castle into a palace. After the third division of Solms in 1548, Solms-Laubach became a separate principality, with Frederick Magnus I as its first ruler. In 1540, Laubach became a fortress and a militia was established. This militia has been preserved to this day as the ''Laubach festival committee''. Frederick Magnus I was a friend of the Reformer

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the ...

. He introduced the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in Solms-Laubach in 1544. He abolished the

inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...

and issued a simplified court order, which developed into the Civil Code of Solms. In 1555, he founded a Latin School, with teachers from

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

. He also founded the library of Laubach, which now contains over from the 16th century to the present. It is a listed monument and was registered under Heritage Protection Act in 1955. Frederick Magnus I died in 1561 and was succeeded by his son John George I.

Marriage and issue

In 1545, he married Agnes of Wied (1520 – 1588), daughter of Count John III of Wied and Elisabeth of Nassau-Siegen. They had the following children: * John George I (6 November 1546 – 19 August 1600) * Dorothea (26 November 1547–18 September 1585), married 1566 Heinrich XVI Reuss von Plauen zu Gera (29 December 1530 – 6 April 1572) * Elisabeth (6 March 1549 – 1599), married

Louis I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein Louis I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein, nicknamed "the Elder", formally "Louis I of Sayn, Count at Wittgenstein" (7 December 1532 at Wittgenstein Castle, near Bad Laasphe – 2 July 1605, while travelling near Altenkirchen) ruled the County of ...

* Otto (24 June 1550 – 8 February 1612) * Anna (11 April 1557 – 8 December 1586), married George III, Count of Erbach-Breuberg

Ancestry

External links

Frederick Magnus I
Counts of Solms House of Solms 1521 births 1561 deaths 16th-century German nobility {{Germany-noble-stub