The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the
Holy Roman Empire that was
directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the
Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon the death of
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (in English: "the Magnanimous"), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestan ...
. His eldest son
William IV inherited the northern half of the Landgraviate and the capital of
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
. The other sons received the
Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Marburg) was a German landgraviate, and independent principality, within the Holy Roman Empire, that existed between 1458 and 1500, and between 1567 and 1604/1650.
It consisted of ...
, the
Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels and the
Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...
.
During the
Napoleonic
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
reorganisation of the Empire in 1803, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to an Electorate and Landgrave William IX became an
Imperial Elector. Many members of the Hesse-Kassel House served in the Danish military gaining high ranks and power in the Oldenburg realm due to the fact that many Landgraves were married to Danish princesses. Members of the family who are known to have served Denmark-Norway include Prince Frederik of Hesse-Kassel, Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, and Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel. It had two votes to the
Reichstag: one for itself and one for
Hersfeld Abbey. It was later occupied by French troops and became part of the
Kingdom of Westphalia, a French satellite state. The
Electorate of Hesse was restored at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, though by that time there was no longer an emperor to elect.
History
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was founded by
William IV the Wise, the eldest son of
Philip I. On his father's death in 1567, the
Landgraviate of Hesse was divided into four parts. William IV received about half of the territory, with
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
as his capital. Hesse-Kassel expanded in 1604 when
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel inherited the
Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Marburg) was a German landgraviate, and independent principality, within the Holy Roman Empire, that existed between 1458 and 1500, and between 1567 and 1604/1650.
It consisted of ...
from his childless uncle,
Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (1537–1604).
Thirty Years' War
In 1605, Maurice became
Calvinist and entered the
Thirty Years' War on the Protestant side. After being forced to cede some of his territories to
Hesse-Darmstadt, Maurice abdicated in 1627 in favour of his son
William V. His younger sons received
appanages
An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much ...
, which created several
cadet
A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...
lines in yet another
partition of Hesse. William V allied himself with
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
and then France, losing most of Hesse-Kassel when Imperial troops invaded. He died in exile in 1637, leaving his widow
Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg
Amalie may refer to:
People
* Amalie (given name), a female given name, derived from Amalia
Places
* Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, capital of the territory
* Amalie Arena, a hockey stadium in Tampa, Florida
Businesses
* Amalie Oil Com ...
to act as regent for their eight-year-old son
William VI.
Amalie Elisabeth vigorously advanced the interests of Hesse-Kassel. After expelling Imperial troops from Hesse-Kassel, she sent troops to take the city of
Marburg, which her father-in-law had lost to their Hesse-Darmstadt relatives. At the
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...
in 1648, Hesse-Kassel was further rewarded with most of the
County of Schaumburg
The County of Schaumburg (german: link=no, Grafschaft Schaumburg), until ca. 1485 known as Schauenburg, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Lower Saxony. Its territory was more or less congruent with ...
and the newly secularized
Hersfeld Abbey. Amalie Elisabeth also introduced the rule of primogeniture to prevent Hesse-Kasse from being divided again in the future. However, her health was ruined by the stresses of the war, and she died in 1651.
17th and 18th centuries
William VI, who came of age in 1650, was an enlightened patron of learning and the arts. He was succeeded by his son
William VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, then an infant, who died in 1670. He was succeeded by his brother
Charles I. Charles' chief claim to fame is that he
hired out his soldiers to foreign powers as auxiliaries, as a means of improving the finances of his principality. William V was succeeded by Landgraves
William VI and
William VII.
Frederick I of Sweden
Frederick I ( sv, Fredrik I; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and King of Sweden from 1720 until his death and (as ''Frederick I'') also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730. He ascended the throne f ...
, the next
landgrave, became by marriage
King of Sweden. Although the Landgraviate was in
personal union with Sweden from 1730 to 1751, the King's younger brother,
Prince William, ruled in Kassel as regent until he succeeded his brother as William VIII.
On Frederick I's death in 1751, he was succeeded by his brother
William VIII, who fought as an ally of
Kingdom of Great Britain during the
Seven Years' War. His successor,
Frederick II, converted to
Catholicism after a long line of Protestant Landgraviates. When the
American Revolutionary War broke out, Frederick II
leased Hessian troops to Great Britain for service in America.
End of the landgraviate
Following the reorganization of the German states during the
German mediatisation of 1803, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was raised to the
Electorate of Hesse and Landgrave William IX was elevated to
Imperial Elector, taking the title
William I, Elector of Hesse. The principality thus became known as ', although still usually referred to as Hesse-Kassel.
In 1806, William I was dispossessed by
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
for his support of the
Kingdom of Prussia. Kassel was designated as the capital of a new
Kingdom of Westphalia, where Napoleon appointed his brother
Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...
as king. Following Napoleon's defeat in 1813, the elector was restored. At the
Congress of Vienna, a number of Napoleonic electorates were elevated to kingdoms, and William tried to secure recognition as King of the
Chatti. However, he was rebuffed by the Great Powers, who listed him as a "Royal Highness" along with the other grand dukes.
To secure his pre-eminence over his cousin, the
Grand Duke of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...
in the former Hesse-Darmstadt, William chose to keep his title of
Prince-Elector. The rulers of the
Electorate of Hesse became the only Prince-Electors in the
German Confederation, even though there was no longer a Holy Roman Emperor for them to elect.
Hessian troops in foreign service
The Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel were famous for renting out their army to European Great Powers during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was a widespread practice at the time for small countries to rent out troops to larger countries in exchange for subsidies. International jurists drew a distinction between mercenaries and auxiliaries (''Hilfstruppen''). Mercenaries served in foreign armies as individuals, while auxiliaries were sent by their prince to the aid of another prince.
Hesse-Kassel took the practice to an extreme, maintaining 5.3% of its population under arms in 1730.
This was a higher proportion than even
Prussia,
a country that was so heavily militarized that it was described as "not a country with an army, but an army with a country". The Hessian army served as a readily available reserve for the Great Powers.
During the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, 25% of the British army consisted of
troops rented from German princes, half of whom came from Hesse-Kassel and nearby
Hesse-Hanau. For this reason, Americans refer to all German troops serving with the British army as "
Hessians",
a form of
synecdoche
Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy: it is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term comes from Greek .
Examples in common Engl ...
.
Namesakes
The village of
Hessen Cassel, Indiana, near
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, founded by German immigrants, is named for the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel.
See also
*
New Netherland
*
New Sweden
*
Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...
*
Rulers of Hesse
Notes
References
External links
Hoeckmann.de: Map of Hesse (Northern part) — in 1789
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
Early Modern history of Germany
Counties of the Holy Roman Empire
States and territories established in 1567
States and territories disestablished in 1803
1567 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Hesse-Kassel, Landgraviate of
North Hesse
Former monarchies of Europe