Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (17 February 1550 – 6 March 1606), Count of

Hohenlohe-Langenburg Hohenlohe-Langenburg () was a German county and later principality in the Holy Roman Empire. It was located in the current northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, around Langenburg. Since the medieval times this small state was ruled by the Hous ...

, was an army commander in service of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

. Philip was the son of Ludwig Kasimir von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg and Anna zu Solms-Lich. On 7 February 1595 he married

Maria of Nassau Maria of Nassau may refer to: * Maria of Nassau (1539–1599), daughter of William the Rich and Juliana of Stolberg * Maria of Nassau (1553–1554), first daughter of William the Silent and Anna of Egmond * Maria of Nassau (1556–1616), second daug ...

Buren Buren () is a town and municipality in the Betuwe region of the Netherlands. Buren has 27,168 inhabitants as of 1 January 2022. Geography Buren is located in Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands. It is part of the landscape of Betuwe, a ve ...

. The marriage was childless, but shortly before his death Philip adopted the nine-year-old Margrita Maria, countess of Falckenstein.

Life

Philip of Hohenlohe, also called Hollock, had been in service of William I of Orange since 1575, and he was William's

Lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

. Hohenlohe conquered Geertruidenberg in 1576,

Steenbergen Steenbergen () is a municipality and a town in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in and covers an area of of which is water. The municipality is mainly agricultural including a ...

in 1577,

Tholen Tholen () is a 25,000 people municipality in the southwest of the Netherlands. The municipality of Tholen takes its name from the town of Tholen, which is the largest population center in the municipality. The municipality consists of two peninsu ...

and

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

and later amongst others Mengen and

Gennep Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest o ...

(1599). In 1590 he constructed a fort at

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

. Because of his experience he remained lieutenant-general on the request of the States of Holland after William of Orange was assassinated in 1584. Maurice of Orange, William's son, was still too young to rule. Hohenlohe was a courageous, but reckless commander. He also had a drinking problem. After Maurice became

captain-general Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Command ...

of the Republic, relations between him and Hohenlohe gradually became worse. Maurice thought Hohenlohe was unreliable and was bad at keeping secrets. The bad relations also had a private cause: In 1582 Hohenlohe had asked William of Orange for permission to marry his eldest daughter,

. The marriage had not taken place yet because of financial problems. After William's assassination there was a quarrel over his inheritance. The rightful heir of William of Orange was

Philip William of Orange Philip William, Prince of Orange (19 December 1554 in Buren, Gelderland – 20 February 1618) was the eldest son of William the Silent by his first wife Anna van Egmont. He became Prince of Orange in 1584 and Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1599. ...

, but he was imprisoned in Spain. Maria had maintained control over William's possessions since 1584, and after the siege of Breda Maria apparently had managed to collect enough money to proceed with the marriage. After the marriage Hohenlohe was supposed to take control of an important share of the inheritance of William of Orange. Maurice opposed this, and in 1591 the States-General split the possessions. Maria of Nassau was given the county of

, Maurice was given the rest. Years of legal battle produced no results. In 1595 Hohenlohe married with Maria of Nassau. Hohenlohe served under Maurice during Maurice's campaign of 1597, and during the Siege of Groenlo. But after his marriage Hohenlohe became more and more isolated. Maurice hardly gave him any command in his army anymore. He reached a low-point in 1600, when Maurice dismissed him as lieutenant-general of Holland and Zeeland. In 1604 Hohenlohe became ill and started getting paralysis-symptoms. He died on 6 March 1606 at IJsselstein. After his death his body was taken to Öhringen (

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

) by his wife, and he was interred in the family-tomb in the collegiate church of St. Peter and St. Paul on 5 November 1606.

Sources

* Deursen, A.Th. van (2000) ''Maurits van Nassau. De winnaar die faalde''. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker. *Swart, E
''Filips van Hohenlohe'' in ''De Tachtigjarige Oorlog''
''De opstand in de Nederlanden''. *Swart, E. (2007
''Maria van Nassau'' in ''Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland''
''Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Philip Of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein 1550 births 1606 deaths German people of the Eighty Years' War House of Hohenlohe-Langenburg