Count Philipp Ludwig III of Hanau-Münzenberg ( 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 ...

– 12 November 1641 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

) was the last count of the main Hanau-Münzenberg line of the House of Hanau. After his death, the Hanau-Münzenberg-Schwarzenfels line inherited Hanau-Münzenberg.

Youth

Philipp Ludwig was the eldest son of Count Philipp Moritz of Hanau-Münzenberg and Princess

Sibylle Christine of Anhalt-Dessau Sibylle Christine of Anhalt-Dessau (11 July 1603 in Dessau – 21 February 1686 in Hanau), was by birth a member of the House of Ascania and princess of Anhalt-Dessau. Through her two marriages she became Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg and Hanau-L ...

. He was born in Hanau on , and baptized there on . In 1634, the political situation in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

forced Philipp Moritz to flee with his family. He fled via

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, Châlons,

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

to his Orange-Nassau relatives in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

and

. Philipp Moritz returned to Hanau-Münzenberg in 1637, however, he left his son with his mother,

Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau Catharina Belgica of Nassau (31 July 1578 – 12 April 1648) was a countess of Hanau-Münzenberg by marriage to Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg. She was regent of Hanau-Münzenberg during the minority of her son from 1612 until 1 ...

. Philipp Moritz died in 1638, only 33 years old. Thus Philipp Ludwig III inherited Hanau-Münzenberg at the age of 5. The

Reichskammergericht The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...

appointed his mother as his sole guardian. Unlike earlier rulers of Hanau-Münzenberg, she maintained a relaxed relationship with the Hanau-Münzenberg-Schwarzenfels line of the family.

Death

Philipp Ludwig III died of the

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

at the age of 8, on 12 November 1641 in

.Hessian State Archive in Marburg, document dated , line 10 ff He was the last member of the main Hanau-Münzenberg line. His siblings had all died before him. Hanau-Münzenberg was inherited by his first cousin once removed Count Johann Ernst of Hanau-Münzenberg-Schwarzenfels. When Johann Ernst died a year later, Hanau-Münzenberg fell to the Hanau-Lichtenberg line. Philipp Ludwig III was buried on 18 February 1646 in the family crypt in the Church of St. Mary in Hanau, together with his mother and his successor. His pewter coffin was stolen in 1812, during the chaos of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. He was reburied in a joint coffin, together with corpses from other coffins that had also been stolen.

Ancestors

References

* Reinhard Dietrich: ''Die Landesverfassung in dem Hanauischen'', in the series ''Hanauer Geschichtsblätter'', vol. 34'', Hanau, 1996, , p. 96 * Jacobus Hindermeier: ''Leichenpredigt'', Straßburg, 1641 * 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:Philipp Ludwig 03 Hanau Munzenberg Counts of Hanau-Münzenberg German people of the Thirty Years' War 1632 births 1641 deaths 17th-century German people