Philipp Reinhard of Hanau-Münzenberg (2 August 1664, Bischofsheim am hohen Steg – 4 October 1712, Philippsruhe Castle,

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 ...

) from 1680 to 1712 in the County of

Hanau-Münzenberg The County of Hanau-Münzenberg was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged when the County of Hanau was divided in 1458, the other part being the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg. Due to common heirs, both counties were merged from 1642 t ...

Childhood and youth

Philipp Reinhard was born in 1664 Bischofsheim am hohen Steg (now Rheinbischofsheim) as a child of

Johann Reinhard II of Hanau-Lichtenberg Count Johann Reinhard II of Hanau-Lichtenberg ( in Bouxwiller – 25 April 1666 in Bischofsheim am Hohen Steg) was a younger son of Count Philipp Wolfgang of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1595–1641) and Countess Johanna of Oettingen-Oettingen (d. 16 ...

and the Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. When his father died in 1666, his mother and his uncle Duke

Christian II of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

(1654–1717) became guardian for him and his younger brother Johann Reinhard III. He was educated together with his younger brother Johann Reinhard III, initially in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. In 1678, they moved to Babenhausen, where their mother lived at the time. In 1678, they started a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

to the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. In 1680, the travelled for a year in

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

and

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, in 1681 to Paris, in 1683 to the Netherlands, England and some French provinces. In early 1684, they were in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, from there they went to see the

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, followed by a trip to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(with audiences with

Pope Innocent XII Pope Innocent XII ( la, Innocentius XII; it, Innocenzo XII; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He ...

and queen

Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

), then to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

and

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

. In 1686, they visited the imperial court in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and on the way back, they traveled to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

and visited the Electoral Saxon court in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Government

Policy

Philipp Reinhard came to the throne of

at the age of 16 on . His uncle Friedrich Casimir had financially ruined the county with his escapades and he was overthrown by his family. They put Philipp Reinhard on the throne, but as he was still a minor, his guardians acted as regents until 1687. His younger brother Johann Reinhard III was put on the throne of

Hanau-Lichtenberg The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in ...

, which had also been ruined by Friedrich Casimir. The

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of Babenhausen was awarded to Hanau-Münzenberg; this decision was confirmed in a treaty in 1691. Philipp Reinhard came of age in 1687 and began to rule independently. In 1691, Duke Christian II filed his final report on the guardianship. Philipp Reinhard's reign was marked by a thoughtful territorial and fiscal policy that tried to repair the damage done by 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 ...

and the reign of his predecessor.

Foreign policy

In 1692, Philipp Reinhard was elected as the permanent director of the Wetterau Association of

Imperial Count Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

s. In 1704, Philipp Reinhard was made a member of the

Order of the Black Eagle The Order of the Black Eagle (german: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler) was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I, King ...

by King

Friedrich I of Prussia Frederick I (german: Friedrich I.; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union ( Brandenburg-Prussia). The latter function h ...

. For the investiture, he had to travel to Berlin, which he did in 1710. In 1711, Emperor Karl VI visited Hanau while travelling to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

for his

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

. His territorial policies met with little success. The districts

Schwarzenfels Schwarzenfels is a village in the German municipality of Sinntal in Main-Kinzig-Kreis in the state of Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, st ...

and Kellerei with Naumburg Castle had been pledged to

Hesse-Kassel 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 Lan ...

. He tried to redeem them and failed. He did manage to redeem some smaller territories, notably Konradsdorf monastery. He exchanged some territory with Isenburg, swapping parts of Hain in

Dreieich Dreieich () is a town in the Offenbach district in the of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and is located roughly south of downtown Frankfurt am Main. With a population of more than 40,000 i ...

for a share in

Dudenhofen Dudenhofen is a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated about 3 kilometers west of Speyer. Dudenhofen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Römerberg-Dudenhofen. Notable people * Jürgen ...

. He also bought the Gronauer Court, which formerly belonged to the Ilbenstadt monastery.

Domestic policy

During his reign, religious refugees migrated into the county, as had happened 100 years earlier during the reign of Count Philipp Ludwig II, especially after

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

had revoked the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

in 1685 and the

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

began to be persecuted in

. The refugees were admitted, partly as a humanitarian act and partly to strengthen the county's economic position. The Waldensians only stayed in Hanau temporarily, though.

Elevation to the rank of prince

In the older literature it is repeatedly claimed that Philipp Reinhard would have obtained the rank of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. This appears not to be the case. There is no record of such an elevation, neither in the archives of Hanau, which have since been moved to the Hessian State Archive at Marburg, nor in the Austrian House-, Court- and State Archives in Vienna, nor is there a record of any related payments. It has been documented that Philipp Reinhard spent time and expenses to obtain such a title and that he never used one, which would have been a very strange behaviour if he had received it.

Culture

In 1701, Philipp Reinhard began the construction of Philippsruhe Castle, which was named after him, in the village of Kesselstadt, to the west of Hanau, just outside the city gate. In 1712, he began the construction of new

stables A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

for the City Palace in Hanau (later Hanau's City Hall; today the "Congress Park Hanau"). This project was completed after his death by his brother Johann Reinhard III. Philipp Reinhard was able to complete, during his lifetime, the construction of the college building, which today houses the city library, opposite the City Palace.

Marriage and issue

On , Philipp Reinhard married his cousin, Countess Palatine Magdalena Claudia (born: 16 September 1668; died 28 November 1704), the daughter of Duke

(born: 22 June 1637; died 26 April 1717). Her

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

was . This marriage produced: * Stillborn child (1691), buried in the crypt in the Lutheran Church (now called: Old St. Johann's Church) in Hanau * Stillborn child (1693) * Katharina Magdalene of Hanau (born: ; died: , buried in the crypt in the Lutheran Church in Hanau After the death of his first wife, Philipp Reinhard was engaged with Elisabeth Louise Christine of Mauchenheim named Bechtolsheim, a

lady in waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

of his first wife. He intended to marry her after she had been elevated to countess. Both his relatives and his councillors opposed the marriage on the grounds that she was of lower birth. He then broke off the engagement and bought her off with moneyLöwenstein, p. 21 On 26 December 1705, Philipp Reinhard married Charlotte Wilhelmine (born: ; died: 5 April 1767), the daughter of Duke Johann Ernst IV of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Her

was also . This second marriage remained childless.

Death

Philipp Reinhard died at his Philippsruhe Castle on 4 October 1712 alone. He was buried in the family vault in the Lutheran Church (now the St. Johann's Church in Hanau. The tomb was destroyed when Hanau bombed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His second wife, Wilhelmine Charlotte, survived him by 55 years. His younger brother Johann Reinhard III, who had until then ruled the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg, inherited Hanau-Münzenberg. This would be the last time all of Hanau was united in one hand.

Ancestors

References

Bibliography

* Reinhard Dietrich: ''Die Landesverfassung in dem Hanauischen'' = ''Hanauer Geschichtsblätter'', vol. 34, Hanau, 1996, . * Samuel Endemann: ''Reisen der beiden Grafen Philipp Reinhard und Johann Reinhard von Hanau'', in: ''Hanauisches Magazin'', vol. 3, 1780, issues 36, 37, 41, 45-47. * Uta Löwenstein: ''Die Grafschaft Hanau vom Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts bis zum Anfall an Hessen''., in: ''Neues Magazin für Hanauische Geschichte'', 2005, p. 11 ff. * Reinhard Suchier: ''Genealogie des Hanauer Grafenhauses'', in: ''Festschrift des Hanauer Geschichtsvereins zu seiner fünfzigjährigen Jubelfeier am 27. August 1894'', Hanau, 1894. * Reinhard Suchier: ''Die Grabmonumente und Särge der in Hanau bestatteten Personen aus den Häusern Hanau und Hessen'', in: ''Programm des Königlichen Gymnasiums zu Hanau'', Hanau, 1879, p. 1 - 56. *Richard Wille: ''Die letzten Grafen von Hanau-Lichtenberg'', in: ''Mitteilungen des Hanauer Bezirksvereins für hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde'', vol. 12, Hanau, 1886, p. 56-68. * Ernst J. Zimmermann: ''Hanau Stadt und Land'', 3rd ed., Hanau, 1919, reprinted 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Philipp Reinhard Hanau Munzenberg Counts of Hanau-Münzenberg 1664 births 1712 deaths 17th-century German people 18th-century German people House of Hanau