Charles of Hesse-Wanfried (born: 19 July 1649 at

Rheinfels Castle Rheinfels Castle (german: Burg Rheinfels) is a castle ruin located above the left (west) bank of the Rhine in Sankt Goar, Germany. It was started in 1245 by Count Diether V of Katzenelnbogen. After expansions, it was the largest fortress in the M ...

; died: 3 March 1711 in Schwalbach), was a Landgrave of

Hesse-Wanfried The mini-state Hesse-Wanfried existed from about 1700 to 1731. It was a principality ( Landgraviate) of the Holy Roman Empire in the area of the today's Land of Hesse. Governed by a cadet line of the House of Hesse under the sovereignty of the lan ...

. He was the second son of Landgrave Ernest of Hesse-Rheinfels and Maria Eleonore of Solms-Lich.

Life

After an inheritance dispute about the " Rotenburg Quarter", Charles received Hesse-Eschwege in 1667. He moved to

Wanfried Wanfried is a town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeasternmost Hesse, Germany. It is classified as a ''Landstadt'', a designation given in Germany to a municipality that is officially a town (''Stadt''), but whose population is below 5,000. It ...

and founded the Catholic line of

. He used the castle in Wanfried as his residence, because the castle in

Eschwege Eschwege (), the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. In 1971, the town hosted the eleventh '' Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Location The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river W ...

had been pledged to

Brunswick-Bevern Brunswick-Bevern was a secundogeniture of the Younger House of Brunswick, itself a branch of the House of Welf. Its first member was Ferdinand Albert I of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1636–1687), the fourth son of Duke Augustus the Younger, ruling P ...

, also in 1667.

Marriages

Charles's first wife was Countess Sophie Magdalene of

Salm-Reifferscheid Salm is the name of several historic countships and principalities in present Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. History Origins The County of Salm arose in the tenth century in Vielsalm, in the Ardennes region of present Belgium. It was ...

, a daughter of Count Eric Adolph of Salm-Reifferscheid and his wife Princess Magdalene of

Hesse-Cassel 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 ...

. Sophie Magdalene died in 1675 during a trip to Venice. Charles then married Alexandrine Juliane, a daughter of Count Emich XIII of Leiningen and Countess Dorothea of Waldeck. Alexandrine Juliane was the widow of Landgrave George III of Hesse-Itter-Vöhl. She died on 19 April 1703 and was buried in the family vault in the Hülfensberg in Wanfried.

Death and heir

Charles died in 1711 and was succeeded as Landgrave of Hesse-Wanfried by his son William II. After William's death in 1731, he was succeeded by his half-brother Christian, who died childless in 1755, thereby ending the Hessen-Wanfried line.

Issue

From his marriage to Sophie Magdalene: * Charles Ernest Adolph (born: 8 October 1669, died: December 1669) * Anna Maria Eleonora (born: 13 October 1670; died: January 1671) * William II "the Younger" (born: 25 August 1671 in Langenschwalbach; died: 1 April 1731 in Paris, and buried there), Landgrave of Hesse-Wanfried-Rheinfels * Frederick (born: 17 May 1673; died: 25 October 1692), a canon at Cologne, died during a visit to the Bishop of

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...

in Hungary * Philip (born: June 1674; died: 28 August 1694) From his marriage to Alexandrine Juliane: * Charlotte Amalie (born: March 8, 1679 at Wanfried, died: 8 February 1722 in Paris), married on 26 September 1694 in Cologne with

Francis II Rákóczi Francis II Rákóczi ( hu, II. Rákóczi Ferenc, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince ( hu, fejedelem) of the Estates Confedera ...

(born: 27 March 1676; died: April 8, 1735), Prince of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

* Ernest (born: 20 April 1680 in Wanfried, died: June 24, 1680 ibid), buried in the Hülfensberg * Sophia Leopoldine (born: 17 July 1681, died: 18 April 1724 in Wetzlar). Her daughter Maria Franziska of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein married Sophia's brother

Christian 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� ...

. * Charles Alexander (born: 6 November 1683 in Wanfried, died: February 1684 in Boppard) * Maria Anna Johanna (born: 8 January 1685 in Wanfried, died: 11 June 1764 in Erfurt) * Maria Therese Josepha Elisabeth (born: 5 April 1687, died: 9 September 1689) * Christine Franziska Polyxene (born: 23 May 1688, died: 17 July 1728), married on 28 February 1712 with

Dominic Marquard, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort , title = Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort , titles = , image = , caption = , reign = 1718–1735 , reign-type = Period , coronation = , predecessor = Maximilian Karl , succes ...

(born: 17 July 1689 in Wanfried, died: 21 October 1755 in Eschwege), the last Landgrave of Hesse-Wanfried-Eschwege and Hesse-Rheinfels * Juliana Elizabeth Anna Louise (born: 20 October 1690 in Wanfried; died: 13 July 1724), married on 6 January 1718 in

with Count

Christian Otto of Limburg Christian Otto von Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Bronkhorst and Stirum (1694–1749), was a member of the House of Limburg-Stirum and the third reigning monarch from the branch of Limburg-Styrum-Styrum. Biography von Limburg Stirum was the so ...

-Styrum (born: 25 March 1694; died: 24 February 1749) * Maria (born: 31 August 1693) * Eleanor Bernhardine (born: 21 February 1695; died: 14 August 1768 in Frankfurt), married in June 1717 with Count Herman Frederick of

Bentheim-Bentheim Bentheim-Bentheim was a county in southeastern Lower Saxony, Germany, the borders of which by 1806 were the modern borders of the District of Bentheim. This county was formed from the county of Bentheim in 1277, and from it was formed Bentheim-Ste ...

References

*''Chronik der Stadt Wanfried'', Reinhold Strauß, 1908 *Eckhart G. Franz, ''Das Haus Hessen,'' Stuttgart, 2005, {{Authority control Landgraves of Hesse House of Hesse 1649 births 1711 deaths 17th-century German people