Frederick III James of Hesse-Homburg (19 May 1673, in Cölln – 8 June 1746, in

'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 ...

) was a Landgrave of

Hesse-Homburg Hesse-Homburg was formed into a separate landgraviate in 1622 by the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt; it was to be ruled by his son, although it did not become independent of Hesse-Darmstadt until 1668. It was briefly divided into Hesse-Homburg and ...

Life

Frederick III James was the second son of Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Homburg (1633–1708), the famous ''Prince of Homburg'', from his marriage with Louise Elisabeth (1646–1690), daughter of the Duke

Jacob of Courland Jacob Kettler (german: link=no, Jakob von Kettler) (Latvian: Hercogs Jēkabs Ketlers) (28 October 1610 – 1 January 1682) was one of the greatest Baltic German Dukes of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1642–1682). He was intelligent, s ...

(1610–1662). He received a thorough education in the culturally and spiritually progressive atmosphere of the Electoral Court in Berlin, where his father served as commander of the Brandenburg troops,. After his confirmation in 1687, he joined the

Knight academy Knight academies were first established in Western European states in the late 16th century. They prepared aristocratic youth for state and military service. It added to the hitherto rudimentary education of the aristocratic youth natural science, ...

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...

. Later, he joined a Cavalry Regiment in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. In 1690, he was Captain in the

Dutch States Army The Dutch States Army ( nl, Staatse leger) was the army of the Dutch Republic. It was usually called this, because it was formally the army of the States-General of the Netherlands, the sovereign power of that federal republic. This mercenary arm ...

; in 1692, he was

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

of the Groningen cavalry regiment. He kept being promoted: to

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...

in 1701, to

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in 1704 and after Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704, to

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 ...

. He remained in the Dutch service until the

Peace of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...

, and then took up government in Bad Homburg. Frederick III could not contribute much to the administration of his territory while he was in Dutch service. Worth mentioning, however, is the foundation in 1721 of the orphanage in Homburg, which still exists as a "Landgraviate Foundation". The archives of the Foundation were transferred to the Bad Homburg city archives in August 2010. Frederick's tolerant religious policies permitted the publication in Homburg of the book ("A religious herbs-and-flower garden, or the universal song-book") by Christoph Schütz. After the public debt in

had grown considerably, Frederick was forced by an imperial

debit commission A debit commission (from the Latin ''debere'' "to owe") was in the Holy Roman Empire a means to resolve the problems of over-indebted states. These states were usually, but not always, sovereign Imperial States. Imperial commissions The Aulic Co ...

to again take service in The Netherlands in 1738. He was

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the Belgian city of Liège, then from 1741 governor of Breda. In 1742, he was promoted to

General of the Cavalry General of the Cavalry (german: General der Kavallerie) was a General officer rank in the cavalry in various states of which the modern states of German and Austria are successors or in other armies which used the German model. Artillery officers ...

. He died in 1746, as governor of 's-Hertogenbosch and was buried in the crypt of Bad Homburg Castle. Since none of his children survived him, he was succeeded as the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg by Frederick IV, the son of his younger brother Casimir William.

Marriages and Issue

Butzbach Butzbach () is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hessen, Germany. It is located approximately 16 km south of Gießen and 35 km north of Frankfurt am Main. In 2007, the town hosted the 47th Hessentag state festival from 1 to 10 June ...

on 14 February 1700, Frederick III married firstly Elisabeth Dorothea of Hesse-Darmstadt (Darmstadt, 24 April 1676 - Homburg, 9 September 1721); she was the daughter of

Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Louis VI of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Ludwig) (25 January 1630 – 24 April 1678) was Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1661 to 1678. He was the eldest of three sons of the Landgrave George II of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophia Eleonore of Saxony. M ...

. They had ten children:Hesse Homburg line in: Royaltyguide.nl
etrieved 5 October 2014 #Stillborn daughter (Homburg, 27 November 1700). #Fredericka Dorothea Sophia Ernestine (Groningen, 29 September 1701 - Homburg, 11 March 1704). #Frederick William Louis (Groningen, 1 November 1702 - Groningen, 19 August 1703). #Louise Wilhelmine Eleonore Franziska (Homburg, 2 December 1703 - Homburg, 20 August 1704). # Louis John William Gruno, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Homburg (Homburg, 15 January 1705 - Berlin 13 October 1745), Russian Field Marshal, married on 3 February 1738 to Princess Anastasia Trubezkaya (14 October 1700 - St. Petersburg, 27 November 1755). # John Charles William Ernest Louis (Homburg, 24 August 1706 - Fellin, 10 May 1728). #Ernestine Louise Dorothea Charlotte (Homburg, 29 January 1707 - Homburg, 19 December 1707). #Stillborn son (Homburg, 17 February 1713). #Stillborn child (Homburg, 1716?). #Frederick Ulrich Louis (Homburg, 2 September 1721 - Homburg, 16 November 1721). In Saarbrücken on 17 October 1728 Frederick III married secondly

Christiane Charlotte of Nassau-Ottweiler Christiane Charlotte of Nassau-Ottweiler (2 September 1685 – 6 November 1761) was a Countess of Nassau-Ottweiler by birth and by marriage successively Countess of Nassau-Saarbrücken and countess of Hesse-Homburg. Life Christiane Charlotte w ...

(Ottweiler, 2 September 1685 - Homburg, 6 November 1761), widow of Count Charles Louis of Nassau-Saarbrücken. They had no children.

Ancestry

Notes

References

* Johann Caspar Bluntschli
''Deutsches Staatswörterbuch'', p. 180
* Johann I. von Gerning
''Die Lahn- und Main-Gegenden von Embs bis Frankfurt'', p. 155
* Carl Eduard Vehse
''Geschichte der deutschen Höfe seit der Reformation'', p. 453
h1>

External links

Homepage des Kinderheims The Landgraviate Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick 03 Hesse Homburg Landgraves of Hesse House of Hesse-Homburg 1673 births 1746 deaths 17th-century German people 18th-century German people