Frederick IV Charles Louis William of Hesse-Homburg (15 April 1724 in Braunfels – 7 February 1751 in Bad Homburg), was 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 Charles was born at Castle Braunfels as the first child of Prince Casimir William (1690–1726) and his wife Countess Charlotte Christine (1690–1751), daughter of the Count William Maurice of

Solms-Braunfels Solms-Braunfels was a County and later Principality with Imperial immediacy in what is today the federal Land of Hesse in Germany. Solms-Braunfels was a partition of Solms, ruled by the House of Solms, and was raised to a Principality of th ...

. His father was a son of Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Homburg. Frederick grew up first at Braunfels Castle, and later in

Varel Varel () is a town in the district of Friesland, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Jade River and the Jade Bight, approximately south of Wilhelmshaven and north of Oldenburg. With a population of 23,984 (2020) it is the bigge ...

. He was educated in a Humanistic-Christian spirit and attended a few semesters at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. In 1740, he was introduced to

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

during a visit to

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighove ...

. At the latter's suggestion, he joined the Prussian army in 1741 and participated in the two

Silesian wars The Silesian Wars (german: Schlesische Kriege, links=no) were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Habsburg Austria (under Archduchess Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European ...

. He distinguished himself at the siege of

Brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...

and was promoted to Captain. In 1744, he participated in the offensive in Bohemia and the siege and conquest of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. He fell ill there in 1745, and took a leave of absence. On 10 October 1746 in

Hungen Hungen () is a town in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 20 km southeast of Gießen, and 18 km northeast of Friedberg. Surrounding towns are Laubach to the north, Nidda to the east, Wölfersheim to the south ...

, he married his cousin Ulrike Louise (1731–1792), the daughter of Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels. On 8 June 1746, his uncle, Landgrave Frederick III, died in the Netherlands, without a male heir. Frederick Charles succeeded him in Homburg as Frederick IV. His prime ministers, Friedrich Karl von Moser and Casimir of Criss tried to resolve the financial problems of Hesse-Homburg Finance rehabilitate, but the mismanagement that led to the formation of 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 oversee the administration of his predecessor, continued. He had a claim to inherit the

Duchy of Courland The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia ( la, Ducatus Curlandiæ et Semigalliæ; german: Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen; lv, Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste; lt, Kuršo ir Žiemgalos kunigaikštystė; pl, Księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii) was ...

after the house of Ketteler died out in 1737. Frederick Charles claimed to be entitled to the Duchy via his grandmother

Louise Elisabeth of Courland Louise Elisabeth of Courland (12 August 1646 in Jelgava – 16 December 1690 in Weferlingen) was Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by marriage to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. Life Louise Elisabeth was a daughter of Duke Jacob of Co ...

. However, Empress

Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

granted the Duchy to her favourite

Ernst Johann von Biron Ernst Johann von Biron (german: Ernst Johann von Biron; russian: link=no, Эрнст Иоганн Бирон; (german: link=no, Bühren); ) was a Duke of Courland and Semigallia (1737–1740 and 1763–1769) and briefly regent of the Russian E ...

. In 1747, the senior line of

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...

tried to regain possession of Homburg. Troops from Darmstadt marched in and Landgrave Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt claimed to be Frederick's legal guardian. Frederick, however, was legally an adult and married. A court case was brought before the Emperor and the

Aulic Council The Aulic Council ( la, Consilium Aulicum, german: Reichshofrat, literally meaning Court Council of the Empire) was one of the two supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire, the other being the Imperial Chamber Court. It had not only concurrent juri ...

. While the case was still being discussed, Frederick IV died in 1751, at the age of 28 of a "chest disease". His son and successor,

Frederick V Frederick V or Friedrich V may refer to: * Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (1164–1170) *Frederick V, Count of Zollern (d.1289) *Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg (c. 1333–1398), German noble *Frederick V of Austria (1415–1493), or Frederick III ...

, had celebrated his third birthday a week before. Frederick IV was buried in the crypt of Bad Homburg Castle.

Issue

From his marriage to Ulrike Louise, Frederick Charles had the following children: * Frederick V Louis William Christian (Homburg, 30 January 1748 – Homburg, 20 January 1820), Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. * Marie Christine Charlotte Wilhelmine (Homburg, 4 November 1749 – Homburg, 10 November 1750).

References

* Johann Caspar Bluntschli
''Deutsches Staatswörterbuch'', p. 180
* Johann I. von Gerning
''Die Lahn- und Main-Gegenden von Embs bis Frankfurt'', p. 163 ff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick 04 of Hesse Homburg Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt House of Hesse-Homburg 1724 births 1751 deaths 18th-century German people Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)