William III "the Younger", Landgrave of Hesse (8 September 1471 – 17 February 1500) ruled on the part of the county known as Upper Hesse, with residence in
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
.
William was the son of Landgrave
Henry III from the
House of Hesse
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World, ...
and his wife Anna of
Katzenelnbogen. When his father died in 1483, William was still a minor, and therefore had his uncle Archbishop Herman IV of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, and Hans Hofman of Dörnberg acted as
guardian until 1489.
With the rich revenues of the country could William could purchase in 1492 half the barony of
Eppstein
Eppstein is a town in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. Eppstein lies west of Frankfurt am Main, around 12 km north east of the state capital Wiesbaden, and is at the edge of the Taunus mountains. The ruins of the Eppstein castle is ...
(including the so-called
Ländchen
The Ländchen was a region east of Wiesbaden, Germany that comprised ten villages: Breckenheim, Delkenheim, Diedenbergen, Igstadt, Langenhain, Massenheim, Medenbach, Nordenstadt, Wallau, and Wildsachsen, plus Domäne Mechtildshausen.
Ländchen wa ...
('little country')
[State Archive in Marburg cartulary 14, No. 5, f. 12-21v and the State Archive in Marburg cartulary 21, No. 34 Bl 153-176V]
/ref>) and in 1493 part of Klingenberg am Main
Klingenberg am Main is a town in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 6,200 and is located on both banks of the river Main.
Geography Loc ...
.
In 1498 he married Elisabeth, the daughter of Elector Palatine Philip.
William died young after he fell from a horse while hunting, and left no legitimate offspring. His holdings fell to his cousin William II, so that all of the Landgraviate of Hesse
The Landgraviate of Hesse (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen) was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a single entity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided among the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.
History
In the early Midd ...
was again united in one hand (plus the County of Katzenelnbogen
The County of Katzenelnbogen was an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire. Chatti Melibokus is a very old tribe who stayed on a high hill in the Bergstraße region of Hesse (the part that lies south), in Germany. It existed between 109 ...
).
, -
References
*
Footnotes
{{Authority control
House of Hesse
Landgraves of Hesse
1471 births
1500 deaths