Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Eschwege (9 May 1617 – 24 September 1655) was from 1632 until his death

Landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

of the

apanage An appanage, or apanage (; ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was ...

of Hesse-Eschwege, which stood under the suzerainty of

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate (), was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon t ...

Background

Frederick was born in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. As the eighth child of Landgrave

Maurice of Hesse-Kassel Maurice of Hesse-Kassel (; 25 May 1572 – 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned or Moritz, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627. Life Maurice was born in Kassel as the son of ...

, he was awarded Hesse-Eschwege by a decree of his father, which was imposed on his father by his eldest brother

William V William V may refer to: * William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969–1030) * William V of Montpellier (1075–1121) * William V, Marquess of Montferrat (1191) * William V, Count of Nevers (before 11751181) * William V, Duke of Jülich (1299–1361) * Will ...

shortly before Maurice had to abdicate to avoid an impending bankruptcy. At the instigation of his second wife, Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, Maurice set aside a quarter of his country, the so-called ''Rotenburg Quarter'', to be divided among his married sons. Of those, Herman IV received the Rotenburg area, Frederick received Eschwege and

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), ...

received the former Lower

County of Katzenelnbogen The County of Katzenelnbogen was an Imperial immediacy, immediate States of the Holy Roman Empire, state of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed between 1095 and 1479, when it was inherited by the Landgraves of Landgraviate of Hesse, Hesse. The es ...

, around Rheinfels Castle.

Life

Maurice himself lived with his second family in Eschwege until his death in 1632. His widow then moved to Rotenburg Castle with her children. The castle and town of Eschwege were pillaged and looted during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

at Easter 1637. Thus, 20-year-old Frederick likely only moved into his residence at Eschwege after his marriage in 1646 in Stockholm with Eleonora Catherine, the sister of King

Charles X Gustav of Sweden Charles X Gustav, also Carl X Gustav (; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. After his father's ...

. Frederick had a successful military career in the Swedish army, where he made it to the Major General. It is unknown whether he was active during the Thirty Years' War. During the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

, he commanded a Swedish battle group. Due to his military career, he spent much time at the Swedish court and rarely visited

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 Wer ...

. His three brothers ruled his share of the Rotenburg Quarter on his behalf. Even so, he cared about his subjects and contributed significantly to the reconstruction after the end of the Thirty Years' War. His wife mostly stayed in Eschwege and his children were born there.

Death and legacy

Frederick died on 24 September 1655 in Costian near

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Poland, during the

, in the army of his brother-in-law Charles X Gustav of Sweden. He was buried in the Market Church in Eschwege; it took two years before his coffin arrived there. Hesse-Eschwege fell to his brother Ernest of Hesse-Rheinfels. The castle in Eschwege was assigned to his widow as dower, but she retreated to her Swedish

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

Osterholz near Bremen. She died in 1692 and was buried in the royal crypt in the Market Church in Eschwege. The castle in Eschwege was mortgaged 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 ...

in 1667, to raise a dowry for his daughter Christina.

Title

His full title, as immortalized on his coffin, was: ''Frederick, the brave hero, Landgrave of Hesse, Prince of Hersfeld, Count of

Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbog ...

, Diez, Ziegenhain, Nidda and

Schaumburg Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hameln-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lübb ...

''.

Marriage and issue

Frederick married on 8 September 1646 in Stockholm with Eleonora Catherine (1626-1692), daughter of the Count Palatine John Casimir of Kleeburg (1589-1652) and sister of the Swedish king Charles X Gustav. They had the following children: * Margarete (b. Erfurt, 31 March 1647 – d. Erfurt, 19 October 1647). *

Christine Christine may refer to: People * Christine (name), a female given name Film * ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei'' * ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on Stephen King's novel of the same name * ''Christine'' ( ...

(b. Kassel, 30 October 1648 – d. Bevern, 18 March 1702), married in 1667 to Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Bevern. * Elisabeth (b. Eschwege, 7 April 1650 – d. Eschwege, 27 April 1651). *

Juliana Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus. Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, whi ...

(b. Eschwege, 14 May 1652 – d. IJsselstein, 20 June 1693), married in 1680 Johann Jakob Marchand, Baron of Lilienburg (1656–1703) * Charlotte (b. Eschwege, 3 September 1653 – d. Bremen, 7 February 1708), married firstly in 1673 with Prince August of Saxe-Weissenfels (son of Duke

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

) and secondly in 1679 with John Adolph, Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg (divorced 1693) * Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Eschwege (b. Eschwege, 30 November 1654 – d. Eschwege, 27 July 1655).

Sources and references

* Klaus Koniarek
Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege in ''Who was who in the Thirty Years' War''
* Chronicle of Wanfried 2006 (unpublished) * Hans-Günter Kielmann: ''Kleiner Führer durch die Rotenburger Quart 1627-1834 und das Fürstenhaus Hessen-Rotenburg'', Rotenburg an der Fulda, 2002, * Kurt Holzapfel: ''Neues vom 'tollen Fritz'. Zu seinem 300. Todestag'', in: ''Das Werraland'', vol. 7, 1955, p. 43-44 * Kurt Holzapfel: ''Landgraf Friedrichs Ende. Gefallen 1655, beigesetzt in Eschwege 1657'', in: ''Das Werraland'', vol. 9, 1957, p. 36-39 {{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick of Hesse-Eschwege Landgraves of Hesse House of Hesse 1617 births 1655 deaths 17th-century German nobility