Landgrave John of Lower Hesse (c. 1278 – 14 February 1311) was a son of Landgrave

Henry I Henry I or Henri I may refer to: :''In chronological order'' * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry ...

of Hesse, from his second marriage with Mechthild of Cleves. John reigned from 1308 to 1311 as Landgrave in Lower Hesse.

Inheritance dispute

From 1292, there was an inheritance dispute in the

House of Hesse The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Reginar, 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 Peerage, Bur ...

, between Henry's sons from his two marriages, as his second wife demanded a share for her own children. This led to armed clashes which lasted until Henry's death. Henry the Younger, Henry's oldest son from his first marriage to Adelaide of Brunswick, had been co-ruler from 1284. At Mechtild's insistence, John was made co-ruler in 1296. Henry the Younger died in 1298 and his brother

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

took his place. The inheritance was eventually divided after Henry died in 1308. John received Lower Hesse with the capital

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 ...

and the imperial fiefs. His half-brother Otto I received the ''Land of the

Lahn The Lahn () is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the States of Germany, federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). ...

'', the later

Upper Hesse The term Upper Hesse () originally referred to the southern possessions of the Landgraviate of Hesse, which were initially geographically separated from the more northerly Lower Hesse by the . Later, it became the name of one of the three provinc ...

, with the capital

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

. Otto's part did not include imperial fiefs.

Reign

Hesse had mortgaged

Gudensberg Gudensberg () is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany. Since the municipal reform in 1974, the nearby villages of Deute, Dissen, Dorla, Gleichen, Maden and Obervorschütz have become parts of the municipality. Geography Gudensberg is situated ...

to the

Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg The Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg (), commonly known as the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg or Brunswick-Lüneburg, was an imperial principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the territory of present day Lower Saxony. In 1235, Otto I, Duke of ...

. In 1309, John conquered the city and forced Duke Albert II of Brunswick-Göttingen to accept his repayment. Emperor Henry VII appointed him protector of the free imperial cities of

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a town in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's Central Germany (geography)#Geographical centre, geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen ...

Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: *Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district ** Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city *Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost, ...

and

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the Goslar (district), district of Goslar and is located on the northwestern wikt:slope, slopes of the Harz ...

. Margrave

Frederick I Frederick I or Friedrich I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I ...

saw this as an intrusion into his Landgraviate of Thuringia and took up arms to stop the intrusion. The fight went badly for John and he had to retire to Kassel to recover.Johanna Elisabeth Wigand, ''Geschichte der Regenten von Hessen-Cassel'', Kassel, 1882, facsimile edition by Dieter Carl, Vellmar, 2001, , p. 7-8

Death

John died of the plague on 14 February 1311 in Kassel. He was buried in the Ahnaberg monastery. No further hostitlites between John and Frederick took place and John's plan to create a new fortified city on the Thuringian side of the river Fulda was never implemented. After John's death, Lower Hesse fell to Otto I.

Family

In 1306, John married Adelaide of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the daughter of Duke Albert II of Brunswick-Göttingen. Like her husband, she died of the plague in 1311 in Kassel. She was buried beside her husband in Annaberg monastery, Saxony. John and Adelaide had a daughter, Elisabeth (d. 1339). She married Otto VI of Ochsenstein.

External links

Historical Background

Footnotes

Landgraves of Hesse 1270s births Year of birth uncertain 1311 deaths 13th-century German nobility 14th-century German nobility {{Germany-noble-stub