Ancestral Trails 2016 » Philip von HESSE I (1504-1567)

Personal data Philip von HESSE I 

• He was born on November 13, 1504 in Marburg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Hessen, Germany.
• Title: Landgrave of Hesse
• He died on March 31, 1567 in Kassel, Kassel, Hessen, Germany, he was 62 years old.
• A child of William von HESSE and Anna von MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN

Household of Philip von HESSE I

He is married to Christine von SAXONY.

They got married on December 11, 1523 at Kassel, Hesse-Kassel, Germany, he was 19 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Elizabeth von HESSE  1539-1582 
2. Anna von HESSE  1529-1591 
3. Christine von HESSE  1543-1604 
4. Georg von HESSE-DARMSTADT  1547-1596 
5. Wilhelm von HESSE-KASSEL  1532-1592 
6. Ludwig von HESSE-MARBURG  1537-1604
7. Philipp von HESSE-RHEINFELS  1541-1583
8. Agnes von HESSE  1527-1555 

• The couple has common ancestors.



Notes about Philip von HESSE I

Philip I of Hesse (13 November 1504 - 31 March 1567), nicknamed der Großmütige (the "magnanimous") was a leading champion of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany.

Philip was the son of Landgrave William II of Hesse and his second wife Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. His father died when Philip was five years old, and in 1514 his mother, after a series of struggles with the Estates of Hesse, succeeded in becoming regent on his behalf. The struggles over authority still continued, however. To put an end to them, Philip was declared of age in 1518, his actual assumption of power beginning the following year. The power of the Estates had been broken by his mother, but he owed her little else. His education had been very imperfect, and his moral and religious training had been neglected. Despite all this, he developed rapidly as a statesman, and soon began to take steps to increase his personal authority as a ruler.

The first meeting of Philip of Hesse with Martin Luther took place in 1521, at the age of 17, at the Diet of Worms. There he was attracted by Luther's personality, though he had at first little interest in the religious elements of the gathering. Philip embraced Protestantism in 1524 after a personal meeting with the theologian Philipp Melanchthon. He then helped suppress the German Peasants' War by defeating Thomas Müntzer at the Battle of Frankenhausen.

Philip refused to be drawn into the anti-Lutheran league of George, Duke of Saxony, in 1525. By his alliance with John, Elector of Saxony, concluded in Gotha on 27 February 1526, he showed that he was already taking steps to organize a protective alliance of all Protestant princes and powers. At the same time, he united political motives with his religious policy. As early as the spring of 1526, he sought to prevent the election of the Catholic Archduke Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor. At the Diet of Speyer in the same year, Philip openly championed the Protestant cause, rendering it possible for Protestant preachers to propagate their views while the Diet was in session, and, like his followers, openly disregarding ordinary Roman Catholic ecclesiastical usages.

Marriage and children
Philip married in Dresden on 11 December 1523 Christine of Saxony (daughter of George, Duke of Saxony) and had in this marriage 10 children:
Agnes (31 May 1527 - 4 November 1555), married:
in Marburg on 9 January 1541 to Elector Maurice of Saxony;
in Weimar on 26 May 1555 to Duke John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony.
Anna (26 October 1529 - 10 July 1591), married on 24 February 1544 to Count palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken.
William IV of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (24 June 1532 - 25 August 1592).
Philip Louis (29 June 1534 - 31 August 1535).
Barbara (8 April 1536 - 8 June 1597), married:
in Reichenweier on 10 September 1555 to George I, Duke of Württemberg;
in Kassel on 11 November 1568 to Count Daniel of Waldeck.
Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg (27 May 1537 - 9 October 1604).
Elisabeth (13 February 1539 - 14 March 1582), married on 8 July 1560 to Louis VI, Elector Palatine.
Philip II of Hesse-Rheinfels (22 April 1541 - 20 November 1583).
Christine (29 June 1543 - 13 May 1604), married in Gottorp on 17 December 1564 to Duke Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp.
George I of Hesse-Darmstadt (10 September 1547 - 7 February 1596). Through George, Philip is an ancestor to the current British monarch Elizabeth II.

Also, on 4 March 1540 he morganatically married Margarethe von der Saale, while remaining married to Christine of Saxony. With Margarethe he had the following children:
Philipp, Count zu Dietz (12 March 1541 - 10 June 1569).
Hermann, Count zu Dietz (12 February 1542 - ca. 1568).
Christopher Ernst, Count zu Dietz (16 July 1543 - 20 April 1603).
Margretha, Countess zu Dietz (14 October 1544 - 1608), married:
in Kassel on 3 October 1567 to Count Hans Bernhard of Eberstein;
in Frauenberg on 10 August 1577 to Count Stephan Heinrich of Everstein.
Albrecht, Count zu Dietz (10 March 1546 - 3 October 1569).
Philipp Konrad, Count zu Dietz (29 September 1547 - 25 May 1569),
Moritz, Count zu Dietz (8 June 1553 - 23 January 1575).
Ernst, Count zu Dietz (12 August 1554 - 1570).
Anna, died young in 1558.

On his death, his territories were divided (Hesse becoming Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Marburg, Hesse-Rheinfels, and Hesse-Darmstadt) between his four sons by his first wife, namely William IV of Hesse-Kassel, Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg, Philip II of Hesse-Rheinfels, and Georg I of Hesse-Darmstadt.
SOURCE: Wikipedia

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Timeline Philip von HESSE I

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