House of Hesse
| House of Hesse | |
|---|---|
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| Country | Germany, Sweden, Finland |
| Titles |
Landgrave of Hesse (Lower, Upper, Kassel, Rotenburg, Wanfried, Rheinfels, Philippsthal, Philippsthal-Barchfeld, Marburg, Rheinfels, Darmstadt, Butzbach Homburg, Braubach, Itter) Elector of Hesse Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine King of Sweden King of Finland |
| Founded | 1264 |
| Founder | Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse |
| Final ruler | Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse |
| Current head | Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse |
| Dissolution | 1918 |
| Cadet branches |
Hesse-Kassel Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld Battenberg (Mountbatten) Hanau-Schaumburg Hesse-Nassau Hesse-Darmstadt (extinct) Hesse-Butzbach (extinct) Hesse-Braubach (extinct) Hesse-Homburg (extinct) Hesse-Itter (extinct) Hesse-Rotenburg (extinct) Hesse-Wanfried (extinct) Hesse-Marburg (extinct) Hesse-Rheinfels (extinct) |
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant, which ruled the region of Hesse, with one branch as prince electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918.
The origins of the House of Hesse begin with the marriage of Sophie of Thuringia, daughter of Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia and Elizabeth of Hungary with Henry II, Duke of Brabant from the House of Reginar. Sophie was the heiress of Hesse which she passed on to her son, Henry upon her retention of the territory following her partial victory in the War of the Thuringian Succession in which she was one of the belligerents.
Originally the western part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia, in the mid 13th century it was inherited by the younger son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and became a distinct political entity. From the late 16th century it was generally divided into several branches, the most important of which were those of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt. In the early 19th century the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to Elector of Hesse (1803), while the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became the Grand Duke of Hesse (1806), later Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. The Electorate of Hesse (Hesse-Kassel) was annexed by Prussia in 1866, while Grand Ducal Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt) remained a sovereign realm until the end of the German monarchies in 1918.
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Wikipedia