Lordship of Hanau
| Lordship of Hanau | ||||||||||
| Herrschaft Hanau | ||||||||||
| State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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 Coat of arms
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| Capital | Hanau | |||||||||
| Government | Lordship | |||||||||
| Historical era | Late medieval | |||||||||
| • | Established | 13th century | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 1429 | ||||||||
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| Roman Catholic; ruled by Lords; language: German | ||||||||||
The Lordship of Hanau was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1429 it was promoted to become a county.
The territory of Hanau stretched along the northern bank of the Main river from east of Frankfurt am Main to east of Hanau. This area was called “Amt Buchen”. From the 13th century it grew to include areas in the valley of the Kinzig, in the Spessart mountains, areas north of Frankfurt and south of the Main river around Babenhausen.
In documents issued by the Archbishop of Mainz from 1122 two witnesses named after the castle of Wachenbuchen or simply “Buchen” (today part of the town of Maintal) are listed several times. They were Dammo of Buchen and his brother Siegebodo of Buchen. Dammo later called himself Dammo of Hanau. Hanau was a castle erected in a sharp bend of the Kinzig river a short distance before it flows into the Main river. The oldest mention of the castle dates to 1143. Dammo had a son who called himself Arnold of Hanau.
Starting in 1166/68 a noble family arose who initially titled themselves after the castle of Dorfelden, but – starting in 1191 – they took on the title „of Hanau“. The relationship between the families “of Buchen” and “of Dorfelden” is not clear. But since this time, the Genealogy of the “of Hanau” family is documented without interruption until the last male member died in 1736.
Starting with Reinhard I the territory of Hanau was enlarged by a series of profitable marriages and political moves usually executed in alliance with the archbishop and elector of Mainz. Reinhard I married Adelheid of Münzenberg, daughter of Ulrich II of Hagen-Münzenberg. The family of Hagen-Münzenberg was not a noble one but of ministerialis origine and immensely wealthy. Ulrich II of Hagen-Münzenberg had no male heirs but six daughters instead. So most of the inheritance was divided between five of the daughters (the sixth one became Abbess of a convent founded for her). The remaining inheritance, including the castle of Münzenberg, were co-owned by the daughters and their families. Hanau inherited land in and around Babenhausen and lands within the Wetterau. Babenhausen was the only larger part of the Lordship of Hanau located south of the Main river. Another part of the Münzenberg inheritance was the name “Ulrich”: All subsequent heads of the house of Hanau bore this name.
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Wikipedia