Philipp Moritz, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg | |
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Philipp Moritz, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg
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Born | 25 August 1605 |
Died | 3 August 1638 Hanau |
(aged 32)
Buried | Church of St. Mary in Hanau |
Noble family | House of Hanau |
Spouse(s) | Sibylle Christine of Anhalt-Dessau |
Father | Philipp Ludwig II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg |
Mother | Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau |
Philipp Moritz of Hanau-Münzenberg (25 August 1605 – 3 August 1638 in Hanau) succeeded his father as Count of Hanau-Münzenberg in 1612.
Philipp Moritz was the son of Count Philipp Ludwig II of Hanau-Münzenberg and his wife, Princess Catharina Belgica (1578–1648), a daughter of William the Silent.
Philipp Moritz was seven years old when his father died and he inherited Hanau-Münzenberg. His father's will stipulated that his mother, Princess Catharina Belgica of Nassau, should be the sole regent and guardian, and the Imperial Supreme Court confirmed this.
At the age of eight, he was sent to the school that had been established after the Reformation in the buildings of the former monastery at Schlüchtern, which is today the Ulrich von Hutten-Gymnasium. In 1613, he continued his education at University of Basel (where his grandfather had also studied), in Geneva and Sedan.
Count Philipp Moritz's rule began with an altercation between himself and his mother, Princess Catharina Belgica, about the termination of the regency and nature and the size of her widow seat. She wanted to act as co-regent, even after his 25th birthday, the age of consent under the common law, despite an agreement closed in 1628 and an opinion from the Law Faculty of the University of Marburg. Philipp Moritz, tried to remove his mother from the government. They took their case to the Imperial Supreme Court and treated each other rudely; Philipp Moritz even removed his mother from the countly palace in Hanau. However, he compensated her for this in 1629. They never managed to properly wind up the regency. On the other hand, Philipp Moritz did manage to settle with his cousin Johann Ernst the fierce dispute which his father had had with Johann Ernst's father, his uncle Albrecht of Hanau-Münzenberg-Schwarzenfels, about the primogeniture and Albrecht's apanage.