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Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel Hessian Palatinate | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1567–1803 | |||||||||
 Flag .svg) Coat of arms (1736–1804) | |||||||||
.svg) Hesse-Kassel within theHoly Roman Empire in 1618 | |||||||||
| Status | Landgraviate | ||||||||
| Capital | Kassel | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion |
| ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| Landgrave | |||||||||
• 1567–1592 | William IV | ||||||||
• 1730–1751 | Frederick I, King of Sweden | ||||||||
• 1751–1760 | William VIII | ||||||||
• 1760–1785 | Frederick II | ||||||||
• 1785–1803 | William IX(Elector of Hesse to 1821) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1567 | ||||||||
• Raised toElectorate | 1803 | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1605 | 230,000[1] | ||||||||
• 1775 | 300,000[2] | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
TheLandgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (German:Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelledHesse-Cassel during its entire existence,[a] also known as theHessian Palatinate (German:Hessische Pfalz),[3][4] was a state of theHoly Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when theLandgraviate of Hesse was divided upon the death ofPhilip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest sonWilliam IV inherited the northern half of the Landgraviate and the capital ofKassel. The other sons received the Landgraviates ofHesse-Marburg,Hesse-Rheinfels andHesse-Darmstadt.
During theNapoleonic reorganisation of the Empire in 1803, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to an Electorate and Landgrave William IX became anImperial Elector. Many members of theHouse of Hesse-Kassel served in theDanish military, gaining high ranks and power in the realm because many Landgraves were married toDanish princesses. Members of the family who are known to have servedDenmark-Norway includePrince Frederik of Hesse-Kassel,Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, andPrince Charles of Hesse-Kassel. It had two votes to theReichstag: one for itself and one forHersfeld Abbey.
In 1801, Hesse was forced to cede land toRevolutionary France, but in 1803 it was compensated with land around the formerElectorate of Mainz and was elevated to the status ofElectorate as theElectorate of Hesse, officially ending the Landgraviate.
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was founded by William IV the Wise, the eldest son ofPhilip I. On his father's death in 1567, theLandgraviate of Hesse was divided into four parts. William IV received about half of the territory, withKassel as his capital. Hesse-Kassel expanded in 1604 whenMaurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel inherited the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg from his childless uncle,Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (1537–1604).
In 1605, Maurice becameCalvinist. When theThirty Years' War began, on the Protestant side. After being forced to cede some of his territories toHesse-Darmstadt, Maurice abdicated in 1627 in favour of his sonWilliam V. His younger sons receivedappanages, which created severalcadet lines in yet anotherpartition of Hesse. William V allied himself withGustavus Adolphus of Sweden and thenFrance, losing most of Hesse-Kassel whenImperial troops invaded. He died in exile in 1637, leaving his widowAmalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg to act as regent for their eight-year-old sonWilliam VI.
Amalie Elisabeth vigorously advanced the interests of Hesse-Kassel. After expelling Imperial troops from Hesse-Kassel, she sent troops to take the city ofMarburg, which her father-in-law had lost to their Hesse-Darmstadt relatives. At thePeace of Westphalia in 1648, Hesse-Kassel was further rewarded with most of theCounty of Schaumburg and the newly secularizedHersfeld Abbey. Amalie Elisabeth also introduced the rule of primogeniture to prevent Hesse-Kassel from being divided again in the future. However, her health was ruined by the stresses of the war, and she died in 1651.
Hesse-Kassel was very heavily militarized for its population during the war (aided by French subsidies and funds obtained from looting), maintaining an average of about 10,000 soldiers in the field during the 1635-1648 phase (including 11,040 at the conclusion of the war in October 1648).[5]
William VI, who came of age in 1650, was an enlightened patron of learning and the arts. He was succeeded by his sonWilliam VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, then an infant, who died in 1670. He was succeeded by his brotherCharles I. Charles' chief claim to fame is that hehired out his soldiers to foreign powers as auxiliaries, as a means of improving the finances of his principality. William V was succeeded by LandgravesWilliam VI andWilliam VII.Frederick I of Sweden, the nextlandgrave, became by marriageKing of Sweden. Although the Landgraviate was inpersonal union with Sweden from 1730 to 1751, the King's younger brother,Prince William, ruled in Kassel as regent until he succeeded his brother as William VIII.
On Frederick I's death in 1751, he was succeeded by his brotherWilliam VIII, who fought as an ally ofKingdom of Great Britain during theSeven Years' War. His successor,Frederick II, converted toCatholicism after a long line of Protestant Landgraves. When theAmerican Revolutionary War broke out, Frederick IIleased Hessian troops to Great Britain for service in America.
Hesse fought on the side of Coalition in theWar of the First Coalition, against the First French Republic. In 1801, they would cede territories on the west bank of the Rhine to France. Following the reorganization of the German states during theGerman mediatisation of 1803, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel gained land and was raised to theElectorate of Hesse and Landgrave William IX was elevated toImperial Elector, taking the titleWilliam I, Elector of Hesse. The principality thus became known asKurhessen (akaKurfürstentum Hessen), although still usually referred to as Hesse-Kassel.
In 1806, William I was dispossessed byNapoleon Bonaparte for his support of theKingdom of Prussia in theWar of the Fourth Coalition. Kassel was designated as the capital of a newKingdom of Westphalia, where Napoleon appointed his brotherJérôme Bonaparte as king. Following Napoleon's defeat in 1813, the elector was restored. At theCongress of Vienna, a number of Napoleonic electorates were elevated to kingdoms, and William tried to secure recognition as King of theChatti. However, he was rebuffed by the Great Powers, who listed him as a "Royal Highness" along with the other grand dukes.[6] To secure his pre-eminence over his cousin, theGrand Duke of Hesse in the former Hesse-Darmstadt, William chose to keep his title of Prince-Elector. The rulers of the Electorate of Hesse became the only Prince-Electors in theGerman Confederation, even though there was no longer a Holy Roman Emperor for them to elect.
The Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel were famous for renting out their army to other European nations during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was a widespread practice at the time for small countries to rent out troops to larger countries in exchange for subsidies. International jurists drew a distinction between mercenaries and auxiliaries. Mercenaries served in foreign armies as individuals, while auxiliaries were sent by their ruler to the aid of another ruler.[7]
Hesse-Kassel took the practice to an extreme, maintaining 5.3% to 7.3% of its population under arms in peacetime in its history, however was known to double that in times of war. This was a higher proportion than evenPrussia,[8] a country that was so heavily militarized that it was described as "not a country with an army, but an army with a country". The Hessian army served as a readily available reserve for other European nations.[9] During theAmerican Revolutionary War, theKingdom of Great Britain rentedthousands of German troops to fight in theThirteen Colonies, half of whom came from Hesse-Kassel and nearbyHesse-Hanau. Due to this, American colonists in the colonies referred to all German troops serving with the British with the synecdoche "Hessian".[10]
The village ofHessen Cassel, Indiana, nearFort Wayne, founded by German immigrants, is named for the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel.[citation needed]
Whereas in the mid-eighteenth century Austria and Russia had between approximately 1.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent of their population in the army, the percentage for Prussia for 4.2. ... In 1730, a year of peace but also of war preparations, Hesse-Cassel had 1 in 19 of the population under arms.
Because most of these soldiers-for-hire came from the Germany principality of Hesse, the Americans called all the European mercenaries Hessians.
| Preceded by | Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel 1567–1803 | Succeeded by |
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1 Part of theThree Bishoprics. 2Nomeny after 1737. 3 withoutReichstag seat. 4 until 1736. 5 JoinedSwiss Confederacy in 1515. Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | |||||
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