Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg Landgrafschaft Hessen-Homburg | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1622–1866 | |||||||||||
 Map of Hesse-Homburg (two parts, beige, withHomburg andMeisenheim) and the Middle Rhine | |||||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire State of theGerman Confederation | ||||||||||
| Capital | Homburg | ||||||||||
| Common languages | German | ||||||||||
| Religion | Protestantism | ||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||
| Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg | |||||||||||
• 1622–1638 | Frederick I(first) | ||||||||||
• 1848–1866 | Ferdinand(last) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1622 | ||||||||||
• Ceded byDarmstadt | 1668 | ||||||||||
• Ceded to Darmstadt | 1806 | ||||||||||
| 1815 | |||||||||||
• Inherited byGrand Duchy of Hesse1 | 1866 | ||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
• Total | 430 km2 (170 sq mi) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1848 | 22,800 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Hesse-Homburg was astate of theHoly Roman Empire and a sovereign member of theGerman Confederation, which consisted of the lordship of Homburg at the foot of theTaunus, which was then known asDie Höhe ("the Heights"). The reigning princes belonged to the Darmstadt line of theHouse of Hesse. It was created in 1622 by the Landgrave ofHesse-Darmstadt to be ruled by one of his sons, but from 1622 to 1768 and again from 1806 to 1815, the territory was part of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was briefly divided into Hesse-Homburg andHesse-Homburg-Bingenheim; but these parts were reunited in 1681. In 1815, it became a sovereign principality, expanded with the addition ofOberamt Meisenheim in theRhineland to give a total area of 221 km². When the reigning princely family died out in March 1866, the territory returned to Hesse-Darmstadt, but the latter was forced to cede the territory toPrussia in September of the same year after it was defeated in theAustro-Prussian War.
The landgraves of Hesse-Homburg were acadet branch of the Darmstadt branch of the House of Hesse, which existed from 1622 until 1866. Hesse-Darmstadt, like many principalities, was theoretically inherited throughprimogeniture. However, in practice, the younger sons were often endowed with a piece of land. Thus, the first landgrave of Hesse-Homburg,Frederick I (1585-1638), the youngest son ofGeorge I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1547-1609), received the territory of Homburg in 1622, after his brotherLouis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt had fallen significantly behind with hisappanage payments. Frederick I received the city andamt ofHomburg before the heights "with all prestige and authority" but "without princely power" and allowed to draw his appanage payments from the incomes of Homburg. The treaty governing this was concluded on 6 March 1622 and Homburg was handed over to Frederick on 23 July 1622.[1] The landgraves thus remained subordinate to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt underImperial law, owing ithomage, for example. Darmstadt was obliged to pay Homburg 15,000gulder annually, but generally did not manage to do so. The law of the time did not clearly distinguish between princely authority and a simple transfer of territory for economic purposes. Thus, Hesse-Homburg early began to seek independence. It succeeded in 1768, when a dynastic treaty was agreed, known as theVergleichspunktuation, in which Hesse-Darmstadt waived its sovereignty over Hesse-Homburg. In this treaty, the territory received wide-ranging internal sovereignty, but whether Hesse-Homburg thereafter possessedImperial immediacy is doubted by the historianBarbara Dölemeyer [de], among others: "Hesse-Darmstadt reserved for itself only the relationship with the Emperor and Empire; it represented Hesse-Homburg in theReichstag and in the assembly of theImperial circle and paid the Imperial and circle taxes for Homburg. Hesse-Homburg thus never possessed Imperial immediacy... Therefore, the incorporation of Homburg into... Hesse-Darmstadt between 1806 and 1816 can... probably not be called 'mediatization'."[2]
LandgraveFrederick II (1633-1708), the prince of Homburg "with the silver leg," was notable as aSwedish andBrandenburger general, who followed amercantalist economic policy and carried out numerous developmental projects, based on his experiences in the service of Brandenburg. These included the settlement ofHuguenot colonists atFriedrichsdorf. The resulting economic prosperity is evidenced by the earlyBaroqueBad Homburg Castle.
It is notable that five landgraves (Frederick VI, Louis, Philip, Gustave, and Ferdinand) were members of theMilitary Order of Maria Theresa.
At the end of the Holy Roman Empire, Hesse-Homburg consisted of the settlements ofDillingen [de],Dornholzhausen [de],Espa, Langgöns [de;Espa],Friedrichsdorf,Gonzenheim [de],Homburg,Köppern [de],Oberstedten,Seulberg [de] and half ofPetterweil [de]. By a treaty signed on 26 April 1803, an exchange of territory between Hesse-Homburg andNassau-Usingen was agreed, which granted the village ofKirdorf to Hesse-Homburg, in exchange for Espa, which had been acquired by Hesse-Homburg in 1785.
Frederick V lost his lands in theGerman mediatisation of 1806, when Hesse-Homburg was incorporated into theGrand Duchy of Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt). But in 1815, theCongress of Vienna forced Hesse-Darmstadt to recognize the independence of Hesse-Homburg, which was increased by the addition ofMeisenheim (176 km²), part of the former Frenchdépartement ofSarre, located on the left side of the Rhine some 80 km southwest of Homburg.
Hesse-Homburg joined theGerman Confederation as a sovereign state on 7 July 1817. In 1848, the landgraviate had a population of 22,800 and a total land area of 430 km², thus making it one of the smallest states in the German Confederation.[3] The landgraviate was the only principality that was not one of the founding members of the Confederation, apart from theDuchy of Limburg ruled by the King of the Netherlands (added in 1839) and theDuchy of Schleswig (1848-1851) ruled by the Danish king. The landgraviate supplied the Homburg Scouts battalion in theFederal Army of the new Confederation. This battalion was stationed at theJägerkaserne [de] in Bad Homburg. Hesse-Homburg was represented by the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the Inner Council of theConfederate Diet, but had a seat of its own on the Plenary Council.
In 1833, baths were opened in Homburg, which brought unexpected wealth and attention to the landgraviate. A casino and gambling saloons soon opened, which also contributed greatly to the state's burgeoning economy. Several legal overtures were made by the diet in an attempt to end gambling, but all attempts failed until after Hesse-Homburg passed into Prussian hands.[4] Hesse-Homburg joined theCentral German Commercial Union in 1828, but Meisenheim became part of the Prussian customs area in 1830 and the Prussian-ledZollverein in 1834. In 1836, when the Hessian customs system was merged with the Zollverein, Homburg followed it into the Zollverein.On 8 December 1837, Hesse-Homburg joined theSouth German monetary convention, which had been formed inMunich on 25 August 1837. On 20 November 1838, it alsocoined the monetary convention that was formed atDresden on 20 July 1838. In accordance with these conventions, the landgravesLouis William andPhilip minted coins worth 1/2, 1, and 2gulders and coins worth 1, 3 and 6kreuzer. On 24 January 1857, Hesse-Homburg also joined theVienna monetary convention. Between 1858 and 1863, Hesse-Homburg minted 38,000Vereinsthaler. In 1848, the issuing ofbank notes was discussed in Hesse-Homburg, but the plan was not executed.[5] From 1855, theHomburger Bank was Hesse-Homburg's private note bank, which issued bank notes until 1876.
Despite the provisions of article 13 of theConstitution of the German Confederation, Hesse-Homburg had no constitution until 3 January 1850, whenLandgrave Gustav issued a constitution in response to theMarch Revolution. Alandtag [de] was elected in 1848, but it had no significant power. On 20 April 1852, the landgrave rescinded the constitution.
With the death ofLandgrave Ferdinand on 24 March 1866, the Hesse-Homburg dynasty's male line came to an end. Hesse-Homburg returned to the Grand Duke of Hesse, while Meisenheim fell toPrussia. In the peace treaty which concluded theAustro-Prussian War later that same year, Prussia took the other territories of Hesse-Homburg from Hesse-Darmstadt again. The former landgraviate was combined with theElectorate of Hesse,Duchy of Nassau, theFree City of Frankfurt and some former parts of theKingdom of Bavaria to form the PrussianProvince of Hesse-Nassau.[6] Meisenheim became part of Prussia'sRhine Province.
Today, the former Homburg district forms part of the German state ofHesse while Meisenheim forms part ofRhineland-Palatinate.
The landgraviate was anabsolute monarchy, headed by thelandgrave, who was simultaneouslyhead of government and head of administration. All decisions about laws and ordinances were made by the landgrave.
The most important administrative body in Hesse-Homburg was the Privy Council (Geheimrat), which was created by an ordinance of 12 May 1816.[7] It had wide powers, including dynastic affairs, foreign affairs, the direction of internal affairs, oversight of local government, judicial appeals, acts ofclemency, and the landgrave's personal affairs.
The landgrave presided over the Council and appointed its members. It had only an advisory function. The directors of the Privy Council were the highest-ranking civil servants in the landgravate. They were responsible for preparation and passage of matters reserved to the central government, as well as countersigning laws and ordinances. The following individuals held the role.
On 18 February 1818,Frederick V founded the State Government, which combined all formerly independent state colleges (consistories, chamber, forestry college, college medicum, and court) into a central authority, divided into three deputations:
Hesse-Homburg had no constitution except from a brief period between 1850 and 1852.[8]
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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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