Hi everybody,
I just am curious about why the Hesse-Kassel family doesn't has its own topic? It is really hard
to find information and pictures/paintings about the Hesse-Kassel family at one place or to find at all.
So I invite you all to share your information and pictures here.
Let´s go
The story began with Philipp I Landgrave of Hesse, the "magnanimous", who was, by the way, a leading champion of the Reformation, but had a not very fair private life: he was married to the sickly princess Christine of Saxony, who borne him ten children, and, at the same time, he married, morganatically and bigamously, Margarethe von der Saale, who gave him not less than nine children.
When Philipp I was dead on march 1567, his territories were divided between the four sons of his first wife Christine.
William became William IV of Hesse-Kassel, Louis became Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg, Philipp became Philipp II of Hesse-Rheinfelds and the younger, Georg, became Georg I of Hesse-Darmstadt.
William IV of Hesse-Kassel, the founder of the first male line, took a part in the safeguard of the Lutheran Reformation, but he gained fame cause his patronage of the arts and science, and for being, himself, a pioneer in astronomical research. He married princess Sabine of Württemberg, who gave him eleven children, but he had also illegitimate issue by his mistress Elisabeth Wallenstein.
The older son of William and Sabine, was the landgrave
Moritz of Hesse-Kassel. He married twice: firstly, with Agnes zu Solms-Laubach and, secondly, with Julianne von Nassau-Siegen. Moritz had been raised in the Lutheranism, but he converted to Calvinism. He also had time enough to ruined financially his family
And now it´s time for landgrave
William V of Hese-Kassel, son of Moritz by Agnes zu Solms-Laubach. He was married to Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg. They suffered the War of the Thirty Years: William was dead in exile, and Amalie Elisabeth, mother of twelve children, was energetic and strong-willed enough to act as a regent for their son,
William VI.
By the way, she was not only the mother of William VI, but also of Charlotte, who married Karl Ludwig of the Paltz and had a daughter, Charlotte Elisabeth, named Liselotte...The famous Liselotte of Orleans was a grand-daughter of our Amalie Elisabeth.
Landgrave
William VI of Hesse-Kassel married Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg. They became the parents not only of
William VII but also of two famous princesses of this hessian branch:
Charlotte Amalie, by her marriage with Christian V queen of Denmark, and
Elisabeth Henriette, by her marriage with Frederick I queen of Prussia (note: the two ladys were paternal aunts of Liselotte of the Paltz).
