Continued from
http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=16966.msg549954#msg549954Hesse-Philippsthal and Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld were not immediate (
reichsunmittelbare) houses, like Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Homburg (by some regarded as immediate after 1768), but examples of mediate
paragium / partagium / pariage / paréage (shared control of a territory, with the
paragierter Herr / Landgraf having local jurisdiction, but not sovereignty). It was similar to the situation of the
abgeteilte Herren in Schleswig-Holstein, i.e. the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg and their cadets line Augustenburg and Beck / Glücksborg.
These cadet lines did not have any other immediate territories (just mediate lordships) to title themselves with besides the collective titles of the House of Hesse and as such they used the same titles as junior members of the main lines. (The designations Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld etc. were just like H-Kassel and H-Darmstadt just geographical terms for their territories or dynastic lines and not officially used as titles.)
All members of the House of Hesse were (and could bear the arms of):Landgraves of Hesse (the Landgraviate was divided between all lines, the larger part was controlled by Hesse-Kassel, partly due to control over the Hesse-Marburg division)
Counts of Nidda (controlled by Hesse-Darmstadt)
Counts of Ziegenhain (ended up controlled by Hesse-Kassel)
Counts of Katzenelnbogen (the title and some territory divided with the House of Nassau (the Orange-Nassaus are still Counts of K), but the Lower County by the Rhine was controlled by Hesse-Kassel and the Upper County south of the Main, around Darmstadt, was controlled by Hesse-Darmstadt and led to the designation Hesse extending south of the Main)
Counts of Diez (part of the Katzenelnbogen inheritance, but most of this part was controlled by the Nassaus, only smaller parts were Hessian)
Territories acquired after the main divisions in the 16th century, the titles used by at least the heads of both / all main lines:Counts of Schaumburg (divided with Hannover and the line of Lippe that called itself Schaumburg-Lippe, the Hessian part (exclave north of Kassel) was controlled by Hesse-Kassel
Princes of Hersfeld (secularized monastic territory controlled by Hesse-Kassel, location of the territories of some of the cadet lines)
Counts of Hanau and Rieneck, Lords of Münzenberg (Hanau was controlled by Hesse-Kassel, Rieneck became Bavarian and Münzenberg was controlled by Hesse-Darmstadt)
(Counts of Isenburg and Büdingen - Hesse-Darmstadt acquired these titles in the 17th century, but did not mediatize the territories (some parts ended up in Hesse-Kassel) untill the 19th century.)
In the 17th and 18th century you would probably see unofficial or semi-official references to Princes and Princesses of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, but these mere geographical and dynastical terms were never official. The rulers themselves were sometimes referred to as X,
Landgraf von Hessen zu Kassel / Darmstadt etc., i.e. Landgrave of Hesse at Kassel / Darmstadt etc.
Then, after the Napoleonic wars, you get limited titles for each main branch:
Hesse-Kassel: Electorate of Hessen (including the Principiality of Fritzlar), Electoral Prince and Prince and Princess of Hesse.
Hesse-Darmstadt: Grand Duchy of Hesse, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Prince and Princess of Hesse and by Rhine.
1815-1866 the title Landgrave of Hesse was first and foremost used by the reigning Prince of Hesse-Homburg (who added Prince of Hersfeld and Count of Katzenelnbogen, Diez, Ziegenhain, Nidda, Schaumburg, Isenburg and Büdingen, since he didn't have a general sovereign title like his cousins in Kassel and Darmstadt.
