Carte des Provinces de Hesse Rhenane et de Starkenburg

Title

Carte des Provinces de Hesse Rhenane et de Starkenburg

Description

Map shows the province of Starkenburg with its then capital Darmstadt and the province of Rheinhessen with Oppenheim.

ca. 1880

Artist

Malte-Brun (1816-1889)

Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun was a french Georapher and Map maker.Victor Adolphe Malte-Bruns' father, Conrad Malte-Bruns, was the founder of the Société de Géographie.

Historical Description

In the 12th century, Hessen was passed to Thuringia. In the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247–1264), Hessen gained independence and became a Landgraviate within the Holy Roman Empire. It shortly rose to primary importance under Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous, who was one of the leaders of German Protestantism. After Philip's death in 1567, the territory was divided among his four sons from his first marriage into four lines: Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Hesse-Darmstadt, Hessen-Rheinfels, and the also previously existing Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite soon (1583 and 1605), Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622, when Hessen-Homburg split off from Hesse-Darmstadt. In the late 16th century, Kassel adopted Calvinism, while Darmstadt remained Lutheran and subsequently the two lines often found themselves on different sides of a conflict, most notably in the disputes over Hessen-Marburg and in the Thirty Years' War, when Darmstadt fought on the side of the Emperor, while Kassel sided with Sweden and France. War of Hessen: The Landgrave Frederick II (1720–1785) ruled as a benevolent despot, from 1760 to 1785. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach toward diplomacy.He funded the depleted treasury of the poor nation by loaning 19,000 soldiers in complete military formations to Great Britainto fight in North America during the American Revolutionary War, 1776–1783. These soldiers, commonly known as Hessians, fought under the British flag. The British used the Hessians in several conflicts, including in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. For further revenue, the soldiers were loaned to other places as well. Most were conscripted, with their pay going to the Landgrave.