Philip IV, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg

Philip IV, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg
Spouse(s) Eleonore of Fürstenberg
Noble family House of Hanau
Father Philip III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg
Mother Sibylle of Baden-Sponheim
Born 20 September 1514(1514-09-20)
Babenhausen
Died 19 February 1590(1590-02-19) (aged 75)
Lichtenberg
Burial Castle Church in Lichtenberg

Philip IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg (20 September 1514, Babenhausen – 19 February 1590,[1] Lichtenberg) was from 1538 to 1590 the reigning Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg. Before his accession he had already conducted government business on behalf of his father, Count Philip III. He was very interested in alchemy.

Contents

Government

Reformation

Unlike his father, Philip IV stood behind the Reformation. During his reign, the Lutheran faith took hold in the county. He appointed priests himself. After a long vacancy, he appointed a priest in Bouxwiller (German: Buchsweiler who was committed to the new doctrine. He worked with theologicians Erasmus Sarcerius and Philipp Neunheller, the reformer of the County of Hanau-Münzenberg. The new faith was widely introduced in 1544 and on 28 May 1548, Philip convened a synod at Bouxwiller with all the pastors of the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg, in order to commit them to the new doctrine. This apparently happened very hesitantly, and the process of changing the clergy to adherents of the Lutheran faith continued well into the 1560s.

Philip participated in the Diet of Augsburg in 1555, where the Peace of Augsburg was agreed, as well as the Diet in Augsburg in 1556, and the Diet of Speyer in 1570. The Catholic equipment that the, now Lutheran, churches no longer needed, was sold off from 1558 onwards. Philip exchanged the possessions of the secularized Patershausen Abbey for Brumath, which had been held by the Archbishopric of Mainz. In 1573, a chuch order was adopted in Hanau-Lichtenberg. In 1580, he was among the signatories of the Book of Concord.[2]

Guardianships in Hanau-Münzenberg

Count Philip Louis I was still a minor when he inherited Hanau-Münzenberg in 1561. Philip IV took up the guardianship, together with Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg. When Philip Louis I died in 1580, they again acted as guardian for his minor sons Philip Louis II and Albert of Hanau-Münzenberg. This time, there was a third guardian: Count Louis I of Sayn-Wittgenstein. Because Albert was only born in the year before his father's death and the fact that there were substantial religious disputes between the guardians, the guardianship could only be terminated in 1608. Philip IV, however, could be replaced by his son Philip V in this guardianship council in 1585.

Philip Louis I's widow, Countess Magdalena of Hanau-Münzenberg, married in 1581 with John VII "the Middle" of Nassau-Siegen, a son of John VI. Consequently, the wards, Philip Louis II and Albert, grew up at the court in Nassau-Dillenburg, a center of Calvinism and closely connected with the, also Calvinist, Palatine court. The Lutheran Philip IV opposed this Calvinist influence, as did his son Philip V after he took over. This opposition, however, was in vain. Philip V also tried to have the Lutheran Count Palatine Richard of Simmern-Sponheim appointed as an extra guardian. This attempt failed, despite a ruling in his favour by the Reichskammergericht. The Calvinist majority of the guardians prevented the population of Hanau-Münzenberg from paying homage to Richard. The majority then had the Electoral Administrator Count Palatine John Casimir of Simmern appointed as "upper guardian" — a purely honorary position — thereby strengthening the Calvinist majority among the guardians.

Territorial policies

The Archbishopric of Mainz also objected to the Calvinist policy of Hanau-Lichtenberg and saw to it that Catholicism prevailed in the condominiums of Ober-Roden and Rodgau. Philip IV managed to largely keep his county out of the armed conflicts of the second half of the 16th Century, that were often started under the pretext of religious differences.

Hanau-Lichtenberg owned half of the Lordship of Lichtenberg. In 1570, Count James of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, who owned the other half, died without a male heir and Philip IV manage to acquire his half as well. He had Lichtenberg Castle renovated and modernized by the military architect Daniel Specklin.

Philip IV tried to conclude an inheritance treaty between the two lines of Counts of Hanau, Hanau-Münzenberg and Hanau-Lichtenberg, to the effect that, should one of the lines die out, the other line would inherit. Such a treaty was eventually signed after his death, in 1610, so when the Hanau-Münzenberg line died out in 1642, Hanau-Lichtenberg inherited.

In 1565, Philip IV was appointed councillor to Emperor Maximilian II. Later, he became councillor to Maximilian II's successor Rudolf II.

Move to Alsace

He was the first Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg who saw the Alsatian possessions as the most important part of the county, rather than Babenhausen and he moved his residence there. Nevertheless, in 1578 he added a south wing to Babenhausen Castle. He also purchased Falkentein Castle and built the Château du Falkenstein on the castle grounds. The village of Philippsbourg developed around the château.

Old age and death

From 1585, the gradually transferred the business of government to his son, Philip V.

Philip IV died on 19 February 1590 in Lichtenberg.[3] Philip IV was the longest-lived member of the House of Hanau and also the count from Hanau, who has ruled the longest. A funeral sermon was published.[4] He was buried in the crypt he had created in the Castle Church in Lichtenberg.

Marriage and issue

Philip IV married on 22 August 1538 in Heiligenberg with Eleonore of Fürstenberg (born: 11 October 1523; died: 23 June 1544). They had the following children:

  1. Amalie (born: 23 February 1540 [5] in Bouxwiller; died: 1 May 1540).
  2. Philip V (born: 21 February 1541 in Bouxwiller; died: 2 June 1599).
  3. Anna Sibylle (born: 16 May 1542; died: 24 March 1612).
  4. Johanna (born: 23 May 1543 in Bouxwiller; died: 5 December 1599 in Babenhausen, buried there).
  5. Eleonore (born: 26 April 1544, Bouxwiller; died: 6 January 1585, buried in Ingelfingen[6]), married to Albert of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim-Langenburg (born: 28 May 1543; died: 16 November 1575). This marriage was childless.

Philip IV made his son Philip V marry, contrary to his otherwise Lutheran policy, with the distantly related Roman Catholic Ludowika Margaretha of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, daughter of James, the last Count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch. He tought her inheritance was more important than her religion.

Ancestors

References

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Document D1.1/1 in the Staatsarchiv Darmstadt says it was on 14 February 1590
  2. ^ Burkhard zur Nieden: Konfessionelle Gegensätze in der frühen Neuzeit, in: Hanauer Geschichtsverein: Der Dreißigjährige Krieg in Hanau und Umgebung = Hanauer Geschichtsblätter, vol. 45, 2011), ISBN 978-3-935395-15-9, p. 55-66
  3. ^ Document D7 1/1 in the Staatsarchiv Darmstadt says it was on 14 February 1590
  4. ^ see Will
  5. ^ Document A 12.6f in the Staatsarchiv Marburg, file 81 government Hanau, says it was on 9 March 1540
  6. ^ Schöner, p.13
Philip IV, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg
House of Hanau
Born: 20 September 1514 Died: 19 February 1590
Preceded by
Philip III		 Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg
1538-1590		 Succeeded by
Philip V