Lordship of Hanau Herrschaft Hanau | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13th century – 1429 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
| Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Hanau | ||||||||
| Government | Lordship | ||||||||
| Historical era | Late medieval | ||||||||
• Established | 13th century | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1429 | ||||||||
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Roman Catholic; ruled by Lords; language: German | |||||||||
The Lordship of Hanau was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1429 it was promoted to become a county.
The territory of Hanau stretched along the northern bank of the Main river from east of Frankfurt am Main to east of Hanau. This area was called "Amt Buchen". From the 13th century it grew to include areas in the valley of the Kinzig, in the Spessart mountains, areas north of Frankfurt and south of the Main river around Babenhausen.
In documents issued by the Archbishop of Mainz from 1122 two witnesses named after the castle of Wachenbuchen or simply "Buchen" (today part of the town of Maintal) are listed several times. They were Dammo of Buchen and his brother Siegebodo of Buchen. Dammo later called himself Dammo of Hanau. Hanau was a castle erected in a sharp bend of the Kinzig river a short distance before it flows into the Main river. The oldest mention of the castle dates to 1143. Dammo had a son who called himself Arnold of Hanau.
Starting in 1166/68 a noble family arose who initially titled themselves after the castle of Dorfelden, but – starting in 1191 – they took on the title "of Hanau". The relationship between the families "of Buchen" and "of Dorfelden" is not clear. But since this time, the Genealogy of the "of Hanau" family is documented without interruption until the last male member died in 1736.
Starting with Reinhard I the territory of Hanau was enlarged by a series of profitable marriages and political moves usually executed in alliance with the archbishop and elector of Mainz. Reinhard I married Adelheid of Münzenberg, daughter of Ulrich II of Hagen-Münzenberg. The family of Hagen-Münzenberg was not a noble one but of ministerialis origine and immensely wealthy. Ulrich II of Hagen-Münzenberg had no male heirs but six daughters instead. So most of the inheritance was divided between five of the daughters (the sixth one became Abbess of a convent founded for her). The remaining inheritance, including the castle of Münzenberg, were co-owned by the daughters and their families. Hanau inherited land in and around Babenhausen and lands within the Wetterau. Babenhausen was the only larger part of the Lordship of Hanau located south of the Main river. Another part of the Münzenberg inheritance was the name "Ulrich": All subsequent heads of the house of Hanau bore this name.
Reinhard I took part in a war archbishop Werner von Eppstein of Mainz fought against the counts of Rieneck, their main stronghold being the Spessart mountains. The counts of Rieneck lost and had to cede territory as well as a daughter, Elisabeth of Rieneck-Rothefels, to Hanau. She was married to Ulrich I, son of Reinhard I. Through this connection the house of Hanau inherited again in 1290: namely the area around Steinau in the upper valley of the Kinzig river. In 1300 Ulrich I was furthermore appointed governor of Wetterau by king Albrecht I, an area north of Buchen and Hanau. He and his descendants retained this office up to his grandson Ulrich III. On 2 February 1303 the king promoted the settlement of Hanau which had developed in front of the Hanau castle to the level of a town and granted it the right to hold a market. During the 14th century a protective wall was built around the town.
In 1320 king Ludwig the Bavarian transferred the district of Bornheimerberg, an area to the north and north-west of Frankfurt to Ulrich II as a security for a loan. Due to the lack of money neither the king nor any of his successors was able to claim it back. But the king also gave it as a security to the city of Frankfurt. This led to a feud between the Lords of Hanau and the City of Frankfurt which was resolved only in the 15th century by dividing Bornheimer Berg between the two parties. In 1434 emperor Sigismund changed the part held by Hanau into a fief.
In 1377 the Lordship of Hanau inherited more Rieneck territory: the abbey and the district of Schlüchtern, the castle and district of Schwarzenfels and the district of Brandenstein - all located north-east of the existing Hanau territory - as well as the district of Lohrhaupten located south east of the Lordship of Hanau in the Spessart range.
During the great plague, in 1349, the Jewish community in Hanau was massacred. Only two years later, in 1351, King Charles IV granted Ulrich III of Hanau the right to the protection taxes paid by the Jewish community within Hanau territory.
After some earlier regulations the house of Hanau granted itself a statute of primogeniture in 1375: Only the first born male inherited the Lordship. All other sons and all unmarried daughters had to join monasteries or convents. This statute was one of the earliest within Germany. It aimed to stabilize the territorial integrity of the Lordship of Hanau by avoiding subdivisions among heirs.
The "foreign" policy in the second half of the 14th century saw the Lords of Hanau – especially Ulrich III – in permanent conflict with the neighbouring city of Frankfurt. At one point Ulrich III was acting as representative of the emperor in the city and had laid claim to the imperial forest to the south of the city as well as the northern city districts of Bornheimerberg and Bockenheim. The city of Frankfurt, using its financial power by granting the emperor a large credit, managed to have Ulrich III removed as imperial representative and to take over the forest. The Lordship of Hanau kept most of area north of Frankfurt but never had another opportunity to take over Frankfurt itself again.
Hanau remained an ally of the emperors. As a reward in 1429 emperor Sigismund granted Reinhard II of Hanau the title of a count. From this time on the Lordship of Hanau is called the County of Hanau.
Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its station is a major railway junction and it has a port on the river Main, making it an important transport centre. The town is known for being the birthplace of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and Franciscus Sylvius. Since the 16th century it was a centre of precious metal working with many goldsmiths. It is home to Heraeus, one of the largest family-owned companies in Germany.
The County of Hanau was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire, evolved out of the Lordship of Hanau in 1429. From 1456 to 1642 and from 1685 to 1712 it was divided into the County of Hanau-Münzenberg and the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg. After both lines became extinct the County of Hanau-Münzenberg was inherited by the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg by the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1736.
Partenstein is a community in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Partenstein. Partenstein is located on Bundesstraße 276.
Flörsbachtal is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population close to 2,400. Flösbachtal contains both the oldest parish and the youngest settlement established in the Spessart hills. Located within the municipal territory is the Hermannskoppe, the highest elevation in the Hessian part of the Spessart and the Wiesbüttmoor, a rare hanging bog.
Johann Reinhard III of Hanau-Lichtenberg was the last of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg. He reigned from 1680 to 1736. From 1712 to 1736, he also reigned the County of Hanau-Münzenberg.
Count Johann Reinhard I of Hanau-Lichtenberg ruled the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg from 1599 to 1625.
Philipp Reinhard of Hanau-Münzenberg from 1680 to 1712 in the County of Hanau-Münzenberg.
Count Phillip III of Hanau-Münzenberg ruled the County of Hanau-Münzenberg from 1529 until his death.
Philipp IV of Hanau-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 Philipp III. He was very interested in alchemy.
Reinhard II of Hanau was Lord of Hanau and from 1429 Count of Hanau. He was one of the most important member of the House of Hanau.
Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg was Count of Hanau. The county was divided between him and his nephew, Count Philipp I "the Younger". Philipp the Elder's part of the county was later called Hanau-Lichtenberg; Philipp the Younger's part is known as Hanau-Münzenberg.
Count Philipp I of Hanau-Münzenberg, nicknamed Philipp the Younger, was a son of Count Reinhard III of Hanau and Countess Palatine Margaret of Mosbach. He was the Count of Hanau from 1452 to 1458. The county was then divided between him and his uncle Philipp the Elder. Philipp the Younger received Hanau-Münzenberg and ruled there from 1458 until his death.
Lord Ulrich III of Hanau was Lord of Hanau from 1346 until his death. He was also governor in the Wetterau.
Ulrich II, Lord of Hanau was Lord of Hanau from 1305/1306 until his death.
Ulrich IV, Lord of Hanau (1330/40–1380) was Lord of Hanau from 1369 or 1370 until his death. Based on the estimated year his parents married, he is assumed to have been born between 1330 and 1340. He was the son of Ulrich III of Hanau and Adelaide of Nassau.
Wetterau Association of Imperial Counts was an association of countly families in the Wetterau and surrounding areas. It originated in the late Middle Ages and was formally disbanded when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806.
Reinhard I, Lord of Hanau is the ancestor of the House of Hanau.
Ulrich I, Lord of Hanau was the ruling Lord of Hanau from 1281 until his death.
The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in 1736 it went to Hesse-Darmstadt, minor parts of it to the Hesse-Cassel. Its centre was in the lower Alsace, the capital first Babenhausen, later Buchsweiler.
The County of Hanau-Münzenberg was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged when the County of Hanau was divided in 1458, the other part being the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg. Due to common heirs, both counties were merged from 1642 to 1685 and from 1712 to 1736. In 1736 the last member of the House of Hanau died and the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel inherited the county.
