Wetterau Association of Imperial Counts was an association of comital 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.
Until the days of the Hohenstaufen, the Wetterau area was characterized by on the one hand a number of royal possessions, on the other hand a large number of small-scale territories held by counts or knights and imperial cities.
When the Hohenstaufen and Münzenberg families had died out by 1255, the various political forces in the Wetterau area became more apparent, in particular the large countly families of Hanau, Eppsten, Falkenstein and Isenburg-Büdingen. Other forces in the area were the Burgraviate of Friedberg, the Kaiserpfalz at Gelnhausen, associations of the lower nobility, Free Courts (in particular the court at Kaichen) and the cities of Friedberg, Frankfurt, Wetzlar and Gelnhausen. Since there was no dominant power and the area was located in the field of tension between the Landgraviate of Hesse and the Archbishopric of Mainz, the King retained his formative influence and his role as an alliance partner of the various counts longer than in other areas. The King was represented by a Landvogt until at least 1419. His area of responsibility reached further south and west than the later association of imperial counts. The Vogt was usually a member of one of the leading families of the area and would use his position to pursue his own territorial interests.
The Late Medieval Perpetual Public Peace policy initially led to mixed alliances of higher and lower nobility in the Wetterau, including local knights, lords and counts. These associations formed the nucleus of the area's regional identity in a time of increasing distance between the social classes. Four stabilizing elements can be discerned during the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early modern era:
The association was founded in 1422, as a successor organization to the imperial bailiff and the Perpetual Public Peace alliances. The trigger was probably a conflict between the Counts of County of Katzenelnbogen and the Landgraves of Landgraviate of Hesse when the latter attempted to expand its territory at the expense of the former and other counts and lords in the region. Among the initial members were:
Although the counts and lords in the area bounded by the Rhine, the Main, the Vogelsberg mountains and the Rothaar range were all trying to create a common political organisation, the boundary of the area was blurred, both territorially and in terms of responsibilities. Neither the legal status of the Association, nor the territorial boundaries of the individual principalities were defined with any degree of precision.
In 1479, the counts of Katzenelnbogen died out and their territory fell to Hesse. Nassau took over the lead of the Wetterau Association. In 1495, the alliance between Nassau, Solms, and Hanau (which had been raised to a County in 1429) was renewed and strengthened by the accession of the noble families Reifenberg, Kronberg, Falkenstein, Lindheim, Dorheim and Staden. However, these families left the association a short time later, to form the Middle Rhine canton of the Association of Imperial Knights.
At the Diet of Worms in 1495, the Association was given a single vote in the Imperial Diet, to be shared among its members. From 1512, the Association regularly sent a representative to the Diet.
No later than 1525 an area crystallized in the Wetterau and Westerwald areas, where almost all land was held by immediate counts. From 1540, a permanent director of the association was active.
In 1565, the covenant was renewed by:
From the mid-16th Century, the counts all tried to form proper states out of their territories. They ran into the limits of what was politically feasible. They were hampered by a number of issues: their territories were small, neighbouring princes held customs and escort rights, parts of their territories were fiefs held from the same princes, and they were therefore considered vassals of those princes. As these issues made full statehood an unfulfilled dream, the Wetterau Association aimed to compensate the shortcomings of its members. The associations provided swift resolution for internal conflicts, and a coordinated approach to foreign threats. The association created and maintained a single economic and monetary space, with uniform policing and a uniform legal code (the Law Codes of Solms). Regulations pursuant to this uniformity were adopted by the association and then promulgated by each count in his own county, just like regulations adopted by the Emperor, the Diet, or the Imperial Circle. This promulgation was considered an important expression of sovereignty. The ability to keep the peace was seen as an expression of sovereign power.
In the 16th century, the Wetterau Association was the main organizing power opposing the expansionist policies of the Landgrave of Hesse. This was achieved in close cooperation with the House of Habsburg, in spite of the religious differences that occurred after 1517.
During the early phase of the Reformation, the counts used the circumstance to begin taxing the clergy. It wasn't until the 1530 that the counts began to issue Church Orders to organise the local church in their respective counties. Shortly before the Schmalkaldic War, the Association dropped its neutral stance on the issue and committed clear to the Augsburg Confession.
When Emperor Charles V prepared for war, the Counts felt forced to support the apparently stronger Protestant side, at least verbally, as its leader, Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, was their neighbour. During the war, the Counts remained neutral and hesitated long, before deciding in 1547 to support the Emperor, who was already winning the war. In the meantime, they rejected federal proposals and implemented the Augsburg Interim only nominally and — like almost all Protestant states — in practice prevented its implementation.
In 1576, the internal organization of the Association was reformed significantly. A treaty of correspondence stipulated that one of the participating counts, to be elected annually, would act as spokesman and representative of the Association. The spokesman would decide when and where the Association would meet, and set the agenda. This made it much more likely that a decision could be made, as the representatives of the counts could be briefed beforehand on the issues that would be discussed at the meeting.
Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hessen, is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of just over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area, is mainly located in Hesse.
Count William I of Nassau-Siegen, German: Wilhelm I. Graf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, nicknamed ‘the Elder’ or ‘the Rich’, was since 1516 Count of Nassau-Siegen and of half Diez. He descended from the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.
Gelnhausen is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of the eleven towns in the district. Gelnhausen has around 22,000 inhabitants.
Solms-Hohensolms-Lich was at first a County and later Principality with Imperial immediacy in what is today the federal Land of Hessen, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Solms, originally from Solms.
The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains.
Münzenberg Castle is a ruined hill castle in the town of the same name in the Wetteraukreis, Hesse, Germany. It dates from the 12th century. It is one of the best preserved castles from the High Middle Ages in Germany.
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.
Philipp Ludwig I, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg succeeded his father in the government of the County of Hanau-Münzenberg in 1561.
Count Reinhard IV of Hanau-Münzenberg succeeded in 1500 his father Philipp I of Hanau-Münzenberg (1449–1500) in the government of the County of Hanau-Münzenberg. He served as co-regent from 1496 onwards.
Philip III, Count of Nassau-Weilburg was a Count of the Nassau-Weilburg. Among his major achievements were the introduction of the Reformation, the foundation of the Gymnasium Philippinum in Weilburg and the start of the construction of Schloss Weilburg.
Lord Ulrich III of Hanau was Lord of Hanau from 1346 until his death. He was also governor in the Wetterau.
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.
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.
Rupert, Count of Nassau-Sonnenberg, nicknamed the Bellicose, was a son of Gerlach I, Count of Nassau and his second wife, Irmgard of Hohenlohe.
The Hessian War, in its wider sense sometimes also called the Hessian Wars (Hessenkriege), was a drawn out conflict that took place between 1567 and 1648, sometimes pursued through diplomatic means, sometimes by military force, between branches of the princely House of Hesse, particularly between the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was triggered by a division of inheritance following the death of the last landgrave of all Hesse, Philip I in 1567.
The County of Diez was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, centred on the Grafenschloss at Diez in Lahngau. The county is first attested in 1073 and seems to have been created from the territory of the Conradine dynasty after they relocated to Swabia. The Counts rose to prominence in the second half of the twelfth century as close partisans of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. During this period, it was known as the "Golden County".
Philip III of Falkenstein, Lord of Falkenstein, Münzenberg and Lich, Hesse was a member of the Lich line of the Falkenstein dynasty, son of Werner I of Falkenstein, Lord of Münzenberg and Falkenstein, who founded the Lich line, and his wife Mechtild of Diez.
The Imperial Palace at Gelnhausen, in German also called the Kaiserpfalz Gelnhausen, Pfalz Gelnhausen or Barbarossaburg, is located on the Kinzig river – originally on an island –, in the town of Gelnhausen, Hesse, Germany.
Lichtenstein Castle is a levelled spur castle on the hill of Burgberg Lichtenstein, 315 m above sea level (NN), near the Greifenstein village of Holzhausen on the old military High Road, that ran from Frankfurt via Wetzlar to Cologne. The castle site is situated to the north of, and above, the Ulmbach Reservoir in the Hessian county of Lahn-Dill-Kreis.
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