Alsfeld given away?Alsfeld as a pawn in the Hessian Fratricidal War

During his lifetime, Landgrave Philip had defended the indivisibility of the land and established it in wills, yet after his death, the landgraviate was nevertheless divided. The eldest son, Wilhelm, received the Lower Principality of Hesse with Kassel; the second eldest son, Ludwig, the “Upper Principality” of Hesse-Marburg, i.e., Upper Hesse; the third son, Philip, the fortress of Rheinfels and the territory of the County of Katzenelnbogen; and the fourth son, Georg, the Upper County of Katzenelnbogen with the castles, towns, and districts of Darmstadt, Rüsselsheim, and Auerbach—what later became Hesse-Darmstadt.

The question of religious affiliation became a point of contention. In Marburg, the childless Landgrave Ludwig IV adhered to Luther’s teachings. After his death in 1604, disputes over Upper Hesse began. These led to the division of Upper Hesse following an arbitration court’s decision to grant the northern part around Marburg to Hesse-Kassel and the southeastern part, including Alsfeld, Grünberg, and Gießen, to Hesse-Darmstadt.

The conflicts between Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel over the Marburg inheritance, known as the “Hessian Fratricidal War,” continued throughout the Thirty Years’ War. It was not until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that a new treaty was reached. As a result, approximately one-quarter of Upper Hesse—the so-called “Marburg Portion” with the university city—went to Hesse-Kassel, while the remaining three-quarters of Upper Hesse (including Alsfeld) remained with Hesse-Darmstadt. (MNic)