John the Younger, returned to power in 1635 throughout the Nassau-Siegen region, reinstalled his former repressive measures. He did not live long enough to see any permanent fruits of his efforts, for he died in 1638. His son, Johann Franz Desideratus, inherited his father's possessions. The next to die was John the Younger's brother, William, who died without heirs, in 1642. William had ruled the western zone of Nassau-Siegen, which included the villages so well known to the Germanna people.
The war turned favorably for the Protestants in 1645 and the surviving Protestant brother, John Maurice, and his Catholic nephew, John Francis Desideratus, agreed to abide by the will of Maurice's father. John Maurice received both of the Protestant districts. The nephew had eastern Nassau-Siegen, up to the city of Siegen, where both men had their capitals. However, many of the Protestants who were close to the eastern side of Siegen remained Protestant, even though the Catholic nephew tried to install Catholicism throughout his realm.
This state of affairs continued for a hundred years. The Hofmans of Eisern lived in the Catholic region, but they remained staunchly Protestant. I have told of the diary of William Hofman who came to America (Pennsylvania) shortly after 1740. He recorded the conflicts between the Protestants and the Catholics in Eisern. From his writings, it is possible to conclude that one of his reasons for emigrating might have been the religious conflicts between the Catholic overlords and the German Reformed members. This William was a younger brother of the 1714 John Hofman.
Both John Maurice, Protestant, reigning over two-thirds of Nassau-Siegen, and John Francis, over the remaining third of Nassau-Siegen, were soldiers in the latter part of the Thirty Year's War. In due course, both became "Princes" of the Holy Roman Empire. Nassau-Siegen was thus divided into two parts, both of which had their capital in the town of Siegen.
Siegen itself was a very old town built on the confluence of three waterways, of which the Sieg River was the major one. It was surrounded by a wall with three gates. One was called the "Cologne" gate, no doubt because it opened onto the road to Cologne. One gate was called the Tanner's gate, probably because the factories of the tanners lay outside the town. In 1741, the city was still within this wall and the population was about three or four thousand. Though part of the city wall still stands, the city has expanded beyond the wall and become a much larger city complete with a University and Museum.
By World War II, the city was a significant industrial city and it became a target for the bombs of the Allied Forces. Many buildings were destroyed so that the present city is quite modern.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.