Hesse, as we know it today, runs south of Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, west of the Rhine River, north toward Westphalia, east over to Bavaria and to Thüringia.  It was not a particularly powerful German state in the Eighteenth Century.  A part of Hesse known as Hesse-Kassel was especially involved in providing mercenary troops to various European powers in exchange for subsidies.  One of their favorite partners was Prussia which the emperor in Vienna opposed because he saw the Prussians as a competitive force to himself.  At the first part of the century, Hesse-Kassel controlled Rheinfel Castle on the Rhine, the largest castle along the Rhine.  The emperor decided to take Rheinfel Castle away from Hesse-Kassel and to give it Hesse-Rotenburg, a much weaker state.  For years, the Landgrave Karl in Hesse-Kassel refused to surrender the castle.

(As an aside, the Photographic Essay on the CD that I have done has a few photos of Rheinfel Castle.  It was an enormous place which covered hundreds of acres.  It withstood all assaults until the French gained control in 1797 and blew the place up.)

Not only did the German states forge alliances and oppose states inside the empire, but they were in conflict with states outside the empire.  Karl, just mentioned, opposed the French and offered a refugee to the Huguenots when they had to leave France.  One of the side benefits of this policy was that the Huguenots were extremely skilled workers.  Their presence in Hesse was an aid to the economy in the thirty settlements of Huguenots.  Their presence was beneficial to banking and finance institutions and to commerce in general.  (Not long ago I wrote about the Button family who generally fell in the Huguenot category.)

The guilds had an ancient set of rules and rights, and were a governing body, to a degree that they were responsible to no one.  Some of their practices were anti-competitive and restrictive.  Karl, in 1693 and 1730, set aside some of their regulations and opened up commerce up to a degree.  Karl also tried to establish a road system, canals, and a limited postal service.  He also undertook several cultural improvements, which included new residences for his family and seats of higher education.

Karl’s son, Frederick I, ascended in 1720 to the Swedish throne through a fortunate marriage into the Swedish ruling line.  Frederick gave up his Hessian possessions to his brother William when their father died in 1730.  As we have seen in other contexts, the ruling houses of Europe were closely intertwined.

The Landgraves in Hesse-Kassel obtained Rheinfel Castle back and then they controlled a major portion of the Rhine River.
(04 Jan 03)