The earliest recorded inhabitants of the district were the Chatti, whose chief settlement Mattium, probably near Gudensberg, was destroyed by Germanicus in 15 a.d. The Chatti, merged in the Franks, migrated westward, and their place in Hesse was taken by the Saxons. Among these, when conquered by the German kings, several “gaus” or earldoms were founded, some of whose possessors after the death of Charlemagne rose to great power. Two families—those of Werner and of Giso, count of Gudensberg—became latterly the most important. In 1130 the heiress of the G isos married the landgrave of Thuringia, who thus became the overlord of Hesse. In 1247 the Thuringian male line became extinct, and Hesse, along with the other possessions of the landgrave, was involved in a prolonged war of succession. In 1263 Sophia, duchess of Brabant and niece of the last landgrave, received by treaty the landgraviate of Hesse, as it was from that time called, and two years later resigned it in favour of her son, Henry the Child, the ancestor of the present house of Hesse. Till the death of Philip the Magnanimous in 1567, Hesse continued to be regarded as one state, though sometimes shared by two rulers; but at that date Philip’s four sons divided the landgraviate into Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Marburg, Hesse-Rheinfels, and Hesse-Darmstadt. Of these the second and third lapsed by inheritance in 1583 and 1604 to the others, which became the chief lines. The small landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg was formed in 1596 of part of Hesse-Darmstadt. Hesse-Darmstadt, since the annexation of the other two to Prussia in 1866, has been the only independent part of Hesse left, and generally receives the common name.

Hesse-Nassau is a province of Prussia, formed in 1866 from parts of Hesse-Cassel and the dukedom of Nassau. Hesse-Philippsthal was a collateral line of the house of Hesse-Cassel, founded in 1630, and extinct in 1820. Hess-Barchfeld, Hesse-Butzbach, Hesse-Rothenburg, Hesse-Rumpenheim, and Hesse-Wanfried were collateral lines of little importance.

For further information see Tenthorn, Ausführliche Geschichte des Hessen, 1777-80; Wenek, Hessische Landesgeschichte, 1783 and 1803; Pfister, Ueber den Chattischen und Hessischen Stamm und die älteste Geschichte des Chattischen Stammes, 1868; Hoffmeister, Historisch-genealogisches Handbuch über alle Linien des Regentenhauses Hessen, 1874; Rommel, Geschichte von Hessen, 1820-58, 10 vols.; Heppe, Hessische Kirchengeschichte, 1876.

The line of Hesse-Cassel was founded by William IV., surnamed the.Wise, eldest son of Philip the Magnanimous. On his father’s death in 1567 he received one half of Hesse, with Cassel as his capital; and this formed the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel. Additions were made to it by inheritance from his brother’s possessions, while, as compensation for losses sustained in the Thirty Years’ War, a large part of the countship of Schaumburg and other territory was acquired towards the middle of the 17th century. Charles I., who ascended the throne in 1670, was the first ruler who adopted the system of hiring his soldiers out to foreign powers as mercenaries, as a means of improving the national finances. Frederick I., the next landgrave, had become by marriage king of Sweden, and on his death was succeeded in the landgraviate by his brother William VIII., who fought as an ally of England during the Seven Years’War. From , his successor Frederick II., v ’ ho had become a Roman Catholic, 22,000 Hessian troops were hired by England for about £3,191,000, to assist in the war against the North American colonies. The reign of the next landgrave, William IX., was an important epoch in the history of Hesse-Cassel. Ascending the throne in 1785, he took part in the war against France a few years later, but in 1795 peace was arranged by the treaty of Basel. For the loss in 1801 of his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine he was in 1803 compensated by some of the former French territory round Mainz, and at the same time was raised to the dignity of Kurfürst or Elector William I. In 1806 he made a treaty of neutrality with Napoleon, but after the battle of Jena the latter, suspecting William’s designs, occupied his country, and expelled him. Hesse-Cassel was then added to Jerome Bonaparte’s new kingdom of Westphalia; but after the battle of Leipsic in 1813 the French were driven out and the elector restored. By the Vienna congress, where he intrigued in vain to be recognized as a king, several changes in the extent of his dominion were made. On his return to his sovereignty, William promised to grant his people a new and popular constitution; but just as the draft was ready to become law by his signature, he drew back, dissolved the diet, and continued to rule without again summoning it. His son, William II., who succeeded in 1821, pursued the same line of policy, and carried on the government without reference to the diet. The discontent which this conduct excited was intensified by the elector’s shameless connexion with the countess of Reichenbach. Disturbances took place, and the elector, after attempting to pacify his people, appointed his son as regent in 1831, and withdrew to Frankfort, where he died in 1847. The regent, becoming Elector Frederick William I., startled by the Paris revolution of 1848, made many promises to the people, and carried some of them into effect, but on the reaction of 1850, which spread over all Germany, snatched at the first pretext for returning to the former order of things. He attempted to levy the usual taxes without obtaining the consent of his chambers, but the commotion thus caused was so great that he was forced to retire to Wilhelmsbad, along with his very unpopular minister, Hassenpflug. He induced the diet of princes then assembled at Frankfort to support him, and Austrian and Bavarian troops entered Hesse-Cassel to enforce obedience. Prussia, iu alarm, immediately occupied the northern part of the country, and a civil war was barely avoided by arrangement. The elector, however, scarcely changed his policy, and the next sixteen years were occupied with disputes between the chambers and the Government. In 1866 Hesse-Cassel joined Austria against Prussia. Prussian troops immediately overran the country, and on the treaty with Austria, the electorate was annexed to the Prussian kingdom. The elector was carried a prisoner to Stettin, and was only released on resigning his claims to the throne of Hesse-Cassel. He died in 1875.

See Wippermann, Kurhessen seit den Freiheitskriegen, 1850; Röth, Geschichte von Hessen-Kassel, 1856; Gräfe, Der Verfassungskampf in Kurhessen, 1851; and works under Hesse.

George I., youngest son of Philip the Magnanimous, received on his father’s death in 1567 the upper countship of Katzenelnbogen, and, selecting Darmstadt as his residence, became the founder of the Hesse-Darmstadt line. Additions to the territory were made both in his reign and in that of his son, Louis V. The landgraviate, as it was at first styled, suffered severely from war and its attendant famines and plagues. The Thirty Years’ War, a war of succession with Hesse-Cassel, and the Seven Years’ War dealt heavy blows at its prosperity. Louis X, who succeeded his father in 1790, involved it in further contests. Joining at first the allies against France, he was compelled in 1793 by the latter power to sign a treaty of neutrality. By the treaty of Lunéville he gave up his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, receiving as compensation a very much larger district on the right bank. From 1805 till 1813 he was compelled to supply Napoleon with a contingent of troops against the other Germans. In 1806, as member of the Confederation of the Rhine, he assumed the title of grand-duke Louis I. of Hesse. After the battle of Leipsic in 1813, when Napoleon was defeated, Louis again joined the allies. By the decision of the Vienna congress in 1815 considerable change in his dominions was made; but though he was forced to recognize the independence of Hesse-Homburg, which since the beginning of the century had been incorporated with Hesse-Darmstadt, his title of grand-duke was confirmed. Within his country a growing desire for political liberty had been making itself apparent, and in 1820 the grand-duke promulgated a new constitution. This was rejected by the people, and attempts were made in vain by successive diets to frame a constitution pleasing alike to the ruler and the ruled. Louis II.

succeeded his father in 1830. His policy in no degree lessened the popular discontent. His son Louis III., who succeeded in 1848, alarmed by the events in Paris of that year, and by commotions in his own country, gave way a little, but under the reaction of 1850 he again restored matters to their old state. Since that time, although no radical change has been effected, the liberal party in the state has been steadily gaining ground. In 1866 Hesse-Darmstadt supported Austria against Prussia, with the result that it had to pay a heavy indemnity and cede certain provinces, including the lately acquired Hesse-Homburg, to Prussia. In 1867 it entered the North German Confederation, and in 1870 the German Confederation. Louis IV. succeeded his uncle in 1877.

A list of works on Hesse is to be found in Walther’s Literarisches Handbuch für Geschichte und Landeskunde von Hessen, 1841. See also Steiner, Geschichte des Grossherzogthums Hessen, 5 vols., 1833—4; Türckheim, Histoire généalogique de la maison de Hesse, 1819-20; Heber, Geschichte des Grossherzogthums Hessen, 1837; Dieffenbach, Das Grossherzogthum Hessen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, 1875; Voltz, Uebersicht der geologischen Verhältnisse des Grossherzogthums Hessen, 1852; and works under Hesse.