HESSE, hes (Ger. Hessen). A former land graviate of Germany. The region was occupied in early times by the Catti or Matti (German hat ten). Their first appearance in history is in A.D. 15, when Germanicus destroyed their principal settlement, Slattium. the site of the present villages of Grosse and Klein Mader:, near Gudensberg, in the Prussian district of Cassel. In the course of time the Catti became merged in the Frankish tribes, who, when they migrated into Gaul. left Hesse uninhabited, whereupon the Saxons took possession. The Carolingians ruled the country by means of counts, and the power soon became hereditary in one family, the head of this family being elected in 911 King of Germany as Conrad I. After his death and that of his brother Eber hard. the country fell into many divisions, un til in 1137 Count T.ouis I. of Thuringia mar ried the daughter of Count Geiss TV. of Gudens berg, who belonged to the most powerful family in Hesse, and soon thereafter the Hessian nobles accepted Louis as their overlord; hut the Thu ringian line of landgraves died out in 1247, with Tieinrielf Raspe, the opponent of Frederick 11. In 1263. after a long contest, Sophia, niece
of Heinrich Ilaspe, obtained full possession of Hesse, and from her son and successor. Henry 1., surnamed the Child ((lied 1308), all the various branches of the Hessian family still trace their descent. llis descendants added many valuable territories to their old patrimony. After the possessions of the house had been for a time divided. William II.. in 1500, was in complete control of all Hessian territories, to which he added 'Homburg, and in 1509 his five-year-old son, Philip the Magnanimous, succeeded him. He was declared of age in 1518. and thereafter played a very prominent role in German affairs, and to some extent in Europe, being a leader in the German Reformation. (See PHILIP THE