HISTORY. The House of Hesse-Cassel, repre senting the elder line of the house of Hesse, was founded by William IV.. the \Vise, the eldest of the four sons of Philip the Magnanimous (1509 (171. (See IlFssE.) 'William, who ruled as Landgrave from 1567 to 1592, was a good ad ministrator, and left a well-consolidated little principality to his son Mauriee, who resigned the government in 1627 to his son. William V., and died in retirement five years later.
William (1627-37) fought on the side of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War, for which he was put under the ban of the Empire. His two brothers, Hermann and Ernest, founded the lines of Ilesse-Rothenburg and In 1637, oil the death of William V., Amelia Elizabeth, his widow. assumed the regency for their young son, William VI., and ruled with vigor and ability. In the Peace of Westpha lia (1648) the greater part of Sehaumburg and the Principality of Hersfeld were acquired. Wil liam VI. died in 1663, and Was succeeded by his sons. William VII. (166:1-70) and Charles I. (1670-1730). The latter inaugurated the prac tice, continued by his successors, of hiring out Hessian soldiers to fight in the service of foreign princes, by which the finanees of the State were considerably augmented at the expense of the welfare of the people. On the death of Charles, his son Frederick I., who in 1720 had become King of Sweden. in right of his wife. the Princess I'lrike Eleonore, sister of Charles XII., resigned the government of his Hessian territories to his brother William VIII.. who succeeded him as Landgrave in 1751. and ruled until 1760. He fought under the British and Hanoverian flag in the Seven Years' War, and gained considerable military renown for himself and his troops. Fred erick II. (1760.85) kept up a splendid court on the subsidies received from the British Government for the services of the llessians who fought against the Amerieans in the War of independence, and expended much of his treasures in the patronage of art and in the erection of public edifices. Frederick. who had become a convert to the Roman Church, was sueeeeded by William IX. (1785-1821), who reigned as William I. after his elevation to the rank of Elector in 1803. This prince frequently shifted sides during the French wars. In 18,06, at the tine of Prussia's struggle against Napoleon, lie remained neutral, but Na poleon, nevertheless. seized his electorate. which rya.: ineorporated in the newly formed Kingdom of Westphalia (1807). In 1813, after the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig, William returned to his dominions and began to restore the old order of things as far as he could. while he sought to re cover the State lands that had been sold during his exile, and appealed so strongly for indemni fication that lie obtained various important con eessions at the Congress of Vienna. although he
failed to seenre the title of King. In accordance with a promise which he had made on his restora t ion. he summoned a body of jurists to construct a constitution; hut no sooner was the draft com pleted than lie refused to abide by it. Ills death, in 1821, was regarded as a fortunate event. But his son and successor. William Ii. (1821-47), by his narrow policy, increased the rapidly grow ing disorders of the Ctate. while his prodigality toward his mistress, the Countess of Reichen baeh, rendered him peculiarly unpopular with his subjects. In 1831 William was compelled to promulgate a constitution. Acthe same time his son. Frederick William. was appointed co-regent. The history of the sixteen years' regency of Prince Frederick William exhibited a retrogres sive policy, pursued at first under the guidance of Hassenpflug (q.v.). which left Hesse far behind other German States in material prosperity. The death of the old ruler occurred at Frankfort in 1847. The revolutionary movement of 1848 ex torted from Frederick William I. (1847-66) many liberal promises of reform, some of which '11 ere redeemed; but in 1850, after revoking many of his pledges, he summoned again the obnoxious reartionist Ilassenpflug to gotern the country. The Elector and his Alinister resorted to the most arbitrary measures to force the excited people to submission, and llassenpflug persuaded the sovereign that his personal safety would be endangered if he remained longer among his sub jects, and Prince and Alinister fled from Cassel to Hassenpflug appealed for federal intervention, and Austrian and Bavarian troops entered the country. The friends of liberal gov ernment looked to Prussia for support. On No venilwr '2, 1850, a Prussian army entered Hesse Cassel; but the Prussian King was timid, and the war was principally limited to angry proto cols. External force was now applied to quell all opposition to the despotic sway of Frederick \Valiant, who in 1852 returned to Cassel. A new constitution was promulgated, whiell in no way satisfied the people, whose conduct throughout the trying crisis had been marked by forbearance and moderation. Put the Policy of the Govern ment remained unehanged. Not until 1862, after much agitation and powerful pressure from Prus sia, was the Prince foreed to accede to the Con stitution of 1831. After this concession, how ever, lie still ruled in such a way as to paralyze the political activities of the country. In the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 Ilesse-Cassel sided with Austria. A Prussian army entered the prin cipality, Jute 16, 1866, and Frederick \\*Miami was taken prisoner and conveyed to Stettin, where he remained till September 1701. Three days later Ilesse-Cassel was incorporated with Prussia. The deposed Prince died January 6, 1875. leaving no direct heir.