PHILIP THE MAGNANIMOUS ( 1504-67). Land grave of Hesse from 1509 to 1567. He was born on November 13, 1504, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, William II. In 151S he began to govern in person. At first he showed no sympathy for the Lutheran doctrines, of which he was to become the champion, and in 1523 he married the daughter of the Catholic Duke George of Saxony. In 1525, however, he was definitely won over to the cause of the Reformation. At the same time he aided in supressing the Peasants' War. Philip became one of the chief leaders of the Reformation in Ger many, and together with the Elector John of Saxony formed in 1526 the Protestant League of Gotha and Torgatt. In 1529 he arranged the celebrated disputation between Luther and Zwin gli at Marburg. It lasted for three days (October 1st-3d), but the two parties were un able to agree on the doctrine of the Eucharist. Philip himself, however, began to lean strongly toward the Swiss side. In 1531 he formed to gether with the Elector of Saxony and other Protestant princes the League of Schmalkald (q.v.). On March 4, 1540, Philip married a sec
ond time, though his first wife was still living. Luther and Melanchthon had consented to this bigamy, and the revelation of this fact caused a great scandal. In the Schmalkald War, which broke out in 1546. Philip did his best for the Protestant cause, but the treachery of of Saxony, his son-in-law, who joined Charles V., made matters hopeless. At the battle of Muhl berg on April 24, 1547, Philip was made prisoner and placed in close confinement. He was lib erated in 1552 by the action of Maurice, who deserted Charles and rejoined the Protestant cause. Philip died on March 31, 1567, leaving four sons. among whom Hesse was divided. Con sult: Rommel, Philipp der Grossm.iitige. Landgraf eon Hessen. (Giessen. 1830) ; Ranke, History of the Reformation in Germany (Eng. trans.. Lon don, 1845-47) ; Janssen, History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages (Eng. trans.. ib., 1896—).