Editing History of Hesse (section)

==Landgraviate==
The [[Landgraviate of Hesse]] ({{langx|de|Landgrafschaft Hessen}}), a German [[imperial prince|principality]] of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1264 as a partition of the [[Landgraviate of Thuringia]] following the [[War of the Thuringian Succession]].

The landgraviate gained the [[County of Katzenelnbogen]] in 1479. In 1500 a dispute over Katzenelnbogen with [[County of Nassau|Nassau]] led to the lengthy [[War of the Katzenelnbogen Succession]].

In 1568 with the death of [[Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse|Landgrave Philip I]], the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided among his sons, establishing the lines of [[Hesse-Kassel]] (then spelled Cassel),  [[Hesse-Marburg]], [[Hesse-Rheinfels]] and [[Hesse-Darmstadt]]. Both [[Philip II, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels|Philip II of Hesse-Rheinfels]] and [[Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg|Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg]] died childless (in 1583 and 1604); their lands passed to Hesse-Kassel.