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Hesse-Homburg

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Formerly a small landgraviate in Germany. It consisted of two parts, the district of Homburg on the right side of the Rhine, and the district of Meisenheim, which was added in 1815, on the left side of the same river. Its area was about roc) sq. m., and its population in 1864 was 27,374. Homburg now forms part of the Prussian province of HesseNassau, and Meisenheim of the province of the Rhine. HesseHomburg was formed into a separate landgraviate in 1622 by Frederick I. (d. 1638), son of George I., landgrave of HesseDarmstadt, although it did not become independent of HesseDarmstadt until 1768. By two of Frederick's sons it was divided into Hesse-Homburg and Hesse-Homburg-Bingenheim; but these parts were again united in 1681 under the rule of Frederick's third son, Frederick II. (d. 1708). In 1806, during the long reign of the landgrave Frederick V., which extended from 1751 to 1820, Hesse-Homburg was mediatized, and incorporated with Hesse-Darmstadt; but in 1815 by the congress of Vienna the latter state was compelled to recognize the independence of Hesse-Homburg, which was increased by the addition of Meisenheim. Frederick V. joined the German confederation as a sovereign prince in 1817, and after his death his five sons in succession filled the throne. The last of these, Ferdinand, who succeeded in 1848, granted a liberal constitution to his people, but cancelled it during the reaction of 1852. When he died on the 24th of March 1866, Hesse-Homburg was inherited by Louis III., grand-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, while Meisenheim fell to Prussia. In the following September, however, Louis was forced to cede his new possession to Prussia, as he had supported Austria during the war between these two powers. See R. Schwartz, Landgraf Friedrich V. von Hessen-Homburg and seine Familie (1878); and von Herget, Das landgrafliche Haus Homburg (Homburg, 1903).