county · Germany and Central Europe

Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels

1567 CE – 1583 CE · capital St. Goar

A short-lived Hessian landgraviate on the middle Rhine, ruled by Philip II from Rheinfels castle above St. Goar.

Origins

In the 1567 division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the sons of Philip the Magnanimous, the third son, Philip II, received the Lower County of Katzenelnbogen on the Rhine, with Rheinfels castle above St. Goar as his residence.

Philip II rebuilt Rheinfels as a Renaissance residence and fortress, controlling the Rhine tolls at St. Goar that were the territory's main income. His small state was Lutheran, like its Hessian neighbours. He married Anna Elisabeth of the Palatinate but had no children.

When Philip II died in 1583, his lands were divided among his brothers, most going to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, with smaller shares to Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Darmstadt. Rheinfels became one of the largest castles on the Rhine before French troops blew it up in 1797.

Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/landgraviate-of-hesse-rheinfels
MLA: “Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/landgraviate-of-hesse-rheinfels. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/landgraviate-of-hesse-rheinfels.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/landgraviate-of-hesse-rheinfels (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻