House of Hesse (Central Victory)

The House of Hesse is a European royal dynasty from the region of, originally and still formally the.

History
The origins of the House of Hesse begin with the marriage of, daughter of  and  with  from the. Sophie was the heiress of which she passed on to her son,  upon her retention of the territory following her partial victory in the  in which she was one of the belligerents.

Originally the western part of the of, in the mid 13th century it was inherited by the younger son of Henry II, , and became a distinct political entity. From the late 16th century it was generally divided into several branches, the most important of which were those of (or Hesse-Cassel) and. In the early 19th century the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to of Hesse (1803), while the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became the  (1806), later Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. The (Hesse-Kassel) was annexed by  in 1866, while Grand Ducal Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt) as lasted until the end of the German monarchies in 1990.

is the current (2012) head of the house.

Branches of the House of Hesse
, died in 1567. Hesse was divided between his four sons, four new lines which arose:, , and.

The line of Hesse-Darmstadt was also part of the morganatic line of the when  married to. The Battenbergs who later settled in changed that name to  after World War I.


 * (1264–1567)
 * (1567–1866), became Electorate of Hesse in 1803
 * (1627–1834)
 * (1627–1755)
 * (1627–1754)
 * (1685-1866)
 * (1721–1866)
 * (1831/1853, morganatic line)
 * (1567, divided in 1604 between Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel)
 * (1567, divided in 1583 between Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Marburg)
 * (1567–1990), became Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1806
 * (1609–1642)
 * (1609–1651)
 * (1622–1866)
 * (1661–1676)
 * (1858, morganatic line. since 1917)
 * (since 2000)
 * (since 2000)

Hesse-Kassel and its junior lines were annexed by in 1866. Hesse-Philippsthal died out in the male line in 1925; Hesse-Darmstadt in 1968. Descendants of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld are alive to this day. Members of the Hesse-Kassel line became in 1918, founding the Hesse-Helsinki line in 2000.