| Ermanaric | |
|---|---|
| |
| Portrait by Hans van Hulle, 1535 | |
| Duke of Hesse | |
| Reign | 9 November 1532 – 30 October 1554 |
| Coronation | 29 November 1532 in Kassel |
| Predecessor | Agnes |
| Successor | Jephthah I |
| Duke of Nassau | |
| Reign | 1532-1554 |
| Predecessor | Jezrahiah |
| Successor | Jephthah I |
| Duke of Mark | |
| Reign | 1532-1554 |
| Predecessor | Agnes |
| Successor | Jephthah I |
| Born | 1 August 1495 Hesse, Kingdom of Germany |
| Died | 9 November 1532 Nassau, Kingdom of Germany |
| Spouse | Christina de la Marck Mary of Sayn |
| House | House of Hesse-Mark-Nassau |
| Father | Jezrahiah I |
| Mother | Agnes of Hesse |
| Religion | Jungism |
Ermanaric I was the Duke of Hesse, Nassau and Mark, three territories which he ruled in personal union from 1532 until his death in 1554. He was the son of the controversial Agnes, Duchess of Hesse and her husband, Jezrahiah of Nassau. After the second Battle of Frankfurt in 1495 during the Henrician Civil War, Agnes and Jezrahiah married in celebration, and shortly afterwards gave birth to Ermanaric. There were later rumours that Ermanaric's real father was in fact Edmund Alwin, the Duke of Saxony and Agnes's lover, although most historians believe they did not meet until after Ermanaric's birth. In 1532, Agnes died, predeceasing her husband, who followed her to the grave soon after.
Prior to her death, Agnes expressed great love for Edmund Alwin, as did Jezrahiah, and Ermanaric likewise looked up to him. Shortly after Ermanaric had ascended the throne, Hesse would deploy soldiers to aid the Protestant side in Lotharingia and help them establish independence, during the Dutch Revolt. An alliance was proposed with Wagner and his coalition of southern cities, and it was proposed that if Lotharingia refused to recognize the supremacy of Protestantism, then Hesse would support the partition of Lotharingia between north and south, with a southern Protestant state under Wagner being supported.
Ermanaric's reign opened somewhat dramatically. Ermanaric had to deal with a diplomatic crisis posthumously caused by his mother. Prior to her death, Agnes allegedly hired several highly skilled assassins, “heavily trained in assassinations”, and sent them to assassinate the current Pope in Rome using the utmost skill and care to assassinate him until he died. The assassins were initially unsuccessful, however, attacking the Pope but not succeeding in killing him (though the Pope later died from his wounds). They were also interrogated, whereupon they confessed to having been hired by Agnes of Hesse; the incident caused outrage in the international community, particularly among Catholic states. The ruler of the Celtic Confederacy condemned the attack, and some suggested that the assassins be burnt at the stake.
No sooner had this happened was another Hessian attack against the Papal States launched, this time an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the entire College of Cardinals. It was apparently orchestrated by a secret society founded by Hans Gruber called the Black Hand. Calls emerged from around the Catholic world for Hesse to persecute the group and allow Papal inquisitors to enter the state. Some even called for a crusade against Hesse and its Jungist allies which "have so blatantly declared themselves for Satan". The new Pope demanded Hesse allow papal inquisitors to conduct an investigation, and secretly planned for a crusade. For a brief time, a crusade against Hesse seemed a very real possibility.
Rather than stoking the fires, as his late mother might have done, Ermanaric issued a condemnation of the attacks and promoted peace between Catholics and non-Catholics. However, this condemnation was criticized by some as being “too little, too late” and as sounding insincere. The Hessian government launched its own investigation, headed by Ermanaric, quickly discovering that the plot had allegedly been a Catholic plot all along, intended to frame the Jungists. Tensions rose as Thuringia backed Hesse, as did Saxony, which voiced its support and launched its own investigation into the Plot, eventually coming to the same conclusion as the Hessian government. The true motivation of the plotters never became known, and was the subject of fierce debate between historians for centuries afterwards.
Over the next few decades, Ermanaric would preside over Hesse-Nassau and Mark, doing his best to unify these three territories into a consolidated, powerful, Jungist state. He continued his mother's policy of being aligned with the Ratian Union. He presided over Hesse during the Amiens War and the War of the Three Henrys. Ermanaric married twice, to Christina de la Marck and Mary of Sayn. He had various children, including Jepthah. His grandson, Joktan, Holy Roman Emperor, who knew him briefly as a child, looked up to him and later wrote of the fond memories he had of him.
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