Rätian Republic of Hesse Räterepublik Hessen
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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 Possessions of Hesse-Nassau in 1595 | |
| Status | Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire (1264–1489) Duchy (1489-) Rätian Republic (1520–) |
| Capital | Kassel |
| Common languages | German |
| Religion | Jungism (1510-) Roman Catholic (-1510) Jungism (1510-) |
| Government | Confederal semi-representative monarchy (1520-) Feudal monarchy (-1520) |
| Duke | |
• 1264–1308 |
Henry the Child (first) |
• 1480-1532 |
Agnes the Excommunicated |
| Historical era | Middle Ages |
• Established |
1264 |
• Raised to Duchy |
1494 |
| 1357 | |
• Rätian Republic |
1520 |
The Rätian Republic of Hesse (German: Räterepublik Hesse), formerly known as the Electorate of Hesse, was a medieval and early modern state in Central Europe. It was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Duke of Hesse was an prince-elector of the empire after 1357. Founded as a landgraviate after being partitioned from the Landgraviate of Thuringia in 1264, Hesse proper (known as Hesse-Kassel after its capital city) or its accompanying dynasty came to rule over a series of territories, such as the Margraviate of Mark, the County of Nassau, and the County of Waldeck, leading to Hesse being elevated to a duchy in 1494 by Henry VIII, Holy Roman Emperor, after Hesse's assistance in the Lenzburg-Premyslid War.
During the Reformation the Duchy of Hesse was ruled by Agnes the Excommunicated, infamous for her irreconcilable relationship with the Papacy, and thus Hesse was led to become an early adopter of the Jungist faith. Like neighboring Thuringia, after the Great Peasants' War the Duchy adopted partial Thinwhitedukist tenets and declared itself the Rätian Republic of Hesse, however, the state declined to join the newly formed Rätian Union, and instead entered a period of contention with more radical Jungist states. Following the Imperial Elections of 1595-96, Joktan of Hesse was elected Holy Roman Emperor by the Jungists, beginning the Frankfurt War. Hesse played an important role in the subsequent Forty Years' War, although facing defeat at the hands of Catholic powers in 1601 it was partitioned in a number of smaller states.
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