Hesse

(hes,) [anc. He ia,] a former division of Germany, the country of the Teutonic Catti, and included within the limits of Thu ring i a, 1130-1247, when it was erected into an independent landgraviate. In 1292 it became a principality of the empire; and was divided into Upper and Lower H. from 1458 till 1500, when a reunion occurred. In 1567 the four sons of the Landgrave Philip I. founded the separate dynastic houses ofCa el, Marburg (extinct in 1604), Rheinfels (extinct in 1583), and Darmstadt.- The landgraviate of He eCa el, raised to the dignity of an electorate in 1801, was annexed to Pru ia in 1868, in conjunction with the duchy ofNa au, and together form the present prov. of He e-Na au. C. Ca el. Pop. 1,380,311.- HESSE-DARMSTADT, now called the GRAND DUCHY OF HESSE, a state of the German empire, is b. N. by He e-Na au, E.by Bavaria, S. by Baden, and W. by Pru ia and Rhenish Bavaria. It is divided into the 3 pro vs. of Upper and Rhenish He e, and Starken burg, and is intersected by the Rhine. Area, 2,977 sq. m. Surface generally level and soil fertile; the Odenwald covers a large tract in the E. of the State. C. Darmstadt. Pop. 823,138. [s. 453]