William VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

William VII
Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Reign	16 July 1663 – 21 November 1670
Predecessor	William VI
Successor	Charles
Born	(1651-06-21)21 June 1651 Kassel
Died	21 November 1670(1670-11-21) (aged 19) Paris
Burial	Martinskirche, Kassel
House	Hesse
Father	William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Mother	Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg

William VII of Hesse-Kassel (21 June 1651 – 21 November 1670) was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel.

Early life

Born into an ancient House of Hesse, William was the eldest son of Landgrave William VI of Hesse-Kassel and his wife, Princess Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg, youngest daughter of George William, Elector of Brandenburg and Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate.

Reign

William VII inherited the Landgraviate when his father died in 1663. Since he was still a minor, his mother acted as regent until he reached adulthood.

Engagement

William was engaged with his cousin Maria Amalia of Courland, the daughter of Jacob of Courland (her mother was the sister of William's mother). After the engagement, he embarked on his Grand Tour to the Netherlands, England and France.

Death

In Paris, he became very ill with a "fever". The French doctors tried to cure the 19-year-old landgrave with laxatives, emetics, enemas and bloodletting, yet the treatment killed him. He was buried in the Martinskirche, Kassel. His fiancée married his younger brother and successor, Landgrave Charles.

Ancestry

References

• Hans Philippi: Die Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel 1648–1806, in the series Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen, issue 46, also Kleine Schriften, vol. 8, Marburg, 2007.
• Franz Carl Theodor Piderit: Geschichte der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Kassel p. 239
• Kaspar Nöding: Statistik, Topographie und Geschichte des Landgräflich und Kurfürstlichen ... p. 222 f.