Sophia Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt


Sophia Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt, was Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt by birth and by marriage Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg.
She was a daughter of Landgrave George II of Hesse-Darmstadt from his marriage to Sophia Eleonore, the daughter of Elector John George I of Saxony.

Life

In Darmstadt on 21 April 1650 Sophia Eleonore married to her cousin, Landgrave William Christoph of Hesse-Homburg. On the occasion of her wedding, her father gave her the district and castle of Bingenheim. William Christoph preferred Bingenheim to his castle in Homburg, so the family mostly lived in Bingenheim and William Christoph was sometimes called the Landgrave of Hesse-Bingenheim. Her father had promised that her male descendants would be allowed to keep Bingenheim after her death, however, only two daughters survived their father. This led to a dispute between Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Homburg about the ownership of Bingenheim, which was finally settled by Elisabeth Dorothea, who was acting as regent of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Issue

Sophia Eleonore gave birth 12 children, but only three survived infancy:
She died in Bingenheim aged 29, following complications in her last childbirth.