William I, Landgrave of Lower Hesse


William I of Hesse was the Landgrave of Hesse from 1471 to 1493.
His parents were Louis the Frank and Mechthild, daughter of Count Louis I of Württemberg. On 17 February 1488 in Münden, he married Anna of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel c. 1460 - Worms 16 May 1520], daughter of William II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Elisabeth, Countess of Stolberg, with whom he had five daughters:
After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1491 where he was dubbed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, he probably contracted syphilis. He abdicated in favor of his brother William II on 3 June 1493, and spent the rest of his life in Spangenberg.

Literature