- Hessen was originally apart of the Frankish Kingdom during Merovingian and Carolingian times
- It was the headquarters for Charlemagne while he campaigned against the Saxons
- The treaty of Verdun in 843 caused Hessen to fall to Louis the German
- Later it was in the duchy of Saxony and Franconia
- During the 8th century, the Hessians were Christianized by St. Boniface
- In 1130, Hessen was joined to the landgraviate of Thuringia
- 1247, the last landgrave, Henry Raspe, died so his neice took over Hessen territory
- She gave the land to Henry I, her son who took the title of landgrave
- In 1292 he was titled prince of the Holy Roman Empire
- Landgraves expanded the Hessen territory for the next 300 years
- In 1509 Philip became the Landgrave and pushed Hessen towards education
- He died in 1567
- Hesse was divided between his four sons into Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels
- By 1604, Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels eventually became extinct
- Now there were two Hessian states, Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt
- In 1806, the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel became Grand Duke of Hesse
- Upper Hesse became apart of the North German Confederation
- In 1871, Hessen became one state under the German Empire
- After World War II, Hessen gained new territory from the Rhine Province and the old Prussian province to form the new Hessen
The pictures above show St. Boniface, the flag of Hessen, and Landgrave Philip.