Sophia Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt | |
House: | House of Hesse |
Father: | George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt |
Mother: | Sophia Eleonore of Saxony |
Spouse: | William Christoph, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg |
Issue: | Christine Wilhelmine, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Grabow Leopold George, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Homburg |
Birth Date: | 7 January 1634 |
Birth Place: | Darmstadt |
Death Place: | Bingenheim, now part of Echzell |
Sophia Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt (7 January 1634 in Darmstadt – 7 October 1663 in Bingenheim, now part of Echzell), 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 (1605–1661) from his marriage to Sophia Eleonore (1609–1671), the daughter of Elector John George I of Saxony.
In Darmstadt on 21 April 1650 Sophia Eleonore married to her cousin, Landgrave William Christoph of Hesse-Homburg (1625–1681). On the occasion of her wedding, her father gave her the district of Castle 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.
Sophia Eleonore gave birth to 12 children, but only 4 survived infancy:[1]
She died in Bingenheim aged 29, following complications in her last childbirth.