Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach


Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach was regent of Solms-Laubach from 1522 to 1548, and the ruling Count of Solms-Laubach from 1548 until his death.
After the early death of his father Otto, Frederick Magnus I took up the government in his father's part of the County of Solms. He chose Laubach Castle as his permanent residence and gradually converted the castle into a palace. After the third division of Solms in 1548, Solms-Laubach became a separate principality, with Frederick Magnus I as its first ruler.
In 1540, Laubach became a fortress and a militia was established. This militia has been preserved to this day as the Laubach festival committee. Frederick Magnus I was a friend of the Reformer Philipp Melanchthon. He introduced the Reformation in Solms-Laubach in 1544. He abolished the inheritance tax and issued a simplified court order, which developed into the Civil Code of Solms. In 1555, he founded a Latin School, with teachers from Wittenberg. He also founded the library of Laubach, which now contains over from the 16th century to the present. It is a listed monument and was registered under Heritage Protection Act in 1955.
Frederick Magnus I died in 1561 and was succeeded by his son John George I.

Marriage and issue

In 1545, he married Agnes of Wied, daughter of Count John III of Wied and Elisabeth of Nassau-Siegen. They had the following children: