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 IV, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Elisabeth, Countess of Stolberg, with whom he had five daughters:

Mathilda, born in 1489 but died young.
Mathilda, married in Korbach on 19 May 1527 Konrad, Count of Tecklenburg
Anna, a nun
Katherine, married in 1511 Adam Count von Beichlingen
Elisabeth, first married in Meisenheim on 16 October 1525 to Louis II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, later married on 9 January 1541 George, Count Palatine of Simmern.

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

Phillip Landgrebe: . In: Zeitschrift für hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Bd. 123, p. 177–198.