John Philip of Hanau-Lichtenberg

Who was John Philip of Hanau-Lichtenberg?

Count John Philip of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a son of Count Philip Wolfgang and his wife, Countess Johanna of Oettingen-Oettingen.

During his childhood, his parents had to flee several times from their county seat in Bouxwiller to nearby Strasbourg, where the family possessed a mansion, to avoid the fighting of the Thirty Years' War. As the second son, he was assigend the castle and district of Babenhausen in his father's testament. He could only take possession of Babenhausen in 1647, as it had been occupied by Mainz during the war. After the war ended, John Philip and his younger brother Johann Reinhard went on a Grand Tour to Germany, the Netherlands, England, France and Switzerland.

In 1664 John Philip visited the Diet of Regensburg, where he got into a duel against a prince of House of Reuss. In 1669 he tried to stage a coup against his brother Frederick Casimir who had burdened the county of Hanau with heavy debts and was trying to improve his financial situation by selling a part of his territory. Frederick Casimir's relatives disagreed and in November 1669, they seized power during his absence. Their emergency government collapsed after three days and Frederick Casimir was restored to power. Frederick Casimir then exiled John Philip from the city of Hanau.