Philip of Hesse

Landgrave of HesseAlso: Philip the Magnanimous

Landgrave of Hesse, one of the princes who protested at Speyer in 1529. That October he brought Luther and Zwingli together at Marburg in the hope of uniting them.

Philip, landgrave of Hesse, is named among the princes who appealed against the majority at Speyer in April 1529 (Protestation of Speyer instrument of appeal, opening (Ney, pp. 29–30)); see the Protestation at Speyer. That autumn he summoned the reformers to Marburg, attended the debate from beginning to end, and afterwards sent for the participants one by one to seek a compromise (Osiander, Report on Marburg report to the council of Nuremberg). Martin Luther wrote that the landgrave was making every effort to unite them, or at least to have them regard each other as brothers (Luther, Letters, to his wife, 4 October 1529). Huldrych Zwingli claimed that Philip had come over to his side, though he did not show it in public (Zwingli, Letters, to Vadian, 20 October 1529). See Luther and Zwingli Meet at Marburg.

His name stands among the signatures of the confession presented at Augsburg in 1530 (Augsburg Confession conclusion, signatures).

In the timeline

19 April 1529, firm date
The Protestation at Speyer
At the diet of Speyer in April 1529 the majority revokes the latitude that the diet of 1526 had left to each ruler in religion. A group of princes and fourteen cities enter a formal protest, holding that in matters of salvation each must answer to God for himself.
1 October 1529, firm date
Luther and Zwingli Meet at Marburg
In October 1529 Philip of Hesse brings Luther and Zwingli together at Marburg. They sign fourteen articles of agreement and a fifteenth recording that they could not agree whether Christ’s body and blood are bodily present in the bread and wine.