The Heiress Charlotte was the only surviving child of the last Count of Hanau,
Johann Reinhard III, and the Countess
Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Thus, she was the
sole heir of the
County of Hanau.
Marriage The first man to ask her hand in marriage, was the crown prince and later Landgrave
William VIII of
Hesse-Kassel. Had this marriage taken place, the county of Hanau would have remained united. However, it failed because of religious differences between William, who was a
Calvinist and Charlotte, who was
Lutheran. The second candidate was her mother's paternal first cousin, the crown prince and later Landgrave
Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was Lutheran. They were married on 5 April 1717. From this marriage the following children were born: •
Landgrave Louis IX, married in 1741
Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken, had issue •
Prince George William, married in 1748
Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg, had issue •
Princess Caroline Louise; married in 1751
Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden, later first Grand Duke of Baden, had issue
Death Charlotte Christine died on 1 July 1726 in Darmstadt. A number of funeral sermons were published in July 1726 in Darmstadt.
The inheritance As Charlotte Christine died before her father, her son, the future Landgrave Louis IX, became heir apparent of the County of Hanau. This was, however, restricted to the Lichtenberg part of the county, because the Münzenberg part of the county had been awarded to the county of
Hesse-Kassel in an earlier inheritance contract between Hanau and Hesse-Kassel. A dispute arose, because it wasn't clear to which part the district of
Babenhausen would belong. It escalated into a military conflict.
Hesse-Darmstadt occupied
Dietzenbach,
Schaafheim and ; Hesse-Kassel occupied the rest of the district of Babenhausen, deploying troops that had already been stationed in Hanau. The dispute could be settled only after protracted litigation before the highest courts of the Empire, which in 1771 issued the so-called
Partifikationsrezess. The towns of , Dietzenbach, , Schaafheim and Schlierbach were awarded to Hesse-Darmstadt and were incorporated into the district
Schaafheim. == Ancestors ==