Inheritance of Zweibrücken-Bitsch In 1570, Philipp's father-in-law, Count Palatine Jakob of
Zweibrücken-Bitsch (1510–1570), died without male heir and Philipp's first wife, Countess
Ludowika Margaretha inherited the County of
Bitsch, the Lordship of Ochsenstein and half the Lordship of
Lichtenberg (his father already held the other half). Jakob's older brother, Simon V Wecker, had already died in 1540, also without a male heir. A dispute about the inheritance erupted between the husbands of Ludowika Margaretha and her cousin Amalie, Philipp V of Hanau-Lichtenberg and Philipp I of Leiningen-Westerburg, respectively. Formally, the County of Bitsch and he
district of Lemberg were
fiefs of the
Duchy of Lorraine and such fiefs could only be inherited in the male line. Philipp V was initially successful in the dispute with Philipp I about Zweibrücken-Bitsch. However, he immediately introduced the
Lutheran confession in his newly gained territories. This made the powerful and
Catholic Duke of Lorraine unhappy. The Duke terminated the fief and in July 1572 Lorraine troops occupied the county. Since Philipp V's army was no match for Lorraine, he took his case to the
Reichskammergericht. During the trial, Lorraine argued that, firstly, a significant part of the territory of Zweibrücken-Bitsch had been obtained in an exchange with Lorraine in 1302 and, secondly, the Counts of Leiningen had sold their hereditary claims to Lorraine in 1573. In 1604, Hanau-Lichtenberg and Lorraine decided to settle out of court. In a treaty signed in 1606, it was agreed that Bitsch would revert to Lorraine and Hanau-Lichtenberg would retain Lemberg. This was reasonable, as it corresponded approximately to the religious realities of the territories.
Ascent to the throne Because of his advanced age, Philipp IV delegated successively larger parts of the government business to Philipp V during the final years of his life. After Philipp IV died in 1590, Philipp V took up rule in his own name. As early as 1579, Philipp V introduced the
Statutes of
Solms in the district of
Babenhausen, "on the advice" of his father. This was part of a program to have the same statute law in all territories rules by members of the
Wetterau Association of
Imperial Counts. In 1585, he took over from his father the guardianship of
Philipp Ludwig II and
Albrecht, the underage sons of
Philipp Ludwig I of Hanau-Münzenberg, who had died in 1580.
Guardianship in Hanau-Münzenberg The other guardian in Hanau-Münzenberg, beside Philipp V, were Count
Johann VI "the Elder" of Nassau-Dillenburg and Count Ludwig I of Sayn-Wittgenstein. With respect to Albrecht, who reached adulthood in 1608, there were considerable religious disputes between the parties — Hanau-Lichtenberg was
Lutheran, Hanau-Münzenberg was
Calvinist — and the guardianship could only be finalized in 1608. Philipp V tried to have the Lutheran Count Palatine
Richard of Simmern-Sponheim appointed as an extra guardian. This attempt failed, despite a ruling in his favour by the
Reichskammergericht. The Calvinist majority of the guardians prevented the population of Hanau-Münzenberg from paying
homage to Richard. The majority then had the Electoral Administrator Count Palatine
Johann Casimir of Simmern appointed as "upper guardian" — a purely honorary position — thereby strengthening the Calvinist majority among the guardians. In this conflict, Philipp V eventually succumbed.
Domestic policies In 1588, he built the first
mint in his county in
Wörth an der Sauer; this was probably induced by the excellent economic situation in the county during his reign.
Witch hunts were widespread in this period. Philipp V issued a proclamation on the subject, but did not involve himself any further. This led to fewer
executions than in other territories. Even so, there was at least one execution, in
Schaafheim. == Marriage and issue ==