Count Philip the Elder of Katzenelnbogen

(* 1402 - † 1479)

Count Philipp the Elder of Katzenelnbogen was the last male representative of the House of Counts Katzenelnbogen. His life was characterized by concern for the continued existence of his family. Philip the Elder was born in 1402. In 1422, he married Anna, the daughter of Eberhard IV of Württemberg. The couple had three children: sons Philip the Younger and Eberhard and a daughter named Anna. Nevertheless, it was not a happy marriage. In 1456, Philip the Elder obtained a divorce from Anna from Pope Calixt III. Although he was already very old, he married Anna of Nassau-Dillenburg in 1474. The main reason for Philip's remarriage was concern for his succession. His eldest son and heir Philipp had died very young and without a male heir in 1453. His second son, Eberhard, who had embarked on a clerical career as a canon in Cologne, was also already dead. All that remained was his daughter Anna, who had married Landgrave Heinrich III of Hesse in 1458. Philip's hopes for another heir remained unfulfilled, which is why he made his daughter Anna his sole heir. Philip died in the summer of 1479 at Rheinfels Castle above St. Goar and the County of Katzenelnbogen fell to the Landgraves of Hesse.