William VIII of Hesse-Kassel

William VIII of Hesse-Kassel
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "William_VIII_of_Hesse-Kassel".

Wilhelm VIII of Hesse-Kassel.

William VIII (March 10, 1682 - February 1, 1760) was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1751 until his death.

Born in Kassel, he was the seventh son of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. After his elder brother Frederick became King of Sweden in 1720 and his father died in 1730, he became de facto ruler of Hesse-Kassel. He became officially landgrave after his brother's death on 25 March 1751.

Five years later, the Seven Years' War began and William joined with the Prussian and British forces. Hesse-Kassel became an important battlefield and was occupied by France on several occasions.

His second son and successor Frederick became a Catholic, which led to restrictions on Catholicism in the Calvinist landgraviate and the transfer of the Principality of Hanau to his protestant son William.

During his reign William started building the Wilhelmsthal Palace and collected paintings, including works by Rembrandt.

In 1717, William married Dorothea Wilhelmina (March 20, 1691-March 17, 1743), eldest daughter of Maurice William, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz.
They had three children: Charles (August 21, 1718-October 17, 1719), Frederick, his successor, and Maria Amalia (July 7, 1721-November 19, 1744). He died at Rinteln in 1760.