Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg

Landgravine Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg (May 1466 – 17 January 1523), , was a landgravine from the House of Hesse-Marburg and through marriage Countess of Nassau-Siegen. She was heiress to the County of Katzenelnbogen, which after her brother's death was claimed both by her and the Landgraviate of Hesse. The legal dispute for the County of Katzenelnbogen between the House of Nassau and the House of Hesse lasted until well after her death and is known as the Katzenelnbogische Erbfolgestreit. Biography Elisabeth was born in Marburg in May 1466 as the eldest daughter of Landgrave Henry III 'the Rich' of Hesse-Marburg and Countess Anne of Katzenelnbogen. Count Philip 'the Elder' of Katzenelnbogen, Elisabeth's maternal grandfather, had two sons. The eldest son, Count Philip 'the Younger', was married to Countess Ottilie of Nassau-Siegen, but died already in 1453. The second son, Count Eberhard, died three years later. After becoming a widower in 1471, Philip 'the Elder' remarried in 1474, at the age of 72, to the 32 years old Countess Anne of Nassau-Siegen, a first cousin of his daughter-in-law. The marriage of Philip 'the Elder' and Anne of Nassau-Siegen remained childless, so that upon his death in 1479 the County of Katzenelnbogen was inherited by his daughter Anne and her husband Henry III 'the Rich' of Hesse-Marburg, Elisabeth's parents. Elisabeth married in Marburg on 11 February 1482 to Count John V of Nassau-Siegen (Breda, 9 November 1455 – Dillenburg or Siegen, 30 July 1516), the youngest brother of her step-grandmother.