Philip, Count of Solms-Lich
Philipp, Count of Solms-Lich (15 August 1468 - 3 October 1544,
Life
He was the son of Kuno of Solms-Lich and Walpurgis of Dhaun-Kyrburg and a younger brother of John of Solms. He studied in Mainz, Heidelberg and Erfurt.
On 15 February 1489 he married Adriana of Hanau (1 May 1470 - 12 April 1524), a daughter of
As a councilor at the
The rebuilding of the Burg Hohensolm around this time was probably undertaken by Philip, whilst he also built a residence at
On Frederick's behalf Philip concluded a marriage contract between John Frederick and Charles V's sister Katharina in 1519, but the plan failed. In 1520 he and Franz von Sickingen joined forces to protect Martin Luther from possible arrest. Via Ulrich von Hutten, Sickingen asserted Luther's protection and Philip may have offered a safe overnight stay to Luther en route to the 1521 Diet of Worms. After Frederick's death Philip entered the service of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Philip was made ruler of Sonnewalde in Lower Lusatia in 1537 and of Alt-Pouch in 1544. However, he remained Catholic for political reasons when the Landgrave converted to Lutheranism, backing the Holy Roman Emperor on the question of the Augsburg Confession, though he is said to have converted to Lutheranism on his deathbed. He was buried in Lich.
Children
- Walpurgis (1490–1527)
- Reinhard (1491–1562), founder of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich line
- Dorothea (1493–1578)
- Anna (1494–1510)
- Otto I (1496–1522), founder of Solms-Laubach line
- Ursula (1498–1517)
Bibliography (in German)
- Friedrich Battenberg (Bearb.): Solmser Urkunden. Regesten zu den Urkundenbeständen und Kopiaren der Grafen und Fürsten von Solms im Staatsarchiv Darmstadt (Abt. B 9 und F 24 B), im gräflichen Archiv zu Laubach und im fürstlichen Archiv zu Lich 1131–1913 = Repertorien des Hessischen Staatsarchivs Darmstadt 15. Bände 1-4: Urkundenregesten Nr. 1-5035, ISBN 3-88443-235-4
- Frank Rudolph: Solms-Lich, Philipp von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 28, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-413-7, Sp. 1259–1263.
- Reinhard Suchier: Genealogie des Hanauer Grafenhauses. In: Festschrift des Hanauer Geschichtsvereins zu seiner fünfzigjährigen Jubelfeier am 27. August 1894, Hanau 1894.
- Friedrich Uhlhorn: Reinhard Graf zu Solms Herr zu Münzenberg 1491–1562. Marburg 1952.