Joseph Ignaz Philipp von Hessen-Darmstadt
Joseph Ignaz Philipp of Hesse- Darmstadt ( born January 22, 1699 Brussels, † August 20 1768 in Plombières -les- Bains ) was Prince of Hesse- Darmstadt and Prince-Bishop of Augsburg.
His parents were Landgrave Philip of Hesse -Darmstadt (1671-1736), a younger brother of the reigning Landgrave Ernst Ludwig of Hesse- Darmstadt and Princess Marie Therese von Croy (1673-1714), a daughter of Ferdinand François Joseph von Croy, the 3. duke of Havre.
The bishop election
He grew up partly on in Mantua. On March 13, 1729 he was ordained a priest and appointed on August 18, 1740 as Bishop of Augsburg. The Episcopal ordination on February 12, 1741 took before the Augsburg Bishop Johann Jakob von Mayr. His election were part of the chapter ahead of strong efforts to prevent the election of a Wittelsbach bishop. You would have medium and long term not only endangers the freedom of choice of the cathedral chapter, but possibly also the rich immediate position of the Bishopric of the palatinate Bavarian border. So should be determined coadjutor with right of succession at the insistence of Wittelbacher since 1724 actually the Freising and Regensburg Prince-Bishop Johann Theodor of Bavaria. With the help of the Habsburgs, whose services both his father and his uncle George had stood of Hesse- Darmstadt, but Joseph was able to prevail of Hesse- Darmstadt.
Even with his own succession to the Habsburg- Wittelbacher contrast played a role. The April 29, 1764 Prince-Bishop of Regensburg and Freising consecrated Bishop Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony was determined simultaneously Coadjutor Bishop of the Augsburg prince. The Holy See approved the candidacy on the condition that Clemens Wenceslaus waived in the case of choice on one of his other dioceses.
His work as bishop
Prince Bishop Joseph of Hesse- Darmstadt tried by a number of actions to perform in a manner befitting the royal household, despite the modest capabilities of the Bishopric of Augsburg. So reached the size of the court in his reign a climax. The economic situation should be improved by the creation of factories. Thus, a faience factory was founded in 1747 in Goeggingen. He was also a big music lover, which is why the prince-bishop's court orchestra could develop into a respectable ensemble in Augsburg until the middle of the 18th century, which led famous composers of that time to Augsburg again.
He also tried 1743-1754 his residence in Augsburg expand to an adequate accommodation for a Baroque princes. According to the plans of the building director Gabriel de Gabrieli Eichstätter three separate buildings were combined to form a three-storey building with a total uniform facade. The medieval castle Count tower was retained. In his reign the former board room of the residence in the rococo decor and a representative staircase is obtained. The staircase was Johann Georg Bergmüller 1752 with personifications of the three main rivers of the diocese of Augsburg (Danube, Lech and Wertach ) and the four cardinal virtues - frescoed Prudentia ( prudence ), Justitia (Justice ), Fortitude ( courage ) and Temperance ( moderation ). Over and above them on the ceiling " Providentia Divina ", the divine providence.
He held in his residences in Augsburg and Dillingen, however, not very common, but underwent because of his gout longer spa treatment or attended the courts in Mannheim, Munich and Stuttgart. During one of his stays in Mannheim in 1760, he dedicated the local Jesuit church. Also related to the royal houses in Hesse and England / Hanover, he held an intensive correspondence. The cost for its spa stays were doing in some years nearly 10 % of the pin budget. He died during a course of treatment in the French seaside resort Plombières- les- Bains at Epinal on 20 August in 1768.