[The Hessian Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous (1504-1567) : His diseases and their political consequences].

Landgrave Philipp of Hesse was one of the leading figures of the reformation period. His morganatic marriage to a young Saxonian lady resulted in a massive impairment of his importance and initiated the division of his territory among his four legitimate sons. Triorchidism ascribed to him was more likely a misdiagnosed spermatozele, and also, there is no reliable account for his syphilis infection. The foundation of the Hessian Grand Hospitals, housing the poor, sick and disabled from the countryside, was his major social-medical achievement.