Balthasar of Hanau-Münzenberg

Balthasar of Hanau-Münzenberg (29 June 1508 – 9 December 1534, in Hanau) was a posthumous son of Count Reinhard IV of Hanau-Münzenberg (1473 - 1512) and his wife Countess Catherine of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg (d. 1514).

Life
From 1529, he acted as co-regent for his nephew, Count Philip III, whose father had died young. He continued the construction of fortifications around Hanau, which his brother Philip II had begun. He supplemented the fortresses with a defensive ring according to the latest technical standard of the Renaissance.

Balthasar never married. Like most male members of the Hanau-Münzenberg line, he died young, in 1534, at the age of 26. He was buried in the church of St. Mary in Hanau.

One of Hanau's city gates was decorated with a bust of Balthasar, until the gate was demolished in the 18th century. The bust fell into the hands of the Historical Society of Hanau. It was destroyed when the city was bombed on 19 March 1945. Only drawings of it remain.