Count Philipp Ludwig I ruled the county autonomously from 1575. His government is characterized by careful maneuvering among the various confessions and the imperial territories in pursuit of consolidation and the web of political relations in the Empire and in the Wetterau region. In 1578 the Lutheran Church Order of Hanau-Lichtenberg was introduced in Hanau-Münzenberg as well. In this issue, Count Philipp Ludwig acted very carefully and did not follow, probably against his personal conviction, the more radical Calvinist model. His son and successor, Count Philipp Ludwig II, later carried through the so-called "second Reformation", the turn towards Calvinism.
