 The residence of the landgraves was in Darmstadt, hence the name.As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, the landgraviate was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Hesse following the Empire's dissolution in 1806.The landgraviate comprised the southern Starkenburg territory with the Darmstadt residence and the northern province of Upper Hesse with Alsfeld, Giessen, Grünberg, the northwestern "hinterland" estates around Gladenbach, Biedenkopf and Battenberg as well as the exclave of Vöhl in Lower Hesse.