the rigor of his confinement was increased after he had made an unsuccessful attempt to escape. It was not until 1552 that the Peace of Passau gave him his long-desired freedom and that he was able, on 12 September 1552, to reenter his capital, Kassel. Closing years Though Philip was now active in restoring order within his territories, new leaders—such as Maurice of Saxony and Christopher of Württemberg—had come to the fore. Philip no longer desired to assume the leadership of the Protestant party. All his energies were now directed toward finding a basis of agreement between Protestants and Roman Catholics. At his direction his theologians were prominent in the various conferences where representative Roman Catholics and Protestants assembled to attempt to find a working basis for reunion. Philip was also much disturbed by the internal conflicts that arose after Luther's death between his followers and the disciples of Melanchthon. He never wearied in urging the necessity of mutual toleration between Calvinists and Lutherans, and to the last cherished the hope of a great Protestant federation, so that, with this end in view, he cultivated friendly relations with French Protestants and with Elizabeth I of England. Financial aid was given to the Huguenots, and Hessian troops fought side by side with them in the French religious civil wars, this policy contributing to the declaration of toleration at Amboise in March 1563. He gave permanent form to the Hessian Church by the great agenda of 1566–67, and in his will, dated 1562, urged his sons to maintain the Augsburg Confession and the Concord of Wittenberg, and at the same time to work in behalf of a reunion of Roman Catholics and Protestants if opportunity and circumstances should permit. Philip died in 1567 and was interred in Kassel. Ancestry Marriages and children Philip married in Dresden on 11 December 1523 Christine of Saxony (daughter of George, Duke of Saxony) and had in this marriage 10 children: Agnes (31 May 1527 – 4 November 1555), married: in Marburg on 9 January 1541 to Elector Maurice of Saxony; in Weimar on 26 May 1555 to Duke John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony. Anna (26 October 1529 – 10 July 1591), married on 24 February 1544 to Count palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken. William IV of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (24 June 1532 – 25 August 1592). Philip Louis (29 June 1534 – 31 August 1535). Barbara