The universally educated landgrave composed and wrote poetry himself. Much of the painting decoration of Wilhelmsburg Castle in Schmalkalden can be traced back to him. Successful in the field of music, Moritz acted politically unwise. His switch to Calvinism brought his country a decades-long war of succession and political isolation in the Thirty Years' War. In 1627, he was forced to abdicate and retire to Eschwege.
