He was born on 24 September 1577 as the son of George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Magdalene of Lippe, daughter Bernhard VIII, Count of Lippe.

In 1604 he inherited a part of Hessen-Marburg after the death of Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg who was childless.

Lutheran professors of the University of Marburg who refused to convert to Calvinism founded in 1607 the University of Gießen which was named Ludoviciana.

Hesse-Darmstadt suffered severely from the ravages from the Swedes during the conflict.

In 1722, Johann Georg Liebknecht, an astronomer at the University of Gießen, named a star, which he thought was a planet, Sidus Ludoviciana after Ludwig V. Louis V married Magdalene of Brandenburg, daughter of John George, Elector of Brandenburg by his third wife, Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst.