Alexander (Pfalz-Zweibrücken)

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Alexander von Pfalz-Zweibrücken the Limping (born November 26, 1462 , † October 21, 1514 in Zweibrücken ) was from 1489 Prince of Pfalz-Zweibrücken and Count of Veldenz , initially together with his brother Kaspar .

Life

The Alexander Church in Zweibrücken

Alexander was the second son of Count Palatine Ludwig I of Zweibrücken (1424–1489) from his marriage to Johanna (around 1435–1504), daughter of Antoine I de Croÿ , Count of Porcéan and Guines. In his childhood, the prince fell ill with the leaves and remained paralyzed on one foot, which earned him the nickname "the limping" or "the lame". Alexander followed his father in 1489 together with his older brother Kaspar in the government. Kaspar was soon imprisoned by Alexander and remained imprisoned at Veldenz Castle until his death in 1527 .

In 1495, Alexander went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his cousin Bishop Antoine de Croÿ and his brother-in-law, Count Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrücken , where he himself, his brother-in-law and their companions Schweickhardt von Sickingen , Stephan von Veningen and Heinrich von Schwarzenberg on Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem were knighted by the Holy Sepulcher . The travel diary appeared in print in 1584. Alexander had the Alexander Church in Zweibrücken, later named after him, built. A connection is often made between the pilgrimage and the building of a church.

Alexander always chose secular officials as his chancellors and advisers, although he was considered extremely pious. In the Landshut War of Succession , Alexander acted with the encouragement of Emperor Maximilian by conquering and pillaging numerous monasteries. Peace was made at the Reichstag in Cologne in 1505. The Electoral Palatinate and Pfalz-Zweibrücken also signed a hereditary brotherhood agreement on this occasion. Alexander returned the Landeck office and waived the inheritance claims of the Pfalz-Mosbach-Neumarkt line . Alexander received the office of Kleeburg and the Palatinate portion of the Guttenberg community .

Under the influence of the scholar Jakob Wimpheling , Alexander submitted the Gravamina, or ten complaints , to Emperor Maximilian in 1510 , denouncing the benefice trade in Rome. Alexander had the Gravamina presented again at the Reichstag in Trier in 1512 by his Chancellor Adam von Sötern .

Through his son Ludwig, Alexander became the progenitor of both the Electors of the Palatinate from 1685 and the Bavarian kings .

Marriage and offspring

Alexander married Margarete (1480–1522), daughter of Count Kraft VI, in Zweibrücken in 1499 . von Hohenlohe in Neuenstein , with whom he had the following children:

  • Johanna (1499–1537), nun in the St. Agnes monastery in Trier
  • Ludwig II (1502–1532), Count Palatine and Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
⚭ 1525 Princess Elisabeth of Hesse (1503–1563)
⚭ 1537 Wild and Rhine Countess Ursula zu Salm-Kyrburg (1515–1601)
  • Katharina (1510–1542), initially a nun in the Marienberg monastery
⚭ before 1541 Count Otto IV. Von Rietberg (1520–1552)

literature

  • JP Gelbert: Magister Johann Bader's Life and Writings, Nicolaus Thomae and his letters: A contribution to the Reformation history of the cities of Landau, Bergzabern and the Palatinate on the left bank of the Rhine , Gottschick-Witter, 1868, p. 2 ff.
  • Johann Georg Lehmann : Complete history of the Duchy of Zweibrücken and its princes , Munich, 1867
  • Jürgen Karbach: The journey of Duke Alexander of Pfalz-Zweibrücken and Count Johann Ludwig of Nassau-Saarbrücken to the Holy Land 1495/96 . In: Journal for the history of the Saar region, vol. 45, Saarbrücken 1997, pp. 11–118

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig Häusser: History of the Rhenish Palatinate according to its political, church and literary conditions , Volume 1, Mohr, 1856, p. 499
  2. ↑ Valmar Cramer: The order of knights of the Holy Grave from the Crusades to the present. , JP Bachem, Cologne 1952, p. 22
  3. ↑ Halm: German Travel Reports, No. 108 , accessed on September 19, 2013
  4. ↑ Cf. Friedrich Schmidt: History of the education of the Palatinate Wittelsbacher . (Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica 19). A. Hofmann, Berlin 1899, S. LXXVI.
predecessor Office successor
Ludwig I. Count of Veldenz
1489–1514 		Ludwig II.
Kaspar Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
1490–1514 		Ludwig II.
personal data
SURNAME Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfalz-Zweibrücken, Alexander von; Limping, the; Lame, the (epithet)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Veldenz
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1462
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1514
Place of death Zweibrücken