George II of Castell

The epitaph of Count George and his wife in the church of Rüdenhausen

Georg II. Count and Lord of Castell (* November 16, 1527 ; † November 12, 1597 in Rüdenhausen ) was sovereign of the county of Castell from 1546 to 1597 . He shared the rule with his brothers Konrad and Heinrich IV. He also worked as a diplomat.

The county before George II.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Grafschaft Castell found itself in a precarious situation: the great rulers of the area, namely the Prince Diocese of Würzburg and the Margraviate of Ansbach, increasingly narrowed the county’s territory. Frederick IV had to cede his half to the bishop in the important city of Volkach , and the county lost access to the important river Main.

Another development was the emergence of the Lutheran faith, which, coming from central Germany, spread even further in Franconia . One of the immediate consequences of the religious upheavals was the German Peasants' War of 1525, in which the disadvantaged strata of the population united and violently attacked their landlords. The uprising was put down, but the county was still affected.

Life

Georg was born on November 16, 1527 as the son of Wolfgang I and his wife Martha, a born Countess zu Wertheim . From 1540 to 1544 he studied at the University of Ingolstadt, traveled to Italy in 1546, where he stayed in Padua and Bologna with his brother Heinrich. In 1548 he entered the service of Margrave Albrecht Alkibiades and accompanied him to Italy.

Subsequently, the count held several embassies. Among other things, he was sent to England, France and Venice. In 1557 he was appointed to the Privy Council of Count Palatine Wolfgang . On October 7, 1560 there was a so-called "legacy" between the three ruling brothers. The county was divided into land portions. Henry IV received the Remlingen inheritance , the other brothers ruled over the original county in the Steigerwald.

Georg then returned to the service of the larger gentlemen of Franconia. From 1569 he held an office in the Margraviate of Ansbach . At the same time he became director of the Franconian Counts College. In 1579 the count signed the concord formula together with his brother Heinrich , before he had converted to the Lutheran faith. Georg II. Count and Lord zu Castell died at the age of 69 on November 12, 1597 in Rüdenhausen.

Marriage and offspring

Count Georg II married Sophia Schenkin zu Limpurg in Speckfeld on August 16, 1557 at Speckfeld Castle . The marriage resulted in a total of six children, but only three of them reached adulthood. The first-born Wolfgang was built as a successor, and after the line split, Gottfried also became sovereign.

• Wolfgang (* July 20, 1558 in Rüdenhausen; † April 30, 1631 in Remlingen)
• Ottilie (born June 26, 1562 - † July 20, 1562)
• Johann Philipp (born February 21, 1564 in Rüdenhausen; † March 29, 1575 in Kulmbach )
• Maria (April 3, 1565 - July 9, 1634)
• Martha (November 2, 1567 - September 24, 1569)
• Gottfried (born January 16, 1577 in Rüdenhausen, † August 6, 1635 in Castell)

literature

• Wilhelm Engel: House u. Reign of Castell in Franconian history . In: Society for Franconian History (ed.): Castell. Contributions to the culture and history of home and dominion. New Year's Sheets XXIV . Würzburg 1952. pp. 1-19.
• Otto Meyer: The Castell house. State and class rule over the centuries . In: Otto Meyer, Hellmut Kunstmann (ed.): Castell. State rule - castles - status lordship . Castell 1979. pp. 9-53.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Viehbeck: Outline of a genealogical history of the Count's House of Castell in Franconia. o. O. 1813.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Viehbeck: outline a genealogical history of the Count's house Castell in Franken . 1813, p. 56 .
2. ↑ Princely Castell'sches Archiv HA I a 8, 26.
3. ↑ Meyer, Otto: The Castell House . P. 22 f.
4. ↑ August Sperl: Castell. Pictures from the past of a German dynasty . Stuttgart / Leipzig 1908, p. 97 .
5. ↑ Engel, Wilhelm: Haus u. Reign of Castell . P. 9.
6. ↑ Angelfire.com: Castell family tree , accessed March 20, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
George I. Johann Friedrich V. Wolfgang I.	Count of Castell 1546–1597	Gottfried Wolfgang II.