Johann II. (Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Veldenz)

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Johann II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken

Johann II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken , called the Younger (born March 26, 1584 in Bergzabern ; † August 9, 1635 in Metz ) was Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken from 1604 until his death . He came from the younger line of Zweibrücken.

Life

Johann was the oldest surviving son of Duke and Count Palatine Johann I von Zweibrücken (1550–1604) from his marriage to Magdalena (1553–1633), daughter of Duke Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg . Johann was educated by Theodor Esich and Wilhelm von Botzheim, among others. Between 1600 and 1604 Johann was on his cavalier tour , which took him to France, among other places.

After the death of his father in 1604, Johann shared the country with his brothers. Johann kept Zweibrücken , his younger brother Friedrich Kasimir received the castle and town of Landsberg , the youngest brother Johann Kasimir Neucastel and Kleeburg . 1609 fell through feudal right Tiefenthal and the rule of Bischweiler in Alsace to Johann, who joined the Protestant Union with his duchy in the same year . In the Jülich-Klevischen succession dispute he failed in the attempt to assert his mother Magdalena's female succession claim to the duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg for Pfalz-Zweibrücken.

After the assassination of King Henry IV , Johann went to France as the ambassador of the Protestant electors .

From 1610 to 1614 Johann II was the guardian of the underage Elector Friedrich von der Pfalz , in this function after the death of Emperor Rudolf II in 1612 also briefly imperial vicar of the Holy Roman Empire . To underline this, he had the Pfalz-Zweibrückischen coins minted with the imperial double-headed eagle. As guardian of the Palatinate Elector, Johann resided in Heidelberg, where he received homage and, with the help of the scholar Marquard Freher, prevailed against his uncle Philipp Ludwig von Neuburg , to whom this office would actually have been granted. After the election of Frederick V of the Palatinate as King of Bohemia, Johann was again governor of the Electoral Palatinate in 1620, although he was hardly able to gain any influence there.

Johann II founded a French Reformed community in Zweibrücken . During the Thirty Years' War and after the dissolution of the Union, Johann lost not only his rights and income, but also the Hornbach Monastery to the Emperor in 1628 . In 1634 he joined the Heilbronner Bund . On June 13, 1635, Johann and his family had to flee from the imperial troops of Count Gallas to Metz while his duchy was being devastated. He died shortly after his escape in Metz, and his remains could only be transferred to Zweibrücken in 1646, where they were buried in the Alexander Church in Zweibrücken .

Marriages and offspring

Johann II was married twice. His first wife was on August 28, 1604 in Blain in Brittany Catherine de Rohan (1578-1607), daughter of René II. De Rohan , Vicomte de Rohan and Comte de Porhoët . Catherine was a sister of the Huguenot leader Henri II. De Rohan . From this marriage he had a daughter:

⚭ 1630 Duke and Count Palatine Christian I of Birkenfeld (1598–1654)

His second wife was Luise Juliane (1594–1640) in Heidelberg on May 4, 1612 , daughter of Elector Friedrich IV of the Palatinate , with whom he had seven children:

⚭ 1631 Duke and Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm von Neuburg (1578–1653)
⚭ Count Palatine Friedrich Ludwig von Landsberg (1619–1681)

literature

  • Volker Press:  Johann II. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 514 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Johann Samuelersch: General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts: in alphabetical order. Section 2, H-N; Theil 21, Johann (Infant von Castilien) - Johann-Boniten , Volume 2, Volume 21, Gleditsch, 1842, p. 179 ff. Digitized

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emil Friedrich Heinrich Medicus: History of the Protestant Church in the Kingdom of Bavaria on this side d. Rh: after printed u. partly also ungedr. Sources initially for practical spiritual. u. other educated readers edit Supplement volume, Volume 2, Deichert, 1865, p. 95
predecessor Office successor
Johann I. Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Veldenz
1604–1635 		Friedrich I.
Friedrich IV. ( As elector ) Administrator of the Electoral Palatinate
1610–1614 		Friedrich V ( as elector )
personal data
SURNAME Johann II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johann the Younger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Veldenz and guardian of the Elector of the Palatinate
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1584
PLACE OF BIRTH Bergzabern
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1635
Place of death Metz