Johann Kasimir (Palatinate-Simmern)

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Johann Casimir von der Pfalz, around 1590
Coat of arms of Johann Kasimir as a knight of the Order of the Garter

John Casimir (also John Casimir ) of Pfalz-Simmern (* 7. March 1543 in Simmern , † January 6 jul. / 16th January  1592 greg. In Heidelberg ) from the family of Wittelsbach was Count Palatine of the Rhine , since 1559 ruler of Palatinate-Lautern and from 1583 to 1592 administrator of the Electoral Palatinate .

family

Princess Elisabeth of Saxony

Johann Kasimir's parents were Elector Friedrich III. von der Pfalz (1515–1576) and Marie von Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1519–1567). Johann Kasimir was the couple's third son and the second to reach adulthood.

With his father Johann Kasimir connected his religious and to a large extent also political convictions, which is why Friedrich III . repeatedly called him his favorite son. This repeatedly led to conflicts with the older brother Ludwig VI ., In particular about the provisions of the father's will.

He married Elisabeth of Saxony in Heidelberg in 1570 (* October 18, 1552; † April 2, 1590), the daughter of the Elector August of Saxony . The marriage was entered into ostensibly for political reasons. The three common daughters, of whom the two eldest died in infancy, were Marie (1576–1577), Elisabeth (1578–1580) and Dorothea (1581–1631), who married Johann Georg I of Anhalt-Dessau .

In 1589, Johann Kasimir had his wife arrested and placed under house arrest, accusing her of breaking her marriage and plotting a murder against him. Religious differences also seem to have played a role.

Education and reign

Johann Kasimir's university foundation, the Casimirianum Neustadt

Johann Kasimir was trained at the courts of Paris and Nancy . He opted for the Calvinist-Reformation creed of his father, while his older brother, Elector Ludwig VI. , turned to Lutheranism and made this denomination binding for the Electoral Palatinate area.

In 1567 Johann Kasimir moved with the approval of his father Friedrich III. with his army to the aid of the French Huguenots . His other similar undertakings - a second campaign in France ( Trois-Évêchés 1575/76), the one in the Netherlands against the Spaniards (1578) and his advocacy for the elector of Cologne , Gebhard I von Waldburg - were less successful.

In 1578 Johann Kasimir founded the Casimirianum named after him in Neustadt an der Haardt , today Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , as a Reformation college . He wanted so professors and students, which his Lutheran brother Ludwig VI. because of their denomination and their refusal to sign the concord formula , had expelled from the University of Heidelberg , offer an academic alternative.

With the death of Ludwig VI. Johann Kasimir took over the guardianship of his nephew Friedrich IV in 1583 and ruled the Palatinate de facto with all the powers of an elector. He knew how to skilfully bypass the co-guardians appointed by his brother in his will. For a short time, the now more calmly acting spa administrator tried to enforce a system of biconfessionalism before he issued a church ordinance based on the Heidelberg Catechism in 1585 . Because as administrator of the Electoral Palatinate - also at the University of Heidelberg, where he reinstated all professors who had been dismissed by Ludwig - he reinstated the Reformation creed, the Casimirianum lost its university status after just six years.

In 1585 Johann Kasimir tried to reunite the areas of the Electoral Palatinate, which had been split up due to inheritance divisions, without lasting success. In 1591 he had the first large barrel built in Heidelberg Castle , which was also called Johann Casimir barrel after him . He died in 1592 and was buried in the Heiliggeistkirche in Heidelberg.

The hunter from Electoral Palatinate

Johann Casimir von der Pfalz in the Thesaurus Picturarum

For a long time, Johann Kasimir was considered to be the most likely candidate of all the people who could be considered for the "hunters from the Electoral Palatinate", sung about in German folk songs . However, it has not been proven that the song was written as early as the end of the 16th century at the end of Johann Kasimir's reign and, according to recent research, is not tenable.

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eike Wolgast: Reformed denomination and politics in the 16th century. Studies on the history of the Electoral Palatinate in the age of the Reformation . In: Writings of the Philosophical-Historical Class of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . tape 10 . C. Winter, Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 978-3-8253-0756-1 , pp. 68-72 .
  2. ↑ Armin Heigl: Cuius regio, eius religio? About trying to turn the Upper Palatinate into Calvinists . In: Regensburg contributions to regional history . tape 6 . Regensburg 2009.
  3. ^ Paul Münch: Breeding and order. Reformed church constitutions in the 16th and 17th centuries (Nassau-Dillenburg, Kurpfalz, Hessen-Kassel) . Stuttgart 1978.
  4. ^ Rolf Heyers: Dr. Georg Marius , called Mayer von Würzburg (1533-1606). (Dental) medical dissertation Würzburg 1957, p. 41.
  5. ↑ Tobias Widmaier: A hunter from Kurpfalz (2008). In: Popular and Traditional Songs. Historical-critical song lexicon of the German Folk Song Archive
  6. ^ Karl Scherer: Count Palatine Johann Casimir (1543–1592) and the folk song "A hunter from the Electoral Palatinate". In: Werner Kremp (Ed.): The Huntsman from Kurpfalz. About the clash and cooperation between German and American hunting culture. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier 2002, ISBN 3-88476-559-0 , pp. 29-64.
predecessor Office successor
to Electoral Palatinate
( Friedrich II. ) 		Prince of Palatinate-Lautern
1559–1592 		to Electoral Palatinate
( Friedrich IV. )
Domaine royal Duke of Étampes
1576–1577 		Domaine royal
Louis VI.
(Elector) 		Administrator of the Electoral Palatinate
1583–1592 		Friedrich IV
(Elector)
personal data
SURNAME Johann Casimir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johann Casimir
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count Palatinate of Pfalz-Simmern and administrator of the Electoral Palatinate
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1543
PLACE OF BIRTH Simmern / Hunsrück , Germany
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1592
Place of death Heidelberg , Germany