Kaspar (Pfalz-Zweibrücken)

Kaspar von Pfalz-Zweibrücken (born July 11, 1458 , † in the summer of 1527 in Nohfelden ) was Count Palatine and Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken from 1489 to 1490/1514.

Life

Kaspar was a son of Duke Ludwig I , the black , and Johanna von Croy. In 1478 he married Amalie von Brandenburg (1461–1481). The marriage with Amalia, who died before her twentieth birthday, remained childless. Amalie left her husband and returned to her father when Kaspar began to show signs of "frenzy". After the death of his wife shortly afterwards, the territories previously transferred on the occasion of the wedding were to be withdrawn from Kaspar. In his annoyance at this incapacitation, Kaspar bequeathed all goods to which he was entitled on the basis of his birthright to Prince Elector Philip I the Sincere from the Heidelberg Kurlinie and moved to Heidelberg with him. Agreements about a joint government with his younger brother were thereby void. Kaspar believed that Ludwig favored the second son Alexander .

In order to prevent the division of his territory between his sons Kaspar and Alexander the Limping into the duchies of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, which would have been given to Kaspar, and Palatinate-Veldenz, which would have fallen to Alexander, Ludwig the Black decreed that the two should take over the administration of the should perceive the entire duchy together. One year after Ludwig's death, however, Alexander had his older brother arrested and in 1490 he was brought to Kirkel Castle as supposedly insane . He was then imprisoned at Nohfelden Castle and declared insane. From then on, Alexander ruled alone, although it was not until 1514 that Kaspar was formally stripped of his ducal dignity. Until his death in the summer of 1527, Kaspar could not leave the dungeon. Kaspar is buried in the village church of Wolfersweiler .

It cannot be conclusively determined whether Kaspar was actually unable to perform his duties due to mental or moral deficiencies, or whether the younger brother only got him out of the way to assert his own claims to power. Ludwig's decision to entrust the management of government affairs to the brothers can also be interpreted in different ways.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ August B. Michaelis: Introduction to a complete history of the Chur and Princely Houses in Germany , Part 2, Meyer, 1760, p. 78 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ludwig I.	Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken 1489–1490	Alexander