Ludwig II. (Pfalz-Zweibrücken)

Ludwig II.

Ludwig II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken called the Younger (born September 14, 1502 in Zweibrücken ; † December 3, 1532 in Zweibrücken) was from 1514 Count Palatine and Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken and Count of Veldenz .

Life

Ludwig was the eldest son of the Count Palatine and Duke Alexander von Zweibrücken (1462–1514) from his marriage to Margarete (1480–1522), daughter of Count Kraft VI. from Hohenlohe in Neuenstein . Since he was still a minor when his father died, Ludwig was under the tutelage of his mother and assigned councilors until 1519. Since the city of Annweiler had refused to pay homage to his mother, he besieged the city in 1519, which was handed over to Ludwig on February 6, 1519 after negotiations. In 1522 he fought in the imperial army in the Netherlands.

Ludwig's government falls during the Reformation . In his youth he was influenced by Johannes Bader . At the Diet of Worms in 1521 he met Martin Luther , whose supporter Ludwig II was considered. His support for the forces of the Reformation, however, fluctuated; after all, in 1523 he brought Johann Schwebel to Zweibrücken as court chaplain, whose work had a decisive influence on the duchy being largely spared the effects of the German Peasants' War . On the other hand, Ludwig II did not prevail against the monasteries Hornbach and Wörschweiler. In 1529 he made it possible for the Swiss theologians to travel to the Marburg Religious Discussion , by largely avoiding the dioceses of Speyer , Mainz and Worms through his duchy .

Ludwig died of consumption at the age of 30 . His grave is in the Alexander Church in Zweibrücken . Because the Hereditary Prince Wolfgang was a minor, his younger brother Ruprecht von Pfalz-Veldenz took over the regency.

Through his son Wolfgang, Ludwig became the progenitor of both the Electors of the Palatinate from 1685 and of the Bavarian kings from 1806. All Wittelsbachers living today descend from him.

Marriage and offspring

Ludwig II married in Kassel on September 10, 1525 Elisabeth (1503–1553), daughter of Landgrave Wilhelm I of Hesse . The wedding had to be postponed because of the outbreak of the peasant war. Ludwig II had the following children with Elisabeth:

• Wolfgang (1526–1569), Count Palatine and Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken

⚭ 1545 Princess Anna of Hesse (1529–1591)

• Christine (1528–1534)

literature

• Maximilian V. Sattler: Textbook of Bavarian History: with 50 Stamm- u. Regent tables , Lindauer, 1868, p. 403
• 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. 139 ff.
• Johann Georg Lehmann : Complete history of the Duchy of Zweibrücken and its princes , Kaiser, 1867, p. 258 ff.

Web links

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predecessor	Office	successor
Alexander	Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken, Count of Veldenz 1514–1532	wolfgang