Maria Franziska von Pfalz-Sulzbach

Countess Palatine Maria Franziska von Sulzbach, Duchess of Birkenfeld

Maria Franziska Dorothea Christina von Pfalz-Sulzbach (born June 15, 1724 in Schwetzingen , † November 15, 1794 in Sulzbach ) was a Countess Palatine of Sulzbach and by marriage, Countess Palatine and Duchess of Birkenfeld .

Life

Maria Franziska was born as the daughter of Prince Joseph Karl Emanuel (1694–1729) and his wife Elisabeth von Pfalz-Neuburg (1693–1728).

Her father Joseph Karl was the designated successor and son-in-law of Karl III. Philipp , the Elector of the Palatinate. However, due to his early death in 1729, he was unable to inherit. Maria's older sister Elisabeth Auguste von der Pfalz was the wife of the Bavarian - Palatinate Elector Karl Theodor (1724–1799). Her other sister was Maria Anna von Pfalz-Sulzbach (1722-1790), who was married to Clemens Franz de Paula von Bayern (1722-1770).

After the Palatinate-Sulzbach line had expired in the male line with the death of Karl Theodor in February 1799, the Elector Maximilian IV (later King Maximilian I of Bavaria ), a son of Mary born in 1756 , inherited the electoral dignities of Bavaria and the Palatinate, which had been united since 1777 . Maria thus became the ancestor of all Bavarian kings until 1918 and of all Wittelsbachers still living today.

However, she did not live to see the rise of her family. The relationship with her husband had failed since 1760. According to her own statements, she was "seduced by the bad example of the court she despised" to enter into a relationship with a Mannheim actor. When she became pregnant, she was removed from the yard. In 1767 she gave birth to a son in Strasbourg , who later served his half-brother King Max I Joseph as a royal Bavarian treasurer and lieutenant general under the name Karl Friedrich Stephan von Otting, Fünfstetten and Schönfeld .

Maria Franziska was put in cloister custody for her misstep; first with the Ursulines in Metz and then with the Augustinians in Bonneweg (Bonnevoie) in the Duchy of Luxembourg . After the death of her husband in 1767, she was allowed to move to Sulzbach Castle . In 1785 she had Franziskaruhe Castle built. She died in 1794 and found her final resting place in the parish church in Sulzbach. Her heart was buried separately and has been in Altötting's chapel since 1983 .

progeny

Maria married Friedrich Michael von Pfalz-Birkenfeld (1724–1767) in 1746 .

• Karl II. August Christian (1746–1795), Count Palatine and Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
• Klemens August Joseph Friedrich (1749–1750), Prince of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
• Maria Amalie Auguste (1752–1828), Princess of Pfalz-Zweibrücken; ∞ Friedrich August I , King of Saxony
• Maria Anna (1753-1824), Princess of Pfalz-Zweibrücken; ∞ Wilhelm in Bavaria
• Maximilian I (1756–1825), King of Bavaria

• Karl Friedrich Stephan von Otting, Fünfstetten and Schönfeld (1767–1834)

ancestors

Christian August von Pfalz-Sulzbach (1622–1708)

Theodor Eustach Duke of Palatinate-Sulzbach (1659–1732)

Amalie of Nassau-Siegen (1615–1669)

Joseph Karl von Pfalz-Sulzbach (1694–1729)

Wilhelm I of Hessen-Rotenburg (1648–1725)

Marie Eleonore of Hessen-Rotenburg (1675-1720)

Maria Anna von Löwenstein-Wertheim (1652–1688)

Maria Franziska von Pfalz-Sulzbach

Philipp Wilhelm Elector Palatinate (1615–1690)

Charles III Philipp Elector Palatinate (1661–1742)

Elisabeth Amalie of Hessen-Darmstadt (1635–1709)

Elisabeth Auguste Sofie of the Palatinate (1693–1728)

Bogusław Radziwiłł (1620–1669)

Ludwika Karolina Charlotte von Radziwiłł-Birze (1667–1695)

Anna Maria Radziwiłł (1640–1667)

literature

• Oskar Klausner: The branches of the Palatinate Wittelsbach family. The first Wittelsbachers, the Kurlinie, the sidelines . Verlag Schimper, Heidelberg 1995 (on behalf of the state property office).
• Karl Weich: Mannheim - the new Jerusalem. The Jesuits in Mannheim 1720–1773 . Palatium-Verlag, Mannheim 1997, ISBN 3-920671-17-1 , pp. 142, 151.