Pfalz-Birkenfeld

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Coat of arms Pfalzgraf Georg Wilhelm von Pfalz-Birkenfeld

Pfalz-Birkenfeld or Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld was the name of a branch line of the Palatinate Wittelsbach family that flourished from 1569. The Count Palatine from this branch ruled over the Palatinate portion of the rear county of Sponheim . The secondary line gained importance especially in genealogical terms, because the kings of Bavaria and the dukes in Bavaria and all living Wittelsbachers come from this line.

history

Birkenfeld Castle around 1645 after Merian

The progenitor of the line was Karl I of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld . He was a son of Duke Wolfgang von Zweibrücken . When Wolfgang died in 1569, he left the Palatinate share of the Hinteren Grafschaft Sponheim to his fifth son Karl. He made Birkenfeld his residence around 1594 and in 1595 secured sole power of rule in the offices of Birkenfeld and Allenbach through the Kastellaun contract with Eduard Fortunat, a co-owner of Baden (until 1671). Through him the Birkenfeld Castle was significantly expanded. After Karl's death in 1600, his son Georg Wilhelm succeeded Birkenfeld, who ruled until 1669. In 1669, the year he died, Georg Wilhelm laid the foundation stone for a palace church, which was completed in the summer of 1671 and became the burial place of the Pfalz-Birkenfelder. He was followed as the last of the direct line by Karl Otto , who died in 1671 without leaving any male heirs.

Were entitled to inherit Karl Otto's cousins, the two sons of George William's younger brother Christian I Christian II. When the elder went to the site, while Karl was resigned to an annuity and in Gelnhausen are not ruling line Palatinate-Gelnhausen -founded. Christian II lived alternately in Bischweiler and Rappoltstein. In 1705, at the age of 68, he moved to Birkenfeld and left Bischweiler and Rappoltstein to manage his son. His son Christian III. dissolved the court in Birkenfeld in 1717 after the death of his father and resided mainly in Bischweiler or from 1734, in which year he took over the principality of Zweibrücken, in Zweibrücken . He was followed by his son Christian IV. After Christian's death in 1775, his nephew Charles II August took over the reign.

In 1776 the real division of the rear county of Sponheim, which had already been prepared by Christian IV, took place , which Charles II August did not oppose. It was agreed that the common ruler of Baden should undertake the division, the Palatinate should then choose his part. One might have hoped on the Baden side that Charles II August would choose the part that bordered on his territory and in which the family's ancestral home was also located with Birkenfeld; However, Karl II August decided in favor of the Moselle area around Trarbach , so that in 1776 the Birkenfeld area came into sole possession of the Baden region.

In 1799, Duke Max Joseph , the younger brother of Karl August, became elector and later King of Bavaria, while the Pfalz-Gelnhausen line, which still does not react, provided the dukes in Bavaria .

Count Palatine of Birkenfeld

Pfalz-Birkenfeld

Pfalz-Bischweiler-Birkenfeld

Pfalz-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken

literature

  • Heinrich Rodewald : The Birkenfeld Castle. 1584-1717. Life and goings-on at a small royal residence. [1927]. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2016. ISBN 978-3-7392-2692-7 .
  • Klaus Eberhard Wild: On the history of the counties Veldenz and Sponheim and the Birkenfeld lines of the Palatinate Wittelsbacher. Announcements from the Association for Local Studies in the Birkenfeld district 43.Birkenfeld 1982.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Wild 1982, p. 76
  2. ↑ Wild 1982, p. 77
  3. ↑ Wild 1982, p. 122
  4. ↑ Wild 1982, p. 78
  5. ↑ Wild 1982, p. 79
  6. ↑ Wild 1982, p. 45

Web links