Charles I of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (4 September 1560 – 16 December 1600),

Count Palatine of the Rhine The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...

Duke in Bavaria Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

, Count to Veldenz and

Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Step ...

was the Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1569 until 1600.

Life

Charles was born in Neuburg in 1560 as the youngest son of

Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (german: Pfalzgraf Wolfgang von Zweibrücken; 26 September 1526 – 11 June 1569) was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532. With the support of his re ...

. After his father's death in 1569, Charles and his brothers partitioned his territories: Charles received the Palatine share on the Rear

County of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (german: Grafschaft Sponheim, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality ...

, a small territory around

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde''. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

. Charles is the founder of the House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld. Charles died in Birkenfeld in 1600 and was buried in

Meisenheim Meisenheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. Meisenheim is a state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'') and it is s ...

. Charles was a prince of a relatively unimportant state, and his chief fame is that the Kings of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

descended from him.

Marriage

Charles married

Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1 January 1570 – 15 August 1649) was a daughter of Duke William "the younger" of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Dorothea of Denmark, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She married Count Palatine Charles I ...

(1 January 1570 – 15 August 1649), daughter of Duke William VI, on 23 February 1590 and had the following children: # George William (6 August 1591 – 25 December 1669) # Sophie (29 March 1593 – 16 November 1676), married to Crato VII of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (14 November 1582 – 11 October 1641) #

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

(29 October 1594 – 20 July 1626) #

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

(3 November 1598 – 6 September 1654)

Ancestors

References

* ''Jahresbericht fterw.Trierer Jahresberichte'', 1858, p. 50
Digitalised
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles 01, Count Palatine of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld 1560 births 1600 deaths House of Wittelsbach Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken