George William (6 August 1591 – 25 December 1669), titular

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 of 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 1600 until 1669.

Life

George William was born in

Ansbach Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, a ...

in 1591 as the eldest son of

Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld Charles I of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (4 September 1560 – 16 December 1600), Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke in Bavaria, Count to Veldenz and Sponheim was the Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1569 until 1600. Life Charles was born in Neu ...

. He succeeded his father in 1600 as Count of Sponheim. He was joint ruler in the Sponheimish

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

together with Margrave Wilhelm of Baden, whose

counter-reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

ist movements he laboriously repelled. George William finished the expansion of Castle Birkenfeld, which his father had begun, and set the ground stone for the castle chapel. He is seen as an economical and prudent regent, though he could not do much through the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. His lands were invaded during the Thirty Years' War in 1635, and in the same year the plague broke out killing 416 people. In the year 1666 he appointed Günter Heyler as court preacher to

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 ...

. Ersch, Johann Samuel: Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, Teil 2, Band 4, Gleditsch, 1828, p. 126
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George William died in Birkenfeld in 1669. He was buried in the parish church of Birkenfeld; later his tomb was moved to the chapel of Birkenfeld castle and finally to

Meisenheim Meisenheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Meisenheim (Verbandsgemeinde), like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. Meise ...

Marriages and Issue

George William married firstly on 30 November 1616 to

Dorothea Dorothea (also spelled Dorothée, Dorotea or other variants) is a female given name from Greek (Dōrothéa) meaning "God's Gift". It may refer to: People * Dorothea Binz (1920–1947), German concentration camp officer executed for war cri ...

(1586–1625), daughter of Otto, Count of Solms-Sonnenwalde. They had the following children: # Dorothea Amalie (30 March 1618 – 6 August 1635) # Anne Sophie (12 April 1619 – 1 September 1680),

Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg This is a list of princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg Abbey. {{DEFAULTSORT:Quedlinburg, Princess-abbesses Lists of monarchs Lists of female office-holders Lists of clerics Lists of European people ...

. # Elizabeth Juliana (28 October 1620 – 28 October 1651). # Maria Magdalena (8 August 1622 – 27 October 1689), married in 1644 to

Anton Günther I, Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Count Anton Günther I of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (9 January 1620 – 19 August 1666) was the ruling Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen from 1642 until his death in 1666. Life Count Anton Günther I was the son of the Count Christian Gün ...

. # Clara Sybille (14 January 1624 – 1 February 1628). # Charles Otto (5 September 1625 – 30 March 1671). George William married secondly on 30 November 1641

Juliana Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus. Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, wh ...

(1616–1647), daughter of Johann, Wild- und Rheingraf in Grumbach und Rheingrafenstein. They divorced on 18 November 1642 because on 14 February of that year (and only four months after the wedding) Juliana gave birth a child, whose father was in fact Rheingraf

Johann Ludwig of Salm-Dhaun Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

. George William married thirdly on 8 March 1649 to Anne Elizabeth (3 November 1603 – 3 June 1673), daughter of

Louis Eberhard, Count of Öttingen-Öttingen Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

. They had no children.

Ancestors

Literature

* Rodewald, Heinrich. Pfalzgraf Georg Wilhelm v. Birkenfeld und seine Kämpfe um das Luthertum in der hinteren Grafschaft Sponheim in den Jahren 1629-1630. Heuser, 1925 * Dotzauer, Winfried. Geschichte des Nahe-Hunsrück-Raumes von den Anfängen bis zur Französischen Revolution. Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p. 351 * Jahresbericht fterw.Trierer Jahresberichte, 1858, p. 50
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George William, Count Palatine of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld House of Wittelsbach Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken 1591 births 1669 deaths