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

Count Palatine of the Rhine This article lists counts palatine of Lotharingia, counts palatine of the Rhine, and electors of the Palatinate (), the titles of three counts palatine who ruled some part of the Rhine region in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire b ...

Duke in Bavaria Duke in Bavaria () was a title used among others since 1506, when primogeniture was established, by all members of the House of Wittelsbach, with the exception of the Duke ''of'' Bavaria which began to be a unique position. So reads for instance ...

, Count of Veldenz and Sponheim was the Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1600 until 1669.

Life

George William was born in

Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Mittelfranken, Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränk ...

in 1591 as the eldest son of Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. 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 regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

together with Margrave Wilhelm of Baden, whose

counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

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, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. 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), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the Birkenfeld (Verbandsgemeinde), like-named ''Verbandsge ...

. 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.

Marriages and Issue

George William married firstly on 30 November 1616 to Dorothea (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 the princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg Abbey.Johann Heinrich Fritsch: ''Geschichte des vormaligen Reichsstifts Quedlinburg'' pt 2, 1828, pp. 26–28online version)/ref>Hermann Lorenz: ''Quedlinburgische Geschichte. Band 1: Werd ...

. # 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, whi ...

(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 Anne Elizabeth is an American romance novel writer. She also writes graphic novels and comics. Elizabeth is a member of the Authors Guild and Romance Writers of America. Biography Anne Elizabeth is from Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended Gre ...

(3 November 1603 – 3 June 1673), daughter of

Louis Eberhard, Count of Öttingen-Öttingen Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

. 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