George John I (German: Georg Johann I.; sometimes called George Hans) (11 April 1543 – 18 April 1592) was the Count of Veldenz from 1544 until 1592.

Life

George John was born in 1543 as the only son of Rupert, Count Palatine of Veldenz. George John's cousin,

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 r ...

, was a child when he inherited his title, so George John's father served as Wolgang's

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

. In 1543, when Wolfgang reached majority and took on the responsibility of office, he enacted the Marburg Contract, giving Rupert the County of Veldenz. Rupert died the following year, and the one-year-old George John succeeded him. In 1563 he married Anna of Sweden, the daughter of King

Gustav I of Sweden Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksför ...

, beginning a long-running connection between the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

and Sweden. In 1553 after the Heidelberg War of Succession which regulated the mutual inheritance of all the lines of the House of Wittelsbach, George John obtained Palatinate-Lützelstein. He attempted to develop his Alsatian territories to be the focus of his state, which led to him building the city of

Phalsbourg Phalsbourg (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Phalsburch'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France, with a population of about 5,000. It lies high on the west slopes of the Vosges, northwest of Strasbourg by rail. ...

(Pfalzburg) in 1570 and populating it with

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

refugees from the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy. It was founded in 959 following th ...

. The project was so grand and unaffordable that in 1583 he was forced to sell the city and half of Palatinate-Lützelstein to Lorraine. George John died in Lützelstein in 1592 and was buried in the city's church. Pierre tombale Georges-Jean de Veldenz

Marriage

George John married Anna of Sweden (1545–1610), daughter of King Gustavus I, in 1563 and had the following children: # George Gustavus (1564 – 3 June 1634) #Anne Margaret (28 April 1565 – 2 October 1566) #John Rupert (9 September 1566 – 1 October 1567) # Anne Margaret (17 January 1571 – 1 November 1621) third wife of Reichard, Count Palatine of Simmern-Sponheim # Ursula (24 February 1572 – 5 March 1635), second wife of Louis III, Duke of Württemberg # Joanna Elizabeth (2 October 1573 – 28 July 1601) #

John Augustus John Augustus (1785-June 21, 1859) was a Boston boot maker who is called the "Father of Probation" in the United States because of his pioneering efforts to campaign for more lenient sentences for convicted criminals based on their backgrounds. ...

(26 November 1575 – 18 September 1611) # Louis Philip (24 November 1577 – 24 October 1601) #Maria Anne (9 June 1579 – 10 October 1579) #Catherine Ursula (3 August 1582 – 22 January 1595) # George John (24 June 1586 – 29 September 1654)

Life

Marriage

Ancestors

See also