The County of Veldenz was a principality in the contemporary

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. The county was located partially between Kaiserslautern,

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 ...

and

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

, partially on the Mosel in the Archbishopric of Trier. A municipality of the same name,

Veldenz Veldenz is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the former main seat of the County of Veldenz, ...

, and a castle,

Schloss Veldenz Schloss Veldenz in the Hunsrück upland, on a steep vale draining into the Moselle, Mosel is a castle ruin about southeast of the village of Veldenz in the Germany, German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Location The site is in the distric ...

, are located in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich.

History

The Counts of Veldenz separated from the Wildgraves of

Kyrburg Kirn is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a middle centre serving an area on the Nahe and in the Hunsrück. Geography Location Kirn lies in a la ...

and Schmidburg family in 1112. The direct male line of the first comital house ceased in 1260 with the death of Gerlach V of Veldenz and his daughter Agnes of Veldenz inherited the county in 1260. Her husband Heinrich of Geroldseck became the founder of the second line of Counts of Veldenz or the House of Veldenz-Geroldseck (

Hohengeroldseck Hohengeroldseck was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was founded by the House of Geroldseck, a German noble family which arrived in the Ortenau region of Swabia reputedly in 948, though the first mention of the family is documented in the 1080 ...

). In 1444 the county came under the rule of

Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken Stephen of Simmern-Zweibrücken (german: link=no, Stefan Pfalzgraf von Simmern-Zweibrücken) (23 June 1385 – 14 February 1459, Simmern) was Count Palatine of Simmern and Zweibrücken from 1410 until his death in 1459.Ludwig Molitor: Vollständi ...

by his marriage to Anna of Veldenz, the only heiress of Count Frederick III of Veldenz. As of 1532, the entire County Palantine of Zweibrücken passed to the child Wolfgang. In 1543, when Wolfgang reached majority and took on the responsibilities of office, he enacted the Marburg Contract, giving his uncle Rupert, who had served as his

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 ...

and guardian for 11 years, the County of Veldenz. When Rupert died in 1544, son George John succeeded him as Count Palatine of Veldenz. George married

Anna Maria of Sweden Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

, a daughter of

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 ...

, in 1563. This was the joining of the House of Wittelsbach with the Swedish Vasa royal family which was strengthened by a further marriage when Johann Casimir of Pfalz-Zweibrücken married Catharina of Sweden, a sister of Gustavus Adolphus in the 17th century. Wolfgang had in 1553 with the Heidelberg Succession agreement regulated the mutual inheritance of all Wittelsbach lines reaching from Veldenz-Palatinate to the county Lützelstein in Alsace. The grandson of Georg Hans, Leopold Ludwig von Lützelstein, died in 1694 without legitimate offspring and the county-Palatinate of Veldenz reverted to the Zweibrücken line, specifically King of Sweden Charles XI, who ruled in personal union with the duchy of Palatine Zweibrücken. In 1801 it was incorporated into the Saardepartement of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...

. The

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

, 1815, gave the smaller part of the county lying on the Mosel to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

and the remainder to

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 ...

Counts of Veldenz

First Veldenz Line

* Emicho, Count of Kyrburg and Schmidburg (1086–1113) * Gerlach I, Count of Veldenz (1113–1146) * Gerlach II, Count of Veldenz (1146–1186) * Gerlach III, Count of Veldenz (1186–1214) * Gerlach IV, Count of Veldenz (1214–1254) * Gerlach V, Count of Veldenz (1254–1260) * Agnes, Countess of Veldenz (1260–1277)

Veldenz-Geroldseck Line

* Henry, Count of Geroldseck (1277–1298) ∞ Agnes of Veldenz (1258–?) * Walter, Count of Veldenz (1298–1327) * George I, Count of Veldenz (1327–1347) * Henry II, Count of Veldenz (1347–1378) * Frederick II, Count of Veldenz (1378–1396) * Henry III, Count of Veldenz (1378–1389) *

Henry IV, Count of Veldenz Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

(1389–1393) *

Frederick III, Count of Veldenz Frederick III, Count of Veldenz (died 1444) was the last from the Hohengeroldseck family to rule the county - that male line died out with him, and the county passed to his son-in-law Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken, widower of Fre ...

(1393–1444)

Palatine Zweibrücken Line

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

(briefly in 1444), widower of Anna of Veldenz (died 1439, daughter of Frederick III), separated Veldenz from his other holdings and gave it to his younger son *

Louis 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 ( ...

(1444–1489) *

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1489–1514) * Louis II (1514–1532) * Wolfgang (1532–1543). Wolfgang rewarded his uncle and

, Rupert, with Veldenz. Wolfgang's other counties and duchies were split amongst his own sons upon his death in 1569.

Palatine Veldenz Line

Rupert, Count Palatine of Veldenz Rupert (German: Ruprecht) (1506 – 28 July 1544) was the Count of Veldenz from 1543 until 1544. Life Rupert was born in Zweibrücken in 1506 as the youngest son of Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. As a younger son, Rupert was designat ...

(1543–1544) *

George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz 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 ...

(1544–1592) *

George Gustavus, Count Palatine of Veldenz George Gustavus (German: Georg Gustav) (6 February 1564 – 3 June 1634) was the Count of Veldenz from 1592 until 1634. Biography George Gustavus was born in 1564 as the eldest son of George John I, Count Palatine of Lützelstein. His father die ...

(1592–1634) *

Leopold Louis, Count Palatine of Veldenz Leopold Louis (German: Leopold Ludwig) (1 February 1625 – 29 September 1694) was the Count of Veldenz from 1634 until 1694. Lothar K. Kinzinger: Schweden und Pfalz-Zweibrücken, Dissertation, Zweibrücken 1988, S. 308–317. ISBN 3-924171-02-5 ...

(1634–1694), died without heir, Veldenz reabsorbed by the Palatine Zweibrücken line (King of Sweden Charles XI)

Literature

* Crollius, Georg Christian
Vorlesung: Von dem ersten geschlecht der alten graven von Veldenz und dessen gemeinschaftlichen abstammung mit den ältern Wildgraven von den graven im Nohgau.
Historia et Commentationes. Academiae Electoralis Scientiarvm et Elegantiorvm Litterarvm Theodoro-Palatinae. Mannhemii Typis Academicis 1770 (complete at Google Books) * Crollius, Georg Christian
Vorlesung: von dem zweiten geschlechte der grafen von Veldenz, aus dem hause der herren von Geroldseck in der Ortenau.
Historia et Commentationes. Academiae Electoralis Scientiarvm et Elegantiorvm Litterarvm Theodoro-Palatinae. Mannhemii Typis Academicis 1778 (complete at Google Books) * Gerbert, Martin
Pragmatische Geschichte des Hauses Geroldsek, wie auch derer Reichsherrschaften Hohengeroldsek, Lahr und Mahlberg in Schwaben.
Frankfurt und Leipzig 1766 (complete at Google Books)

External links

www.schlossveldenz.com
*

Historical mapVeldenzer Aufgebot 1462
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veldenz 1801 disestablishments States and territories established in 1112 Counts of Veldenz Lists of monarchs Lists of counts Former states and territories of Rhineland-Palatinate Counties of the Holy Roman Empire