Stephen of Simmern-Zweibrücken (german: link=no, Stefan Pfalzgraf von Simmern-Zweibrücken) (23 June 1385 – 14 February 1459,

Simmern Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...

) was

Count Palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...

of Simmern and Zweibrücken from 1410 until his death in 1459.Ludwig Molitor: Vollständige Geschichte der ehemals pfalz-bayerischen Residenzstadt Zweibrücken, Zweibrücken 1885

Life

He was the son of King

Rupert of Germany Rupert of the Palatinate (german: Ruprecht von der Pfalz; 5 May 1352 – 18 May 1410), sometimes known as Robert of the Palatinate, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Elector Palatine from 1398 (as Rupert III) and King of Germany from ...

and his wife

Elisabeth of Nuremberg Elisabeth of Nuremberg (135826 July 1411) was Queen of Germany and Electress Palatine as the wife of Rupert, King of the Romans. Life Elisabeth was born in 1358, the daughter of Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg and his wife Elisabeth of Me ...

. After the death of Rupert the Palatinate was divided between four of his surviving sons.

Louis III Louis III may refer to: * Louis the Younger, sometimes III of Germany (835–882) * Louis III of France (865–882) * Louis the Blind, Louis III, Holy Roman Emperor, (c. 880–928) * Louis the Child, sometimes III of Germany (893–911) * Louis I ...

received the main part,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

received Palatinate-Neumarkt, Stephen received

Palatinate-Simmern The House of Palatinate-Simmern (german: Pfalz-Simmern) was a German- Bavarian cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The house was one of the collateral lineages of the Palatinate. The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach was divided i ...

and

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

received

Palatinate-Mosbach Palatinate-Mosbach was a state of the Holy Roman Empire centred on Mosbach and Eberbach in the north of modern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Palatinate-Mosbach was created in 1410 out of the partition of the Palatinate after the death of King ...

. In 1410, Stephen married Anna of Veldenz, who died in 1439. After the death of Anna's father in 1444, Stephen also gained control of

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 of the Veldenz share of

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 ...

. In the same year, he also divided the country between his sons

Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zoll ...

, who became Count Palatine of Simmern, and

Louis I Louis I may refer to: * Louis the Pious, Louis I of France, "the Pious" (778–840), king of France and Holy Roman Emperor * Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia (ruled 1123–1140) * Ludwig I, Count of Württemberg (c. 1098–1158) * Louis I of Blois ...

, who became Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. In 1448 he succeeded to one part of Palatinate-Neumarkt and sold the other to his younger brother Otto. He was buried in the ''Schlosskirche'' (german: palace church), formerly the church of the

Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

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 ...

Family

Stefan of Simmern-Zweibrücken and Anna of Veldenz had issue: # Anne (1413 – 12 March 1455) # Margaret (1416 – 23 November 1426) #

(24 April 1417 – 29 November 1480) # Rupert (1420 – 17 October 1478) #

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; ...

(1421 – 4 September 1485) Canon in Strasbourg, Mainz, Cologne, Speyer and Liège #

(1424 – 19 July 1489) #

(1429–1475), Archbishop of Magdeburg

Ancestry

References

1385 births 1459 deaths House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken House of Palatinate-Simmern Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken Sons of kings {{Germany-noble-stub