Charles I of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (4 September 1560 – 16 December 1600),

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 to Veldenz and Sponheim was the Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1569 until 1600.

Life

Charles was born in Neuburg in 1560 as the youngest son of

Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Count Palatine Wolfgang of 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 regent, his uncle Rupert (later made the C ...

. After his father's death in 1569, Charles and his brothers partitioned his territories: Charles received the Palatine share on the Rear

County of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the cou ...

, a small territory around

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 ...

. Charles is the founder of the

House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld {{short description, Collateral line of the Palatine Wittelsbachs The House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld (German: ''Pfalz-Birkenfeld''), later Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken, was the name of a collateral line of the Palatine Wittelsbachs. The Coun ...

. Charles died in Birkenfeld in 1600 and was buried in Meisenheim. Charles was a prince of a relatively unimportant state, and his chief fame is that the

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Kings: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations. *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persia ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

descended from him.

Marriage

Charles married

Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1 January 1570 – 15 August 1649) was a daughter of Duke William "the younger" of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Dorothea of Denmark. She married Count Palatine Charles I of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. T ...

(1 January 1570 – 15 August 1649), daughter of Duke William VI, on 23 February 1590 and had the following children: # George William (6 August 1591 – 25 December 1669) #

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

(29 March 1593 – 16 November 1676), married to Crato VII of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (14 November 1582 – 11 October 1641) #

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

(29 October 1594 – 20 July 1626) #

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

(3 November 1598 – 6 September 1654)

Ancestors

References

* ''Jahresbericht fterw.Trierer Jahresberichte'', 1858, p. 50
Digitalised
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles 01, Count Palatine of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld 1560 births 1600 deaths House of Wittelsbach Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken 16th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire