Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (

Strassburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, 7 November 1674 –

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

, 3 February 1735) was a German nobleman. He was a member of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, a

cadet branch A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...

of the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

. He was the son of Christian II of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Katharina Agathe, Countess of Rappoltstein. He was Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1717 to 1731. In 1731, he inherited the sovereign duchy of

Palatine Zweibrücken The Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (; ) was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire with full voting rights to the Reichstag. Its capital was Zweibrücken. The reigning house, a branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was also the Royal House of Sweden fr ...

and thus became Count Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken. He was also Count of Rappoltstein from 1699 until his death.

Life

Christian was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

in 1674. He was the only son of

Christian II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld Christian II (22 June 1637 – 26 April 1717) was the Duke of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler from 1654, the Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1671, and the Count of Rappoltstein from 1673 until 1699. Life Christian was born in Bischwiller in 1637 ...

to survive into adulthood. He began his career in the French military in 1697 and took over the Alsatian regiment. In 1699, he inherited the County of Rappoltstein from his mother. In 1702 he became

Field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

and in 1704 he was promoted to lieutenant general. He excelled militarily at the Battle of Oudenaarde in 1708. In 1717, his father died. He left the army and took up administration of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, which was a small part of the

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 ...

. In 1731, Count Palatine Gustavus Samuel Leopold of Zweibrücken died childless and Christian III inherited his territory. His relatives objected, but in a treaty with Elector Palatine Charles III Philip concluded in Mannheim on 24 December 1733, it was agreed that Christian would receive

. He died in Zweibrücken in 1735 and is buried alongside other counts/dukes of the house's line, in the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

of Alexander's Church (') in

, built in 1493 by his ancestor

Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Alexander of Zweibrücken () (26 November 1462 – 21 October 1514) was Count Palatine, Duke of Zweibrücken and Count of Veldenz in 1489–1514. Life He was the son of Louis I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken and his wife Johanna of Croÿ. A ...

Marriage and issue

In 1719, at Château de Lorentzen, he married Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1704–1774) and had four children.

Ancestry

References

* Maximilian V. Sattler: ''Lehrbuch der bayerischen Geschichte'', Lindauer, 1868, p. 411 * Johann Georg Lehmann: ''Vollständige Geschichte des Herzogtums Zweibrücken und seiner Fürsten'', Kaiser, 1867, p. 485 ff.

External links

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian 3 Of Zweibruecken, Count Palatine 1674 births 1735 deaths Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken House of Wittelsbach People from Strasbourg Burials at the Alexanderkirche, Zweibrücken