Duchy of Zweibrücken
| County Palatine of Zweibrücken | ||||||||||||
| Pfalz-Zweibrücken | ||||||||||||
| State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||||
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 Coat of arms
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| Capital | Zweibrücken | |||||||||||
| Languages | German | |||||||||||
| Religion |
Roman Catholicism; Lutheranism, from 1532 Calvinism, from 1588 |
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| Government | Principality | |||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||||
| • | Split from Pfalz-Simmern and Zweibrücken unified with County of Veldenz |
1444 | ||||||||||
| • | Annexed by France | 1801 | ||||||||||
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Palatine Zweibrücken (German: Pfalz-Zweibrücken), or the County Palatine of Zweibrücken, is a former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Zweibrücken (French: Deux-Ponts). Its reigning house, a branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was also the Royal House of Sweden from 1654 to 1720.
Palatine Zweibrücken was established as a separate principality in 1444, when Stefan, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken divided his territory, Pfalz-Simmern and Zweibrücken, between his two sons. The younger son, Louis I, received the County of Zweibrücken and the County of Veldenz.
Palatine Zweibrücken ceased to exist in 1801, when it was annexed by France. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, some parts of it were returned to the last Duke, King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, who joined them with other former territories on the left bank of the Rhine to form the Rheinkreis, later the Rhenish Palatinate.
The principality was conceived in 1444 and realized in 1453 by a partition of the County Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken, which had been created in 1410 for Stephen, the third surviving son of Count Palatine Rupert III. In 1444, Stephen inherited the County of Veldenz from his father-in-law, Count Frederick III of Veldenz. This enabled him to divide his possessions between his sons, Frederick I and Louis I which, upon his abdication in 1453, Stephen did: the elder son Frederick I received the County of Sponheim and took the title Count of Sponheim, also receiving the northern half of the County Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken. The younger son, Louis I, received the County of Veldenz from his grandfather's inheritance and the southern half of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Simmern, which included the former County of Zweibrücken, acquired by the Palatinate in 1385. Among Stephen's titles were Count Palatine of the Rhine and Duke in Bavaria. Both sons inherited the right to use these titles, which is why the two newly formed principalities of Palatine Simmern and Palatine Zweibrücken were usually described as Counties Palatine and, sometimes, as duchies.
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