Georg Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
| George William, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld | |
|---|---|
Count Palatine George William of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
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| Born |
6 August 1591 Ansbach |
| Died | 25 December 1669 (aged 78) Birkenfeld |
| Noble family | House of Wittelsbach |
| Spouse(s) | Dorothea of Solms-Sonnenwalde Juliana of Salm-Grumbach |
| Father | Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld |
| Mother | Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
George William (6 August 1591 – 25 December 1669), titular Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke in Bavaria, Count of Veldenz and Sponheim was the Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld from 1600 until 1669.
George William was born in Ansbach in 1591 as the eldest son of Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. He succeeded his father in 1600 as Count of Sponheim. He was joint ruler in the Sponheimish condominium together with Margrave Wilhelm of Baden, whose counter-reformationist movements he laboriously repelled. George William finished the expansion of Castle Birkenfeld, which his father had begun, and set the ground stone for the castle chapel. He is seen as an economical and prudent regent, though he could not do much through the Thirty Years' War. His lands were invaded during the Thirty Years' War in 1635, and in the same year the plague broke out killing 416 people. In the year 1666 he appointed Günter Heyler as court preacher to Birkenfeld. George William died in Birkenfeld in 1669. He was buried in the parish church of Birkenfeld; later his tomb was moved to the chapel of Birkenfeld castle and finally to Meisenheim.
George William married firstly on 30 November 1616 to Dorothea (1586–1625), daughter of Otto, Count of Solms-Sonnenwalde. They had the following children:
George William married secondly on 30 November 1641 Juliana (1616–1647), daughter of Johann, Wild- und Rheingraf in Grumbach und Rheingrafenstein. They divorced on 18 November 1642 because on 14 February of that year (and only four months after the wedding) Juliana gave birth a child, whose father was in fact Rheingraf Johann Ludwig of Salm-Dhaun.
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