John Charles, Count Palatine of Gelnhausen
| John Charles, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld at Gelnhausen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 October 1638 Bischweiler |
| Died | 21 February 1704 (aged 65) Gelnhausen |
| Noble family | House of Wittelsbach |
| Spouse(s) | Countess Palatine Sophie Amalie of Zweibrücken Esther Maria von Witzleben |
| Father | Christian I, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler |
| Mother | Magdalene Catherine, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken |
John Charles, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld at Gelnhausen (17 October 1638 in Bischweiler – 21 February 1704 in Gelnhausen), was a German prince and ancestor of the cadet branch of the royal family of Bavaria known, from the early 19th century, as Dukes in Bavaria. He took Gelnhausen as the name of his branch of the family after acquiring that estate in 1669.
John Charles was the younger of two sons of Christian I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler and his wife, Magdalene Catherine (1606–1648), daughter of Count Palatine John II of Zweibrücken. Together with his older brother Christian II of Birkenfeld, he was educated by Philip Jacob Spener and later studied at the University of Strasbourg. Thereafter, the brothers took a grand tour lasting five years, which took them to, among other places, France, Holland, England, Sweden and Switzerland.
He participated as a cavalry commander in the army of a Palatine cousin who in 1654 had become king of Sweden as Charles X and waged war against Denmark. Later he fought against the Turks in Hungary. He then entered Dutch service. He participated in 1674 in the battle of Seneffe and was promoted to the rank of First Army Leader. He then left the military and retired to Gelnhausen.
In 1669 John Charles bought the Fürstenhof ("Princely court") of Gelnhausen, which included the Residenz, gardens and parcels of land that had first been granted by the Holy Roman Emperor to an earlier Wittelsbach, the Elector Palatine Louis III in 1435. In 1671 John Charles and his brother jointly inherited the county palatine of Birkenfeld. In 1673 they agreed that although Christian would keep Birkenfeld as well as another inheritance, Bischweiler, John Charles would receive the Neuburg appanage, a civil list of 6,000 florins constituting one-third of the revenues from yet another family estate, the county-palatine of Neuburg – plus annual delivery of four cart-loads of Moselle wine from the cellars of Trarbach. In compacts with his brother Christian II signed in 1681 and 1683, John Charles was deputised with the administration of Gelnhausen.
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