Johann Casimir of Simmern
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Johann Casimir, (March 7, 1543 – January 16, 1592), born in Simmern, currently in Rhineland-Palatinate, was the third son of Frederic III (Friedrich), Count Palatine of the Rhine, and was a member of the Simmern middle electoral line of The House of Wittelsbach.
On November 26, 1568 Johann Casimir was engaged to the 16 year old Elizabeth of Saxony (1552-1590), daughter of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and his first wife Anna of Denmark. Anna was a daughter of King Christian III of Denmark and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Due to the young age of Elizabeth, the wedding took place in Heidelberg in June 6, 1570. The marriage was political, as Johann Casimir wanted to link Calvinism to Saxony through the marriage. Elizabeth was Lutheran. Elizabeth had several still-born children (see below for further details). Their marriage was not a good one, and not just due to their religious differences. He ordered her under house arrest and refused her daily walks in the sun. Elizabeth died in his prision in April 2, 1590.
Beginning in March, 1571 Pfalzgraf Johann Casimir resided in Kaiserslautern for a decade.
When his father Friedrich III died in 1576, he ordered in his will that the Kurpfalz was to remain Calvinist. His son Ludwig VI inherited the main part of the Kurpfalz including Heidelberg, and Johann Casimir inherited a smaller part of the Pfalz, which became the independent principality Pfalz-Lautern of the Kurpfalz (the Principality of Pfalz Lautern essentially consisted of the city of Kaiserslautern and surrounding area.) Johann Casimir's brother Ludwig, who had been secretly raised by his mother as a Lutheran, did not honor his father's wish and instead supported Lutheranism. Many theological professors, including Zacharias Ursinus, left the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg and were welcomed in the Kurpfalz-Lautern by Johann Casimir who built a spare university "Collegium Casimirianum" for them in 1578.
Casimir was in regular contact with Philip Sydney who, as agent for Queen Elizabeth, was sent to the Continent to assist in the formation of a Protestant League.
In 1576, Johann Casimir entered France leading four thousand troops. Due to this campaign, he was made "duché d’Étampes" by Henry III of France for a few months, in 1576-1577. This was a theoretical position, as he never actually visited it.
He was 'verweser of the Kurpfalz' from 1583 to 1592.
He was known as "Jäger aus Kurpfalz" (the hunter of kurpfalz).
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[edit] Family
Johann Casimir and Elisabeth have six children:
- stillborn son (Heidelberg, September 15, 1573).
- Marie (b. Kaiserslautern, July 26, 1576 - d. Heidelberg, February 22, 1577).
- Elisabeth (b. Kaiserslautern, May 5, 1578 - d. Kaiserslautern, October 27, 1580).
- Dorothea (b. Kaiserslautern, January 6, 1581 - d. Sandersleben, September 18, 1631); married in 1595 with Johann Georg of Anhalt-Dessau. One of his descendants is the actual Queen of the Netherlands, Beatrix.
- stillborn daughter (Heidelberg, February 28, 1584).
- stillborn daughter (Heidelberg, February 2, 1585).
