County of Veldenz
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The County of Veldenz was a former principality in the contemporary Land Rhineland-Palatinate. The county was located partially between Kaiserslautern, Sponheim and Zweibrücken, partially on the Mosel in the so-called Erzstift Trier. A town of the same name Veldenz and a castle Schloss Veldenz are located in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich.
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[edit] History
The Counts of Veldenz separated from the Wildgraves of Kyrburg and Schmidburg family in 1112 . The direct male line of the first comital house ceased in 1260 with the death of Gerlach V of Veldenz and his daughter Agnes of Veldenz inherited the county in 1260. Her husband Henry of Geroldseck became the founder of the second line of Counts of Veldenz or the House of Veldenz-Geroldseck (Hohengeroldseck).
In 1444 the county came under the rule of Count palatine Stefan of Pfalz-Simmern-Zweibrücken by his marriage to Anna of Veldenz, the only heiress of Count Frederick III of Veldenz.
In 1543 by the Marburg treaty it was agreed that the Uncle of Duke Wolfgang of Zweibrucken, Ruprecht, should receive the county of Veldenz. Ruprecht died in 1544 but his son Hans Georg married Anna Maria of Sweden, a daughter of Gustav I of Sweden in 1563. This was the joining of the House of Wittelsbach with the Swedish Vasa royal family which was strengthend by a further marriage when John Casimir of Pfalz-Zweibrucken married Catharina of Sweden, a sister of Gustav Adolfus in the 17th century. Wolfgang had in 1553 with the Heidelberg Succession agreement regulated the mutual inheritance of all Wittelsbach lines reaching from Veldenz-Palatinate to the county Lützelstein in Alsace. The grandson of George Hans, Leopold Ludwig von Lützelstein, died in 1694 without legitimate offspring and the county-Palatinate of Veldenz reverted to the Zweibrucken line.
In 1801 it was incorporated into the Saardepartement of the First French Empire. The Congress of Vienna, 1815, gave the smaller part of the county lying on the Mosel to Prussia and the remainder to Bavaria.
[edit] Counts of Veldenz
[edit] First Veldenz Line
- Emicho of Kyrburg and Schmidburg 1086-1113
- Gerlach I of Veldenz 1112-1146
- Gerlach II of Veldenz 1146-1186
- Gerlach III of Veldenz 1186-1214
- Gerlach IV of Veldenz 1214-1254
- Gerlach V of Veldenz 1254-1260
- Agnes of Veldenz 1260-1277
[edit] Veldenz-Geroldseck Line
- Henry of Geroldseck 1277-1298
- Walter of Veldenz 1298-1327
- Georg I of Veldenz 1327-1347
- Henry II 1347-1378
- Frederick II of Veldenz 1378-1396
- Henry III of Veldenz 1378-1389
- Henry IV of Veldenz 1389-1393
- Frederick III of Veldenz 1393-1444
[edit] Pfalz-Zweibrücken Line
- Stefan of Pfalz-Simmern-Zweibrücken (1410-1459) ∞ Anna of Veldenz (1390-1439)
- Ludwig I of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1459-1489)
- Alexander of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1489-1514)
- Ludwig II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken(1514-1532)
- Wolfgang of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1532-1569) In 1543 handed Veldenz to his uncle Ruprecht.
[edit] Pfalz-Veldenz Line
- Ruprecht, Count Palatine of Veldenz (1543-1544)
- Georg Johann I, Count Palatine of Veldenz (1543−1592; or Georg Hans), from 1544 to 1592 Pfalzgraf of Pfalz-Veldenz
- Georg Gustav (1592-1634)
- Leopold Ludwig (1634-1694), Died without heir, Veldenz returned to Zweibrücken
Continued in the Pfalz-Zweibrücken line.
