County of Veldenz

County of Veldenz Grafschaft Veldenz
State of the Holy Roman Empire
← 1112–1801 →   →
Coat of arms of the Counts of Veldenz
Veldenz ca. 1400
Capital	Veldenz
Government	Principality
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Established	1112
- Counts of Veldenz-Geroldseck	1277
- Fell to County of Palatinate-Zweibrücken	1444
- Joined Upper Rhenish Circle	1500
- Counts of Palatinate-Veldenz	1543
- Annexed by the     First French Empire	1801

The County of Veldenz was a 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.

History

Schloss Veldenz 2005

Schloss Veldenz, 2007

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 Heinrich 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 Friedrich III of Veldenz.

In 1543 by the Marburg treaty it was agreed that the uncle of Duke Wolfgang of Zweibrücken, 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 strengthened by a further marriage when Johann Casimir of Pfalz-Zweibrücken 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 Georg Hans, Leopold Ludwig von Lützelstein, died in 1694 without legitimate offspring and the county-Palatinate of Veldenz reverted to the Zweibrücken 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.

Counts of Veldenz

First Veldenz Line

• Emicho, Count of Kyrburg and Schmidburg (1086–1113)
• Gerlach I, Count of Veldenz (1112–1146)
• Gerlach II, Count of Veldenz (1146–1186)
• Gerlach III, Count of Veldenz (1186–1214)
• Gerlach IV, Count of Veldenz (1214–1254)
• Gerlach V, Count of Veldenz (1254–1260)
• Agnes, Countess of Veldenz (1260–1277)

Veldenz-Geroldseck Line

• Heinrich, Count of Geroldseck (1277–1298) ∞ Agnes of Veldenz (1258–?)
• Walter, Count of Veldenz (1298–1327)
• Georg I, Count of Veldenz (1327–1347)
• Heinrich II, Count of Veldenz (1347–1378)
• Friedrich II, Count of Veldenz (1378–1396)
• Heinrich III, Count of Veldenz (1378–1389)
• Heinrich IV, Count of Veldenz (1389–1393)
• Friedrich III, Count of Veldenz (1393–1444)

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.

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
• George Gustavus, Count Palatine of Veldenz (1592–1634)
• Leopold Louis, Count Palatine of Veldenz (1634–1694), died without heir, Veldenz returned to Zweibrücken

Continued in the Pfalz-Zweibrücken line.

Literature

• (German) Crollius, Georg Christian: Vorlesung: Von dem ersten geschlecht der alten graven von Veldenz und dessen gemeinschaftlichen abstammung mit den ältern Wildgraven von den graven im Nohgau. Historia et Commentationes. Academiae Electoralis Scientiarvm et Elegantiorvm Litterarvm Theodoro-Palatinae. Mannhemii Typis Academicis 1770 (complete at Google Books)
• (German) Crollius, Georg Christian: Vorlesung: von dem zweiten geschlechte der grafen von Veldenz, aus dem hause der herren von Geroldseck in der Ortenau. Historia et Commentationes. Academiae Electoralis Scientiarvm et Elegantiorvm Litterarvm Theodoro-Palatinae. Mannhemii Typis Academicis 1778 (complete at Google Books)
• (German) Gerbert, Martin: Pragmatische Geschichte des Hauses Geroldsek, wie auch derer Reichsherrschaften Hohengeroldsek, Lahr und Mahlberg in Schwaben. Frankfurt und Leipzig 1766 (complete at Google Books)

External links

• www.schlossveldenz.com
  • List of the county's belonging locations ca. 1350
• Historical map (Veldenzer Aufgebot 1462)