John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg

John Casimir (or Johann Casimir ) of Palatinate -Zweibrücken - Kleeburg (* April 20, 1589 in Zweibrücken, † June 18, 1652 at Castle Stegeborg in Östergötland, Sweden) was the third son of the Count Palatine Johann I of Zweibrücken and the Magdalena of Jülich -Cleves -Berg. By his marriage with Catherine Vasa, the sister of Gustav II Adolf, he oriented himself increasingly to Sweden. Their son, Charles X Gustav of Sweden was king.

Life

John Casimir led his siblings as the title of Duke and Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. He resided from 1611 to 1617 in Neukastel and 1617-1652 as Count Palatine in Birlenbach in the Official Kleeburg ( Bas-Rhin ). According to the latter office, the name of he founded ( Swedish ) line of the House of Pfalz- Zweibrücken, Pfalz -Zweibrücken - Kleeburg forwarded from.

The young Count Palatine had traveled on behalf of the Protestant Union in 1613 to Stockholm to King Gustav II Adolf to win him for an alliance with the German Protestants. He found his future wife. On June 21, 1615 he married the Princess Catherine in Stockholm Vasa of Sweden (* November 10, 1584, † December 13, 1638 ), daughter of King Charles IX. of Sweden and half-sister of Gustav II Adolf. Because of the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War, he settled down in 1622 in Sweden, where he was King Gustav Adolf Castle Stegeborg as a residence as a fief.

After the king's death at the Battle of Lützen in 1632 and during the subsequent regency of the chancellor Axel Oxenstierna for underage Queen Christina gathered around John Casimir to Stegeborg a circle of opponents of the Registrar, with the help of Johann Kasimir his family the way to to prepare Swedish throne was looking for. As Cristina 1644 came of age, she took the supporting Johann Casimir and his two sons Karl Gustav Adolf and John, with whom she had grown up, to free themselves from the tutelage of Oxenstierna. In 1647 she appointed Karl Gustav the " generalissimo " of the Swedish troops in Germany and simultaneously signaled their intention to marry him. When Karl Gustav was then appointed by the Reichstag heir to the throne and crown prince in 1649, John Casimir had achieved his goal.

While Christina explained already in 1650 that she would never marry, but when she abdicated on 6 June 1654 Karl Gustav was the next day as Charles X King of Sweden. He left his German inheritance to his brother Johann Adolf. This property, which zweibrückische Office Kleeburg the residence Birlenbach and the later so-called "Swedish villages," was by Johann Casimir's grandson, the Swedish king Karl XI. , Swedish crown domain.

Progeny

John II Casimir Vasa and Catherine had eight children:

• Christine Magdalene ( born May 27, 1616 Nykoping, † August 14, 1662 at Castle Charles Castle), married in 1642 Margrave Frederick VI. of Baden-Durlach (1617-1677)
• Karl Friedrich ( born July 13, 1618 Meisenheim, † September 13, 1619 in Kleeburg )
• Elisabeth Amalia ( born September 11, 1619 Kleeburg; † July 2, 1628 at Schloss Stegeborg )
• Karl Gustav ( born November 18, 1622 Nykoping, † February 23, 1660 in Gothenburg ), 1652-1660, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken- Kleeburg, from 1654 to 1660 when Charles X Gustav King of Sweden; married in 1654 in Stockholm Duchess Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig -Holstein - Gottorp ( 1636-1715 )
• Marie Euphrosine ( born February 14, 1625 Castle Stegeborg, † October 24, 1687 in Höjentorp ), married in 1647 in Stockholm, Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie († 1686)
• Eleonore Katharine (* May 17, 1626 at Castle Stegeborg, † 1692 in Easter wood); married in 1646 in Stockholm Landgrave Friedrich of Hessen- Eschwege ( 1617-1655 )
• Adolf Johann I (* October 21, 1629 at Castle Stegeborg, † October 24, 1689 same place ), from 1654 to 1689, succeeding his brother Charles Gustav, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken- Kleeburg; married in 1649 in Stockholm countess Else Beate Brahe to Visingsborg ( 1629-1653 ), second husband in 1661 Tidö whose sister Else Elisabeth Brahe to Visingsborg ( 1632-1689 )
• Johann Gustav (c. 1630)