Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach

Maria Franziska Dorothea Christina von Pfalz- Sulzbach ( born June 15, 1724 in Schwetzingen, † November 15, 1794 in Sulzbach ) was a Countess Palatine of Sulzbach and by marriage Countess Palatine and Duchess of Birkenfeld.

Life

Mary Frances was the daughter of the Hereditary Prince Palatine Joseph Karl Emanuel (1694-1729) and his wife Elisabeth of the Palatinate- Neuburg ( 1696-1728 ).

Her father, Joseph Charles was the designated successor and son of Charles III. Philip, Elector Palatine. By his early death in 1729, however, he could not take up his inheritance. Maria's older sister Elisabeth Auguste of the Palatinate was the wife of the Bavarian Elector Palatine Karl Theodor ( 1724-1799 ).

After the Palatinate -Sulzbach line with the death of Karl Theodor in February 1799 became extinct in the male line, inherited by Elector Maximilian IV ( later King Maximilian I of Bavaria ), a 1756 -born son of Mary, united since 1777 Kurwürden of Bavaria and the Palatinate. Mary thus became the ancestor of all Bavarian kings until 1918, and still living Wittelsbach.

However, they did not survive the rise of her family. The relationship with her husband had failed since 1760. According to her own account she was seduced " by the bad example of the contempt of her court " to enter into a relationship with a Mannheim actor. When she became pregnant, she was removed from the farm. In Strasbourg, she gave birth to a son, and was then virtually plugged in monastery prison; initially at Ursuline in Metz and then to the Augustinian nuns to Bonnevoye in the Duchy of Luxembourg. After the death of her husband in 1767 she was allowed to move to Castle Sulzbach. She died in 1794 and was held in the parish church in Sulzbach their final resting place. Her heart was buried separately and located since 1983 in the chapel Altöttings.

Progeny

Maria married in 1746 Friedrich Michael von Pfalz- Birkenfeld ( 1724-1767 ).

  • Charles II August Christian (1746-1795), Count Palatine and Duke of Palatinate -Zweibrücken
  • Clement Joseph Friedrich August (1749-1750), Prince of Pfalz- Zweibrücken
  • Maria Amalie Auguste (1752-1828), Princess of the Palatinate- Zweibrücken; ∞ Frederick Augustus I, King of Saxony
  • Marie Anna (1753-1824), Princess of the Palatinate- Zweibrücken
  • Maximilian I (1756-1825), King of Bavaria
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria Heart-burial Integrated Authority File
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