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John II, Count Palatine of Simmern

John II (21 March 1492 – 18 May 1557) was the Count Palatine of Simmern from 1509 until 1557.

Early life and ancestry

John II was born in Simmern in 1492, into the House of Wittelsbach, as the eldest surviving son of John I, Count Palatine of Simmern and his wife, Countess Joanna of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1464 - 1521) the daughter of Johann II of Nassau-Saarbrücken.

Reign

In 1508 he married Beatrix of Baden, daughter of Margrave Christoph I, as his first wife. He succeeded his father in 1509. John II allowed printing to be established in Simmern and was a patron of sculpture. He introduced the Reformation into Simmern which led to increased tensions with his neighbours, the Archbishoprics of Trier and Mainz.

Children

With Beatrix of Baden:

  1. Katherine (27 March 1510 – 22 March 1572) Abbess in the Kumbd monastery
  2. Joanna (1 July 1512 – 2 February 1581) Abbess in the Marienberg monastery near Boppard
  3. Ottilie (4 November 1513 – 6 September 1553) Nun in Marienberg near Boppard
  4. Frederick III (14 February 1515 – 26 October 1576)
  5. Brigitte (18 August 1516 – 13 April 1562) Abbess of Neuburg monastery
  6. Georg (20 February 1518 – 17 May 1569)
  7. Elizabeth (13 February 1520 – 18 February 1564)
  8. Reichard (25 July 1521 – 13 January 1598)
  9. Maria (29 April 1524 – 29 May 1576)
  10. William (24 July 1526 – 9 March 1527)
  11. Sabina (13 June 1528 – 19 June 1578): married to Lamoral, Count of Egmont
  12. Helena (13 June 1532 – 5 February 1579)

After the death of his first wife, John married (after 19 years of widowhood) the thirty-one-year-old Countess Maria Jakobine of Oettingen (1525–1575), the daughter of Louis XV, Count of Oettingen (1486-1557). This marriage remained childless. After the death of her husband, his widow married Count Johann of Schwarzenberg-Hohenlandsberg (1525-1588).

Death

John II, Count Palatine of Simmern died on 18 May 1557 in Simmern, aged 65. He was interred, alongside both of his wives, in the Wittelsbach family vault of Saint Stephen´s Church, Simmern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Ancestry

References