Johann

Johann of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen was born in Gelnhausen on 24 May 1698 as the second son of Johann of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen and his second wife, Esther Marie von Witzleben. He belonged to the House of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen, a branch of the palatine family. His later life was shaped both by military and administrative responsibilities and by his position within this dynastic line. At the beginning of his career, Johann held important offices in the service of the Palatinate. He was commander of all Palatine troops, governor of the Palatine Duchy of Jülich, and commander of the fortress of Jülich. These positions made him an important military representative of the house and linked his work to the administration and defense of Palatine territories. When his elder brother, Friedrich Bernhard of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen, died on 5 August 1739, Johann succeeded him. From 1739 until his death, he held the title of Count Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld at Gelnhausen, or, more specifically, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld at Gelnhausen. He thereby stood at the head of the Gelnhausen line and undertook the dynastic responsibilities associated with it. On 19 August 1743, Johann married Sophie Charlotte of Salm-Dhaun in Dhaun. She was born in Dhaun on 29 August 1719 and died in Gelnhausen on 29 March 1770. Sophie Charlotte was the sixth daughter and the seventh of ten children of Karl, Wild- and Rhinegrave of Dhaun and Kyrburg, and his wife Luise, a Countess of Nassau-Saarbrücken at Ottweiler. Johann and Sophie Charlotte had eight children, who bore the titles of Count Palatine or Countess Palatine of Birkenfeld at Gelnhausen. Their eldest son, Johann Karl Ludwig, was born in Gelnhausen on 18 September 1745. He remained unmarried, succeeded his father in 1780, and died in Mannheim on 31 March 1789. Their daughter Christiane Luise, born on 17 August 1748, married Count Heinrich XXX Reuss of Gera in 1773; the marriage remained childless. Another daughter, Johanna Sophie, was born on 7 January 1751 and died as early as 4 July 1752. The son born in 1752 later became known as Wilhelm in Bavaria. He married Marie Anne of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld at Rappolstein in 1780 and was elevated to the rank of Duke in Bavaria in 1799. His marriage produced descendants. Johann and Sophie Charlotte also had a daughter, Friederike, who died on 14 November 1753, the day of her birth, and Sophie Henriette, who was born in 1757 and died in 1760 at the age of three. Their two younger sons, Christian and Johann, born in 1760 and 1764 respectively, also died in childhood. Johann of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen became an ancestor of important European dynasties. He is regarded as the great-great-great-grandfather of Elisabeth of Wittelsbach, the Empress of Austria known as “Sisi.” The grand ducal family of Luxembourg and the royal families of Italy and Belgium also descend from him. His dynastic line therefore extended far beyond the immediate history of Gelnhausen. For his services, Johann received several distinctions. He was a knight of the Bavarian Order of Saint Hubert and was appointed a knight of the Bavarian Order of the Lion on 1 January 1768. After his wife’s death in 1770, he lived for another ten years. Johann died in Mannheim on 10 February 1780, at the age of 81. His eldest son, Johann Karl Ludwig, succeeded him as Count Palatine of Birkenfeld at Gelnhausen.