Palatine Zweibrücken
former state of the Holy Roman Empire
The Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (German: Herzogtum Pfalz-Zweibrücken; French: Duché de Palatinat-Deux-Ponts or Comté palatin de Deux-Ponts) was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire with full voting rights to the Reichstag. Its capital was Zweibrücken. The reigning house, a branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was also the Royal House of Sweden from 1654 to 1720.
Overview
Palatine Zweibrücken was established as a separate principality in 1459, when Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken divided his territory, Palatinate-Simmern and Zweibrücken, between his two sons. The younger son, Louis I, received the County of Zweibrücken and the County of Veldenz.
Palatine Zweibrücken ceased to exist in 1797 when it was annexed by France. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, some parts of it were returned to the last Duke, King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, who joined them with other former territories on the left bank of the Rhine to form the Rheinkreis, later the Rhenish Palatinate.
Origins
The County Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken had been created in 1410 for Stephen, the third surviving son of prince-elector King Rupert. In 1444, Stephen inherited the County of Veldenz from his father-in-law, Frederick III, Count of Veldenz. In 1444, Stephen decided to divide his possessions between his sons, Frederick I and Louis I. When Stephen abdicated in 1453, the elder son Frederick I received the County of Sponheim and the northern half of the County Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken.
“Palatine Zweibrücken” enters the record as former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Palatine, Zweibrücken and former can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q701983. VIAF identifies the subject as 267996576. The Library of Congress control number is n82162657. Authority coordinates are 49.250, 7.367. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1654, 1720, 1459 and 1797.
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This entry incorporates text from “Palatine Zweibrücken” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.