Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (German: Pfalzgraf Wolfgang von Zweibrücken; 26 September 1526 – 11 June 1569) was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532. With the support of his regent, his uncle Rupert (later made the Count of Veldenz), Wolfgang introduced the Reformation to Zweibrücken in 1537.
Contents
Biography
He was the only son of Louis II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken and his wife Elisabeth of Hesse, daughter of William I, Landgrave of Hesse. His father died in 1532, so the regency of Palatinate-Zweibrücken passed to Louis' younger brother Rupert until 1543. In 1557 Wolfgang received the territory of Palatinate-Neuburg in accordance with the Contract of Heidelberg. In 1548 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V occupied his Protestant territories and reintroduced Catholic practices. Wolfgang regained his territories in 1552. Despite the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 several ecclesiastical states in Germany were secularised in 1557, a few of which Wolfgang obtained. In 1566 he served as a cavalry officer in the Turkish Wars.
In 1569 he came to the aid of French Huguenots with 14,000 mercenaries during the Third of the French Wars of Religion (his intervention was financed in part by Queen Elizabeth I of England). He invaded Burgundy, but was killed in the conflict.
He was buried in Meisenheim.