John II, Count Palatine of Simmern


John II 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 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 Abbess in the Kumbd monastery
  2. Joanna Abbess in the Marienberg monastery near Boppard
  3. Ottilie Nun in Marienberg near Boppard
  4. Frederick III
  5. Brigitte Abbess of Neuburg monastery
  6. Georg
  7. Elizabeth
  8. Reichard
  9. Maria
  10. William
  11. Sabina : married to Lamoral, Count of Egmont
  12. Helena
After the death of his first wife, John married the thirty-one-year-old Countess Maria Jakobine of Oettingen, the daughter of Louis XV, Count of Oettingen. This marriage remained childless. After the death of her husband, his widow married Count Johann of Schwarzenberg-Hohenlandsberg.

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.