George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz
George John I (German: Georg Johann I.; sometimes called George Hans) (11 April 1543 – 18 April 1592) was the Count of Veldenz from 1544 until 1592. Life. George John was born in 1543 as the only son of Rupert, Count Palatine of Veldenz. George John's cousin, Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, was a child when he inherited his title, so George John's father served as Wolgang's regent. In 1543, when Wolfgang reached majority and took on the responsibility of office, he enacted the Marburg Contract, giving Rupert the County of  Veldenz. Rupert died the following year, and the one-year-old George John succeeded him. In 1563 he married Anna of Sweden, the daughter of King Gustav I of Sweden, beginning a long-running connection between the Electorate of the Palatinate and Sweden. In 1553 after the Heidelberg War of Succession which regulated the mutual inheritance of all the lines of the House of Wittelsbach, George John obtained Palatinate-Lützelstein. He attempted to develop his Alsatian territories to be the focus of his state, which led to him building the city of Phalsbourg (Pfalzburg) in 1570 and populating it with  Protestant refugees from the Duchy of Lorraine. The project was so grand and unaffordable that in 1583 he was forced to sell the city and half of Palatinate-Lützelstein to Lorraine. George John died in Lützelstein in 1592 and was buried in the city's church. Marriage. George John married Anna of Sweden (1545–1610), daughter of King Gustavus I, in 1563 and had the following children: