Countess Palatine Barbara of Zweibrücken-Neuburg

Countess Palatine Barbara
Countess Palatine Barbara
Countess of Oettingen-Oettingen
	Countess Palatine Barbara of Zweibrücken-Neuburg, oil painting, 1575
Born	27 July 1559; Neuburg
Died	5 March 1618 (aged 58); Oettingen
Buried	Castle Church of St. Michael in Harburg
Noble family	House of Wittelsbach (by birth) ; House of Oettingen-Oettingen ; (by marriage)
Spouse(s)	Gottfried of Oettingen-Oettingen
Issue	Jakobina of Oettingen-Oettingen
Father	Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
Mother	Anna of Hesse

Countess Palatine Barbara of Zweibrücken-Neuburg (27 July 1559 – 5 March 1618) was a Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken by birth and by marriage Countess of Oettingen-Oettingen.

Life[edit]

Barbara was born in Neuburg, a daughter of Duke and Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (1526–1569) from his marriage to Anna (1529–1591), the daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.

On 7 November 1591, she married Count Gottfried of Oettingen-Oettingen (1554–1622) in Oettingen. She was his second wife. She brought a dowry of 14,000guilder into the marriage.^[1] In 1594, Barbara gave birth to a daughter named Jakobina, but she died later that year.

Countess Barbara of Oettingen studied alchemy intensively and is considered one of the most important women who worked in this field. She employed several alchemists and corresponded extensively on this subject with her nephew, Augustus, Count Palatine of Sulzbach. Barbara also performed numerous experiments for Emperor Rudolf II in his residence in Prague, until she was expelled from the court.^[2]

Barbara died in Oettingen in 1618 was buried beside her husband in the Castle Church of St. Michael in Harburg. Their tomb is decorated with a larger than life-size figure of the Countess at the side of her husband and his first wife.