Juliane of Salm gave birth within 2½ months of her marriage

On 18-11-1642 the Wittelsbacher Count Palatine Georg Wilhelm (1591-1669) divorced Countess Juliane of Salm (1616-±1647) because she had given birth within only 2½ months of their marriage. 

Juliane of Salm was the youngest daughter of Johann (1582-1630), Wild- und Rheingraf in Grumbach und Rheingrafenstein and Countess Anna Juliane von Mansfeld (1591-±1626), thus Juliane had been an orphan since around the age of 14.

Birkenfeld Castle

Juliane married Count Palatine George Wilhelm on 30-11-1641 in his castle in Birkenfeld. He was 25 years her senior. Juliane gave birth within 2½ months of the wedding ceremony on 14-2-1642. The child had been fathered by Count Johann Ludwig of Salm-Dhaun (1620-1673) who belonged to another branche of the same family. On 30-10-1643, however, Johan Ludwig married another relative instead, Elisabeth of Salm-Neuviller (1620-1653).

Cornelis Geeritsz de Haen drowned in 1648 in Brazil after falling off a bridge

This is a story about Cornelis de Haen from Dordrecht, The Netherlands, who fell off a bridge in Brazil.

Maeijken Jansdr de Ridder was born in Dordrecht. Maeijken married 

(1) Cornelis Geeritsz de Haen on 4-9-1639 in Dordrecht, after their intention to marry had been registered on 21-8-1639. Cornelis drowned on 1-5-1648 in a river after falling off a bridge in the Pernambuco area in Brazil. 

(2) Cornelis Pietersz Brand on 4-2-1649 in Dordrecht, after their intention to marry had been registered on 31-1-1649. 
Both of Maeijken's husbands were born in Dordrecht. Maeijken had a son Pieter with her 2nd husband, baptised on 22-9-1649 in Dordrecht. 

After returning from Brazil Cornelis Volckersz. van Embden and Hendrick Helmich gave a testimony on 29-1-1649 in Dordrecht about the drowning of Cornelis Geeritsz. de Haen in a river between Mauritsstad and Recife after falling off a bridge together with another, unknown man. Grietge Jansdr., widow of Boudewijn Dircxsz., Cathelijn Jansdr. Goetleth, wife of Frans Fransz. Dermoeijen, currently in Brazil, and Willemken Jans, sister of Seger Jansz. van Geelkercken, currently in Brazil too, declared they had received letters from their relatives describing how De Haen was drowned. Due to those testimonies Maeijken was able to remarry. 

Strangely, a Cornelis de Haen from Dordrecht is also mentioned on a list of soldiers who died on 19-2-1649 in the battle of Guarapes in the Pernambuco area. If that really is Maeijken's husband, her marriage on 31-1-1649 was bigamous and her son illegitimate. 

Sources: Archieven.nl, GaHetNa.nl, uwstamboomonline.nl.

Habsburg Inbreeding: Charles II of Spain (1661-1700)

The Habsburg Kings of Spain descended from Queen Joanna "The Mad" of Castile (1479-1555), who was mentally unstable and prone to fly into rages. Her descendants increased her inheritance by inbreeding: they preferred to marry either their cousin or their niece. These incestuous marriages resulted in the mentally and physically handicapped King Charles II (1661-1700), who possessed the physical peculiarities of the Habsburgs to an extent that made him little short of a monstrosity. 

The Habsburg King Charles II of Spain (to the right) was sadly degenerated with an enormous misshapen head. His Habsburg jaw stood so much out that his two rows of teeth could not meet; he was unable to chew. His tongue was so large that he was barely able to speak. His intellect was similarly disabled. His brief life consisted chiefly of a passage from prolonged infancy to premature senility. Charles was unable to walk properly, because his legs would not support him and he fell often. His body remained that of an invalid child. He was a mentally retarded and hypersensitive monarch, who grew steadily worse over the years. By the age of 35 his hair had fallen out, his teeth were nearly gone and his eyesight was failing. "Many people tell me," Charles II once said, "I am bewitched and I well believe it; such are the things I experience and suffer." 

Charles II of Spain was the result of generations of inbreeding within the Habsburg family. His mother was a daughter of his father's sister who had married her cousin the Emperor Ferdinand II. His great-grandfather, Philip II of Spain, too, had married a daughter of his sister who had married her cousin the Emperor Maximilian II. As a result, Charles II of Spain descended multiple times from Joanna "The Mad" as shown below.