The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
that was part of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the
Counts Palatine of Lotharingia
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
from 915, it was then restructured under the
Counts Palatine of the Rhine
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
in 1085. These counts palatine of the Rhine would serve as
prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
s () from "time immemorial", and were noted as such in a
papal letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
of 1261, they were confirmed as electors by the
Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 (, , , , ) was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg and Metz ( Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by the Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the con ...
.
The territory stretched from the left bank of the
Upper Rhine
The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the sc ...
, from the
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...
mountain range in what is today the
Palatinate region in the German federal state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
and the adjacent parts of the French regions of
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
and
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
(bailiwick of
Seltz
Seltz (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of the Grand Est region in north-eastern France. It is located on the Sauer river near its confluence with the Rhine, opposite the German town of Rastatt.
History
The former Celtic settlement ...
from 1418 to 1766) to the opposite territory on the east bank of the Rhine in present-day
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
and
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
up to the
Odenwald
The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...
range and the southern
Kraichgau
The Kraichgau () is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is c ...
region, containing the capital cities of
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
.
The counts palatine of the Rhine held the office of
imperial vicar
An imperial vicar (german: Reichsvikar) was a prince charged with administering all or part of the Holy Roman Empire on behalf of the emperor. Later, an imperial vicar was invariably one of two princes charged by the Golden Bull with administering ...
s in the territories under
Frankish law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
(in
Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
,
Swabia
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
and the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
) and ranked among the most significant secular
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor.
Definition
Originally, possessors o ...
. In 1541 elector
Otto Henry converted to
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
. Their climax and decline is marked by the rule of Elector Palatine
Frederick V Frederick V or Friedrich V may refer to:
* Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (1164–1170)
*Frederick V, Count of Zollern (d.1289)
*Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg (c. 1333–1398), German noble
*Frederick V of Austria (1415–1493), or Frederick III ...
, whose coronation as
king of Bohemia
The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman ...
in 1619 sparked the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
. After the 1648
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...
, the ravaged lands were further afflicted by the
"Reunion" campaigns launched by King
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Versa ...
, culminating in the
Nine Years' War
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...
(1688–97). Ruled in personal union with the
Electorate of Bavaria
The Electorate of Bavaria (german: Kurfürstentum Bayern) was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria.
The Wittelsbach dynasty which ruled the Duchy of Ba ...
from 1777, the Palatinate was finally disestablished with the
German mediatization
German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation
In sociology, s ...
and annexation by
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
on 27 April 1803.
History
Background
![BlasonLorraine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/BlasonLorraine.svg)
The comital office of Count Palatine at the Frankish court of King
Childebert I
Childebert I (c. 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clo ...
was already mentioned about 535. The Counts Palatine were the permanent representatives of the King, in particular geographic areas, in contrast to the semi-independent authority of the dukes (and their successors). Under the
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
, the position had been a purely appointed one, but by the Middle Ages had evolved into an hereditary one.
Up to the 10th century, the Frankish empire was centered at the royal palace () in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, in what had become the
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
kingdom of
Lotharingia
Lotharingia ( la, regnum Lotharii regnum Lothariense Lotharingia; french: Lotharingie; german: Reich des Lothar Lotharingien Mittelreich; nl, Lotharingen) was a short-lived medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. As a more durable ...
. Consequently, the Count Palatine of Lotharingia became the most important of the Counts Palatine. Marital alliances meant that, by the Middle Ages, most Count Palatine positions had been inherited by the duke of the associated province, but the importance of the Count Palatine of Lotharingia enabled it to remain as an independent position.
In 985,
Herman I Herman I may refer to:
* Herman I (Archbishop of Cologne) (died in 924)
* Herman I, Duke of Swabia (died in 949)
* Herman I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (died in 996)
* Herman I, Margrave of Meissen (died in 1038)
* Herman I, Margrave of Baden (c ...
, a scion of the
Ezzonids
The Ezzonids (, ) were a dynasty of Lotharingian stock dating back as far as the ninth century. They attained prominence only in the eleventh century, through marriage with the Ottonian dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. Named after Ezzo, Count P ...
, is mentioned as count palatine of Lotharingia (which by then had been divided into Upper and Lower Lorraine). While his Palatine authority operated over the whole of
Upper Lorraine
The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy.
It was founded in 959 following th ...
, the feudal territories of his family were instead scattered around south western Franconia, including parts of the Rhineland around
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
and
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
, and areas around the
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
, and the
Nahe Rivers.
In continual conflicts with the rivalling
Archbishops of Cologne
The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...
, he changed the emphasis of his rule to the southern
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
region and further to the Upper Rhine, where the Ezzonian dynasty governed several counties on both banks of the river. The southernmost point was near
Alzey
Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhein ...
.
![Arms of the Palatinate (Old)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Arms_of_the_Palatinate_%28Old%29.svg)
From about 1085/86, after the death of the last Ezzonian count palatine
Herman II, Palatinate authority ceased to have any military significance in Lotharingia. In practice, the Count Palatinate's Palatine authority had collapsed, reducing his successor (
Henry of Laach
Henry of Laach (in German: ''Heinrich von Laach'') was the first count palatine of the Rhine (1085/1087–1095). Henry was the son of Herman I, count of Gleiberg. Henry was a follower of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. He had lands in the southeast ...
) to a mere feudal magnate over his own territories – along the Upper Rhine in south-western Franconia. From this time on, his territory became known as the County Palatine of the Rhine (not because Palatine authority existed there, but as an acknowledgement that the Count still held the title, if not the authority, of Count Palatine).
Various noble dynasties competed to be enfeoffed with the Palatinate by the Holy Roman Emperor – among them the
House of Ascania
The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt.
The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss ...
, the
House of Salm
The House of Salm was an ancient Lotharingian noble family originating from Salmchâteau in the Ardennes (present-day Belgium) and ruling Salm. The dynasty is above all known for the experiences of the Upper Salm branch which came to be located ...
(Count
Otto I of Salm in 1040) and the
House of Babenberg
The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its e ...
(
Henry Jasomirgott
Henry II (german: Heinrich; 1107 – 13 January 1177), called Jasomirgott, a member of the House of Babenberg,Lingelbach 1913, pp. 91–92. was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1140 to 1141, Duke of Bavaria (as ''Henry XI'') and Margrave of Austria ...
in 1140/41).
The first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine was
Conrad, a member of the
House of Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
and younger half-brother of Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
. The territories attached to this hereditary office in 1156 started from those held by the Hohenstaufens in the
Donnersberg
The Donnersberg ("thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate (german: Pfalz) region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the m ...
,
Nahegau
The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Worms ...
,
Haardt,
Bergstraße and Kraichgau regions (other branches of the Hohenstaufens received lands in the
Duchy of Swabia
The Duchy of Swabia (German: ''Herzogtum Schwaben'') was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German Kingdom. It arose in the 10th century in the southwestern area that had been settled by Alemanni tribes in Late Antiquity.
While the ...
,
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...
, and so forth). Much of this was from their imperial ancestors, the
Salian
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
After the death of the l ...
emperors, and apart from Conrad's maternal ancestry, the Counts of
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...
. These backgrounds explain the composition of Upper and Rhenish Palatinate in the inheritance centuries onwards. About 1182, Conrad moved his residence from
Stahleck Castle
Stahleck Castle () is a 12th-century fortified castle in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley at Bacharach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It stands on a crag approximately above sea level and the Four Valley Region, which consisted of the settlement ...
near
Bacharach
Bacharach (, also known as ''Bacharach am Rhein'') is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rhein-Nahe, whose seat is in Bingen am Rhein, although that town is not withi ...
up the Rhine River to Heidelberg.
![Map of the Electoral Palatinate (1329)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Map_of_the_Electoral_Palatinate_%281329%29.svg)
Upon Conrad's death in 1195, the Palatinate passed to the
House of Welf
The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconia, Franconian family from ...
through the (secret) marriage of his daughter
Agnes with
Henry of Brunswick. When Henry's son
Henry the Younger died without heirs in 1214, the Hohenstaufen king
Frederick II enfeoffed the
Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate o ...
duke
Louis I of Bavaria. The Bavarian House of Wittelsbach eventually held the Palatinate territories until 1918.
During a later division of territory among the heirs of Duke
Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria, in 1294, the elder branch of the Wittelsbachs came into possession of both the Rhenish Palatinate and the territories in the Bavarian
Nordgau The Nordgau (from the Germanic for "northern region") can refer to two distinct areas:
* Nordgau (Alsace), the Alsatian Nordgau, the medieval County of Nordgau, the northern part of Alsace
* Margraviate of the Nordgau, the Bavarian Nordgau in the a ...
(Bavaria north of the Danube river) with the centre around the town of
Amberg
Amberg () is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. In 2020, over 42,000 people lived in the town.
History
The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under t ...
. As this region was politically connected to the Rhenish Palatinate, the name
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria.
Geography
The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...
(german: Oberpfalz) became common from the early 16th century in contrast to the Lower Palatinate along the Rhine.
With the
Treaty of Pavia in 1329, the Wittelsbach emperor
Louis IV, a son of Louis II, returned the Palatinate to his nephews
Rudolf and
Rupert.
![Map of the Electoral Palatinate (1505)-DE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Map_of_the_Electoral_Palatinate_%281505%29-DE.svg)
In the Golden Bull of 1356, the Palatinate was recognized as one of the secular electorates, and given the hereditary offices of archsteward (german: Erztruchseß, la, Archidapifer) of the Empire and imperial vicar () of Franconia, Swabia, the Rhine, and southern Germany. From that time forth, the Count Palatine of the Rhine was usually known as the Elector Palatine (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz, la, Palatinus elector).
Due to the practice of dividing territories among different branches of the family, by the early 16th century junior lines of the Palatine Wittelsbachs came to rule in
Simmern
Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...
,
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...
, and
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...
in the Lower Palatinate, and in
Neuburg and
Sulzbach in the Upper Palatinate. The Elector Palatine, now based in Heidelberg, adopted Lutheranism in the 1530s; when the senior branch of the family died out in 1559, the Electorate passed to
Frederick III of
Simmern
Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...
, a staunch
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
, and the Palatinate became one of the major centers of Calvinism in Europe, supporting Calvinist rebellions in both the Netherlands and France.
Thirty Years' War
![Gerard van Honthorst 006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Kurf%C3%BCrst_Friedrich_V._von_der_Pfalz_als_K%C3%B6nig_von_B%C3%B6hmen.jpg)
In 1619, the Protestant Frederick V, Elector Palatine accepted the throne of Bohemia from the Bohemian estates. This initiated the 1618–1648 Thirty Years' War, one of the most destructive conflicts in human history; it caused over eight million fatalities from military action, violence, famine and plague, the vast majority in the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. In terms of proportional German casualties and destruction, it was surpassed only by the period January to May 1945 and remains the single greatest war trauma in German memory.
Frederick was evicted from Bohemia in 1620 following his defeat by the forces of
Emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. His parents were dev ...
at the
Battle of the White Mountain
), near Prague, Bohemian Confederation(present-day Czech Republic)
, coordinates =
, territory =
, result = Imperial-Spanish victory
, status =
, combatants_header =
, combatant1 = Catholic L ...
. Over the period 1621–1622, the Palatinate was occupied by Spanish and Bavarian troops and Frederick was exiled to the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
. His territories and electoral rights were transferred to the distantly related but Catholic
Maximilian I of Bavaria, who now became
Elector of Bavaria
The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germa ...
.
After his death in 1632, Frederick's daughter
Princess Elizabeth and wife
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia
Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Wi ...
, worked tirelessly to have the Palatinate restored to her son
Charles Louis and the Protestant cause. When the Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648, he regained the Lower Palatinate and the title 'Elector Palatine' but now ranked lower in precedence than the others. He was succeeded by
Charles II, Elector Palatine
Charles II (german: Karl II.; 10 April 1651, in Heidelberg – 26 May 1685, in Heidelberg) was Elector Palatine from 1680 to 1685. He was the son of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, and Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.
Rule
His short reign was n ...
in 1680 but the Simmern family became extinct in the male line after he died in 1685.
In 1670, Charles II's sister
Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate
Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (german: Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz), (french: Princesse Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat); known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722) was a German m ...
married
Philippe of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV; on this basis, Louis claimed half of the Palatinate for France. The direct heir to the Palatinate was
Philip William, Catholic Count Palatine of
Neuburg, Duke of
Jülich
Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...
and
Berg Berg may refer to:
People
*Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
*Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor
* Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer
Former states
*Berg (state), county and duchy of the Holy ...
. His eldest daughter
Eleonore married
Emperor Leopold
Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria An ...
, while another,
Maria Anna, married
Charles II of Spain
Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War o ...
in 1690.
Nine Years' War
When France invaded the Palatinate in September 1688 to enforce its claim, these wider connections meant the conflict rapidly escalated, leading to the outbreak of the
Nine Years' War
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...
. The French were forced to withdraw in 1689 but before doing so, destroyed much of Heidelberg, another 20 substantial towns and numerous villages. This destruction was systematically applied across a large section of the Rhineland but especially the Palatinate, which was raided again in 1693; the devastation shocked much of Europe. France later renounced its claim to the region in the 1697
Treaty of Ryswick
The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included England, ...
.
Johann Wilhelm succeeded as Elector in 1690, changing his residence first to Düsseldorf, then back to Heidelberg and finally Mannheim in 1720. Like his father, he was a Catholic, which under the 1555
Peace of Augsburg meant the Protestant majority in the Palatine was theoretically obliged to convert to Catholicism. The 1705 'Palatine Church Division' compromised by allocating five-sevenths of public church property to the Reformed or Calvinist church and the remainder to Catholicism, while excluding the Lutheran Church, whose membership exceeded 40% of the population in some areas.
In 1716,
Charles Philip succeeded his brother as Elector and in January 1742, helped his cousin
Charles Albert
Charles Albert (; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia from 27 April 1831 until 23 March 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Albertine Statute, and with the First Italian War of Independence ...
become the first non-Habsburg Emperor in over 300 years. He died in December and the Palatinate passed to
Charles Theodore, then Duke of
Sulzbach, who also inherited the Electorate of Bavaria in 1777. The title and authority of the two Electorates were combined, Charles and his heirs retaining only the vote and precedence of the Bavarian elector, although continuing to use the title 'Count Palatine of the Rhine'.
Mediatisation
The Palatine territories on the
left bank of the Rhine were annexed by France in 1795, mainly becoming part of the
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre was a department of the First French Republic and later the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the highest point in the Palatinate, the ''Donnersberg'' ("Thunder Mountain", possibly referring to Donar, ...
department. The loss of these territories was accepted by Elector
Maximilian Joseph in the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
. Those on the right were taken by the Elector of Baden, after the 1805
Peace of Pressburg dissolved the Holy Roman Empire; the remaining Wittelsbach territories were united by Maximilian Joseph as the
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...
.
Coat of arms and flag
In 1156
Conrad of Hohenstaufen
Conrad of Hohenstaufen ( – 8 November 1195) was the first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine.
His parents were Frederick II of Swabia (1090–1147), Duke of Swabia, and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, daughter of Frederick, Cou ...
, brother of emperor Frederick Barbarossa became Count Palatine. The old coat of arms of the
House of Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
, the single lion, became coat of arms of the Palatinate.
By marriage, the Palatinate's arms also became quartered with those of Welf and later Wittelsbach.
The arms of Bavaria were used with reference to the elector's holdings in Bavaria. This was extended to quartering of the lion and the Bavarian Arms upon the ascension of
Maximilian I to the position of elector of the Palatinate in 1623, used concurrently with the arms shown. From 1356 onwards, the
orb represented their position as Arch-
Steward of the Holy Roman Empire.
File:Arms of the Palatinate (Palatinate-Bavaria).svg, Arms used by the House of Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...
File:Arms of the Electoral Palatinate (Variant 1).svg, Arms used by the House of Palatinate-Simmern
The House of Palatinate-Simmern (german: Pfalz-Simmern) was a German- Bavarian cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The house was one of the collateral lineages of the Palatinate.
The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach was divided i ...
File:Arms of the Electoral Palatinate (Variant 2).svg, Arms used by the House of Palatinate-Simmern
The House of Palatinate-Simmern (german: Pfalz-Simmern) was a German- Bavarian cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The house was one of the collateral lineages of the Palatinate.
The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach was divided i ...
File:Wappen Kurpfalz.gif, Greater Coat of arms from 1703
In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade ...
File:Banner of the Palatinate.svg, 1329–1776
Events January–February
* January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.
* January 1 ...
Heraldic flag
In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification.
Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, ...
of the Palatinate
File:Banner of Bavaria-Landshut.svg, The variant used by Wittelsbachs
The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate o ...
who inherited the Palatinate in the mid-14th century
File:Flag yellow black 5x3.svg, The colors of the country () ensign (alternative flag)
File:Flag of The Electoral Palatinate (1604).svg, 1604 design
File:Banner of Bavaria-Landshut.svg, 1776
Events January–February
* January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.
* January 1 ...
–1789
Events
January–March
* January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet ''What Is the Third Estate?'' ('), influential on the French Revolution.
* January 7 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election a ...
(merged with Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
)
Legacy
![Coat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Coat_of_arms_of_Rhineland-Palatinate.svg)
In 1806, Baden was raised to a grand duchy and parts of the former Palatinate including Mannheim became part of it. At the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
in 1814 and 1815, southern parts of the left-bank Palatinate were restored and enlarged by mediatisation (consuming the former
Bishopric of Speyer
The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Würt ...
, the Free Imperial City of
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...
, and others) up to the new border with France, and given (temporarily) to the Habsburg
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
; after this time, it was
this new region that was principally known as "the Palatinate". The right-bank Palatinate remained with Baden while northern parts became part of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
(
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...
) and
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
(
Rhenish Hesse
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...
).
In 1816, the Palatinate became a formal part of the Wittelsbach
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...
(the or
Circle of the Rhine
The Circle of the Rhine (german: Rheinkreis) or Rhine Circle, sometimes the Bavarian ( or ), was the name given to the territory on the west bank of the Rhine from 1816 to 1837 which was one of 15 (later 8) administrative districts of the Kingdom ...
) in a pre-arranged exchange for
Tirol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
, which Bavaria ceded to Austria. Most of the area remained a part of Bavaria until after the Second World War (after 1918 the
Free State of Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
), with
some western parts becoming part of the
Territory of the Saar Basin
The Territory of the Saar Basin (german: Saarbeckengebiet, ; french: Territoire du bassin de la Sarre) was a region of Germany occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate. It had its ...
after World War I.
In September 1946 the territory was made part of the federal state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
, along with former left bank territories of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
(southern part of the Rhine Province, including the former
Principality of Birkenfeld
The Principality of Birkenfeld (german: Fürstentum Birkenfeld), known after 1919 as the Region of Birkenfeld (german: Landesteil Birkenfeld), was an exclave of the Grand Duchy and then the Free State of Oldenburg from 1817 until 1937, when it w ...
which had been an exclave of
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to:
Places
*Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica
*Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany
**Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony
*Olde ...
until 1937, and western parts of the
Province of Nassau
The Province of Nassau () was a provinces of Prussia, province of Free State of Prussia, Prussia from 1944 to 1945.
Although all Weimar Republic#Constituent states of Germany during the Weimar period, German states (including Prussia) had been ...
) and
Rhenish Hesse
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...
. The former Territory of the Saar Basin was reinstated and expanded to create the French
Saar Protectorate
The Saar Protectorate (german: Saarprotektorat ; french: Protectorat de la Sarre) officially Saarland (french: Sarre) was a French protectorate separated from Germany; which was later opposed by the Soviet Union, one side occupying Germany like ...
, which returned to Germany in 1956 as the modern state of
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
.
See also
*
Count palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
*
German Palatines
Palatines (german: Pfälzer), also known as the Palatine Dutch, are the people and princes of Palatinates ( Holy Roman principalities) of the Holy Roman Empire. The Palatine diaspora includes the Pennsylvania Dutch and New York Dutch.
In 170 ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palatinate, Electorate Of The
1085 establishments in Europe
1080s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Palatinate
Palatinate
Former countries
German-speaking countries and territories
History of the Palatinate (region)
States and territories established in 1085
States and territories disestablished in 1803
Former monarchies of Europe