Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein
Palatinate of the Rhine
State of the Holy Roman Empire
←
1085 – 1803 →

Coat of arms

After 1512, the territory of the Palatinate formed part of the Electoral Rhenish Circle, indicated in brown.
Capital Heidelberg;
Mannheim, from 1720
Language(s) German
Religion Catholicism;
Calvinism (from 1559);
Catholicism again (from 1685)
Government Monarchy
Pfalzgraf
(Count palatine)
 - 1085–95 Heinrich II of Laach (first Pfalzgraf)
 - 1156–95 Conrad of Hohenstaufen
 - 1353–90 Rupert I the Red (first Elector)
 - 1799–1803 Maximilian Joseph, Duke of Zweibrücken (last Pfalzgraf; died 1825)
Historical era Middle Ages
 - Demotion of County
    Palatine of Lotharingia 1085
 - Confirmed as Electorate 1356
 - Peace of Westphalia 1648
 - Subsumption by Bavaria 1777
 - Annexation by Baden 1803
 - Abolition of the Holy Roman Empire July 12, 1806

The Palatinate of the Rhine (German: Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein), later the Electoral Palatinate (German: Kurpfalz), was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire, a palatinate administered by a count palatine. Its rulers served as prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356.

The Electoral Palatinate was a much larger territory than what later became known as the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz), on the west bank of the Rhine, and is now the contemporary region of the Palatinate in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The Electoral Palatinate also included territory that lay on the east bank of the Rhine, containing the cities of Heidelberg and Mannheim.

Counts Palatine of Lotharingia, 915–1085

The Palatinate emerged from the County Palatine of Lotharingia, which came into existence in the 10th century.

• Wigeric of Lotharingia, count of the Bidgau (c. 915/916–922)
• Godfrey, count of the Jülichgau (c. 940)

House of Ezzonen

During the 11th century, the Palatinate was dominated by the Ezzonian dynasty, who governed several counties on both banks of the Rhine. These territories were centered around Cologne-Bonn, but extended south to the Mosel and Nahe Rivers. The southernmost point was near Alzey.[1]

• Hermann I of Lotharingia, 945–994
• Ezzo of Lotharingia, 994–1034
• Otto I of Lotharingia, 1034–45 (Duke of Swabia 1045–47)
• Heinrich I of Lotharingia, 1045–61
• Hermann II of Lotharingia, 1061–85 (in tutelage to Anno II, archbishop of Cologne until 1064)

Counts Palatine of the Rhine, 1085–1356

From about 1085/1086, after the death of the last Ezzonian palatine count, Herman II of Lotharingia, the Palatinate lost its military importance in Lotharingia. The territorial authority of the count palatine was reduced to his counties along the Rhine, from then on called County Palatine of the Rhine.

• Heinrich II of Laach, 1085–95
• Sigfried of Ballenstadt, 1095–1113
• Gottfried of Kalw, 1113–29
• Wilhelm of Ballenstadt, 1129–39
• Henry IV Jasomirgott, 1139–42
• Hermann III of Stahleck, 1142–55

Hohenstaufen Counts Palatine

The first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine was Conrad of Hohenstaufen who was the younger brother of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The territories attached to this hereditary office started from those held by the Hohenstaufens in Franconia and Rhineland (other branches of the Hohenstaufens received Swabian lands, Franche-Comté, and so forth). Much of this was from their imperial ancestors, the Franconian emperors, and a part from Conrad's maternal ancestry, the Saarbrücken. These backgrounds explain the composition of Upper and Rhenish Palatinate in the inheritance centuries onwards.

• Conrad of Hohenstaufen 1156–95

Welf Counts Palatine

In 1195, the Palatinate passed to the House of Welf through the marriage of Agnes, heir to the Staufen count.

• Henry V of Welf, 1195–1213
• Henry VI of Welf, 1213–14

Wittelsbach Counts Palatine

In the early 13th century, with the marriage of the Welf heiress Agnes, the territory fell to the Wittelsbach Dukes of Bavaria, who were also dukes and counts palatine of Bavaria.

• Louis I, 1214–27
• Otto II, 1227–53
• Louis II (Duke of Upper Bavaria), 1253–94

During a later division of territory among the heirs of Duke Louis II 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" (Bavaria north of the Danube river) with the centre around the town of Amberg. As this region was politically connected to the Rhenish Palatinate, the name Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) became common from the early 16th century in contrast to the Lower Palatinate along the Rhine.

• Rudolf I, 1294–1317
• Adolf, 1317–27

With the Treaty of Pavia in 1329, the emperor Louis IV, a son of Louis II, returned the Palatinate to his nephews Rudolf and Rupert.

• Rudolf II, 1329–53
• Rupert I, 1353–56

Electors Palatine, 1356–1777

In the Golden Bull of 1356, the Palatinate was recognized as one of the secular electorates, and given the hereditary offices of archsteward (Erztruchseß) of the Empire and imperial vicar (Reichsverweser) 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 (Kurfürst von der Pfalz). The position as prince-elector had already existed earlier (for example, two rival kings of Germany were elected in 1257: Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso of Castile) though it is difficult to pinpoint any exact start of that office.

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, Kaiserslautern, and Zweibrücken 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 and Calvinism in the 1550s.

First Electorate, 1356–1648

Wittelsbach dynasty
Image Name Date Notes
Rupert I 1356–1390 As Rupert I above
Rupert II 1390–1398 Nephew of Rupert I, son of Adolf
Rupert III 1398–1410 Son of Rupert II, elected King of Germany in 1400
Louis III 1410–1436 Son of Rupert III
Louis IV 1436–1449 Son of Louis III
Frederick I 1449–1476 Brother of Louis IV
Philip 1476–1508 Son of Louis IV
Louis V 1508–1544 Son of Philip
Frederick II 1544–1556 Brother of Louis V
Otto Henry 1556–1559 Nephew of Frederick II, son of Rupert of Freising
Line of Simmern
Image Name Date Notes
Frederick III 1559–1576 When the senior branch of the family died out in 1559, the Electorate passed to Frederick III of Simmern, a staunch Calvinist, and the Palatinate became one of the major centers of Calvinism in Europe, supporting Calvinist rebellions in both the Netherlands and France.
Louis VI 1576–1583 Son of Frederick III
Frederick IV 1583–1610 Son of Louis VI. With his adviser Christian of Anhalt, founded the Evangelical Union of Protestant states in 1608.
Frederick V 1610–1623 Son of Frederick IV and married to Elizabeth, daughter of James I of Great Britain. In 1619, he accepted the throne of Bohemia from the Bohemian estates. He was soon defeated by the forces of Emperor Ferdinand II at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, and Spanish and Bavarian troops soon occupied the Palatinate itself. Called "the Winter King", because his reign in Bohemia only lasted one winter. In 1623, Frederick was put under the ban of the Empire.
House of Bavaria, 1623–48
Image Name Date Notes
Maximilian I of Bavaria 1623–1648 (d. 1651) Frederick V's territories and his position as Elector were transferred to the Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian I, of a distantly related branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Although technically Elector Palatine, he was known as the Elector of Bavaria. From 1648 he ruled in Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate alone, but retained all his Electoral dignities and the seniority of the Palatinate Electorate; see further Electors of Bavaria.