Die Pfalz

Pfalz, Die, the Palatinate or County Palatine, was also known as Kurpfalz, since the Pfalzgraf was an elector or Kurfürst. It lies to the west of the Rhine and consists of a stretch of the flat Rheingau and the hilly regions of the Pfälzer Bergland and the Pfälzer Wald. At its centre is the culturally significant town of Kaiserslautern. Speyer (see Speyer, Reichstag zu) and especially Worms have strong historical and cultural associations to which their magnificent cathedrals bear witness; Konrad II is buried in Speyer's ‘Kaiserdom’. In 1946 the Palatinate became part of the constituent Land Rheinland-Pfalz of the Federal Republic (see Bundesrepublik Deutschland).

From 1214 the Palatinate was ruled by the house of Wittelsbach, one branch of which also provided the dukes (later electors and kings) of Bavaria (see Bayern). In 1542 the Palatinate became Protestant. After the failure of Friedrich V of the Palatinate to establish himself as king of Bohemia in 1619, the territory and electoral rights were given in 1623 to Duke Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria. In 1648 the son of Friedrich V, Karl Ludwig (reigned until 1680) recovered the Lower Palatinate (Niederpfalz), but the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) remained Bavarian. The complete union of Bavaria and the Palatinate was achieved in 1816. In English history and literature the Palatinate is best known through Prince Rupert, a Cavalier and an Englishman by adoption (see Ruprecht, Prinz).