Last modified: 2004-03-13 by santiago dotor
Keywords: germany | palatinate | pfalz | lion: rampant (yellow) |
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From the Infoplease.com website:
Emperor Frederick I bestowed (1156) the title count palatine on his half-brother Conrad, who was in possession of territories on both sides of the Rhine. More extensive than the present Rhenish Palatinate, these territories also included the northern part of modern Baden (but not the bishopric of Speyer and other enclaves in the palatine lands west of the Rhine). When Conrad's line died out, the Palatinate passed (1214) to the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty. The Wittelsbachs enlarged their holdings along the Bohemian border, which were constituted as the Upper Palatinate. In 1356 the German princes were granted the Golden Bull, which gave them the right to vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. Their territories were henceforth called the Electoral Palatinate (Ger. Kurpfalz).The Rhenish Palatinate flourished in the 15th and 16th cent., and its capital, Heid