Palatinates

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palatinates were border regions where the demands of security dictated that the local rulers should have special powers, particularly to raise troops and to administer justice to all levels. The earldom of Chester, created in 1071, gradually acquired palatinate privileges, its tenants-in-chief holding directly of the earl and paying all taxes to him. But after 1237 the earldom was taken into the crown and became in due course part of the territories of the princes of Wales. Not until 1543 however were Chester and Cheshire given representation at Westminster and the palatine courts survived until 1830. The privileges of Durham, the other great palatinate, go back beyond the Conquest to an independent Northumbria. The palatine powers were exercised by the bishops. Durham was not brought into the Westminster Parliament until the later 17th cent. and its privileges were not totally extinguished until 1836. The county of Lancaster was granted palatine status in 1351, though its privileges were less than those of Cheshire or Durham, and it was represented at Westminster from the outset. The palatine status remained with John of Gaunt and then descended through Henry IV with the crown. Certain palatine powers were claimed for the earldoms of Kent and Shropshire, for the viceroys of Ireland, and for the proprietors of some of the American colonies. Though the palatinates have often been described as ‘imperia in imperio’, where ‘the king's writ did not run’, many of the privileges were shared at a lower level with other landowners. The monarch, after all, appointed the bishop of Durham and could dispose of the earldoms. The earls and bishops palatine were powerful men, but subjects they remained.

J. A. Cannon

Palatinates Two regions in Germany that comprise the Upper Palatinate. FREDERICK I bestowed the title of Count Palatine on his half-brother Conrad, who held lands east and west of the River Rhine (the Lower Palatinate). From 1214 these lands were ruled by the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, whose own lands near Bohemia formed the Upper Palatinate. In 1356 the Counts Palatine were made Electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Rhenish (Lower) Palatinate became a centre of the Protestant REFORMATION in the 16th century, but the choice of Elector FREDERICK V as King of Bohemia led to clashes with Catholic Habsburg authority and the outbreak of the THIRTY YEARS WAR. After the Battle of the White Mountain (1621) the Palatinates were partitioned, with Bavaria annexing the Upper Palatinate and the Lower Palatinate passing to Frederick's heirs under the terms of the Treaty of WESTPHALIA. The Lower Palatinate was invaded and brutally devastated by LOUIS XIV in 1688–89. In 1777 the two Palatinates were reunited. However, in the early 19th century, the Upper Palatinate was again absorbed into Bavaria, while the Lower Palatinate was divided between various German states and France. The modern German Land of Rhineland Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) occupies a portion of the original Lower Palatinate's territory.

palatinates were border regions where the demands of security dictated that the local rulers should have special powers, particularly to raise troops and to administer justice to all levels. The earldom of Chester, created in 1071, gradually acquired palatinate privileges, its tenants‐in‐chief holding directly of the earl and paying all taxes to him. But after 1237 the earldom was taken into the crown and became in due course part of the territories of the princes of Wales. The privileges of Durham, the other great palatinate, go back beyond the Conquest to an independent Northumbria. The palatine powers were exercised by the bishops. The county of Lancaster was granted palatine status in 1351, though its privileges were less than those of Cheshire or Durham. The palatine status remained with John of Gaunt and then descended through Henry IV with the crown.