Palatinate

The Palatinate was a German principality* that became known for its patronage* of the arts during the Renaissance. Two territories made up the Palatinate. The Rhine or Lower Palatinate was in western Germany along the Rhine and Neckar Rivers. The Upper Palatinate consisted of an area north of the region of Bavaria. Other lands separated the two territories. Heidelberg, the Palatinate's capital, gained a reputation as a literary and cultural center.

The region's ruler, known as the count palatine, served as one of seven German electors who chose the Holy Roman Emperor*. He also represented the emperor when the throne of the Holy Roman Empire was vacant. The borders of the Palatinate changed often. The principality expanded under Elector Frederick I, who ruled from 1449 to 1476, then lost territory as a result of the Bavarian War of Succession in 1504.

In the 1500s many residents of the Palatinate converted to Protestantism. However, their loyalty shifted between the churches established by Martin Luther and by John Calvin. Elector Frederick V, a Protestant, became king of Bohemia in 1619. His rise to power troubled the Catholic Habsburg dynasty, which ruled the Holy Roman Empire, and led to the first phase of the Thirty Years' War. Frederick's army suffered defeat, and he lost his role in electing the emperor. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 restored the electoral role to the Palatinate.

Rulers of the Palatinate supported artists, writers, and scholars. In 1386 Elector Rupert I founded the University of Heidelberg, which became a center of scholarship and culture. Cultural life also flourished at the court of Frederick I and his nephew Philip. During the late 1400s, Philip's patronage attracted humanists* such as Rudolf Agricola and Conrad Celtis, who founded the Literary Society of the Rhine. Philip also sponsored German literature as well as translations of Latin and Greek works. Heidelberg had one of the best libraries in Germany—the Bibliotheca Palatina. By the early 1600s it contained thousands of books and priceless manuscripts. However, the ruler of Bavaria gave the library to the pope after the Palatinate's defeat in the Thirty Years' War.

(See alsoGerman Language and Literature; Libraries; Princes and Princedoms; Universities. )

* principality

independent state ruled by a prince or count

* patronage

support or financial sponsorship

* Holy Roman Emperor

ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, a political body in central Europe composed of several states that existed until 1806

* humanist

Renaissance expert in the humanities (the languages, literature, history, and speech and writing techniques of ancient Greece and Rome)