Palatinate of the Rhine
Encyclopedia
The Palatinate historically also Rhenish Palatinate , is a region in south-western Germany
. It occupies more than a quarter of the German federal state
(Bundesland) of Rhineland-Palatinate
(Rheinland-Pfalz).
(687 m) near Kirchheimbolanden
. The Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald) popular with hikers covers more than a third of the region and is the largest coherent forest in Germany.
The eastern part is lower, and is a well known wine region. The German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstrasse) passes through the Palatinate wine region
.
Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the plain rhine rift in the east of the region, near the Rhine River, which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate.
Traditionally, the Palatinate is divided into the regions of Anterior Palatinate (Vorderpfalz), West Palatinate (Westpfalz), North Palatinate (Nordpfalz), and South Palatinate (Südpfalz).
The following administrative districts
and independent cities are part of the Palatinate:
Districts:
Independent cities:
under Emperor Augustus
about 12 B.C., whereafter it was part of the Germania Superior
province. During the decay of the Empire, Alamanni
tribes settled here, their territory was conquered by Francia under King Clovis I
about 496. From 511 onwards the area belonged to the eastern part of Frankish Austrasia
, that - as Rhenish Franconia
- became part of East Francia according to the 843 Treaty of Verdun
.
From the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century, the Palatinate was divided into several big and small states. The most important of these was the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz), a number of territories formerly held by the Count palatine
s (Pfalzgrafen) of Lotharingia
. In the late 12th century the Count palatines had achieved the status of a Prince-elector
(Kurfürst), i.e. one of the seven nobles with the privilege of electing the King of the Romans
, confirmed by the Golden Bull of 1356
. In 1214 the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach was enfeoffed with these estates, which they ruled until 1918, together with the collateral branch of Palatinate-Zweibrücken
from 1410, until the re-unification with Bavaria under Elector Maximilian I Joseph in 1799. The major ecclesiastical territory in the region was the Bishopric of Speyer
. The Imperial city
of Landau
to preserve its status joined the Alsacien Décapole
in 1521. Nevertheless it was seized by France
after the Thirty Years' War
.
During the French Revolutionary Wars
the region was occupied by the forces of the French First Republic
in 1794 and after the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio
incorporated into the département of Mont-Tonnerre
. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars
, a significant stretch of land on the left bank of the Rhine, which included greater parts of the former Electoral Palatinate became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria
in 1816 according to the Final Act of the Vienna Congress
. Although the territory was geographically separate from Bavaria, it was ruled together with proper Bavaria as a single state for the next 130 years.
Since 1808 the administrative regions in Bavaria had been named after their main rivers. Thus the region after its incorporation into Bavaria was officially called the "Rheinkreis". In 1835 the romantic-minded King Ludwig I of Bavaria
ordered the administrative regions to be named by historical allusions. So the region officially became the "Palatinate" (Pfalz). It should be noted here, that the historic Electoral Palatinate was centered on the right bank of the Rhine with Heidelberg
and Mannheim
as its capitals, while the new "Palatinate," that was established in 1815/16 was solely on the left bank of the Rhine, and included territories that had never been part of the historic Palatinate (e.g., the former Bishopric of Speyer or Kirchheimbolanden
, which had formerly belonged to the Weilburg branch of Nassau
). In order not to confuse the new Palatinate with the historic one (and with the Upper Palatinate
), the name Rhenish Palatinate was common, but never official. The term Rhenish Bavaria (Rheinbayern) can also be found sometimes in older maps.
The French had introduced their system of administration and the Code Napoleon in the Palatinate. The Bavarian government preserved both after 1816, which gave the Palatinate a distinct legal status within the Bavarian kingdom. The royal family tried to symbolize the unity with Bavaria by erecting a royal palace in Edenkoben
and by the restoration of Speyer Cathedral
under direct supervision of King Ludwig I himself. The town Ludwigshafen was named after the king. On the other hand the Palatinate's representatives to the common Bavarian Parliament always prided themselves of their origin from a more progressive region and tried to expand the liberalism, which the French had introduced in the Palatinate, to the whole kingdom. The German Historian Heiner Haan described the special status of the Palatinate within Bavaria as a relation of "Hauptstaat" (main state, i.e. Bavaria) and "Nebenstaat" (alongside state, i.e. the Palatinate).
During the revolution of 1848 a separatist movement tried to establish a "Palatinate Republic," which collapsed under a bloody Prussian military intervention. The union persisted after Bavaria became part of the German Empire
in 1871, and even after the Wittelsbach dynasty was deposed and Bavaria became a free state of the Weimar Republic
in 1918. However after World War I
French troops occupied the Palatinate under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
. The western districts of Sankt Ingbert
and Homburg
(Saarpfalz) were separated from the Bavarian Palatinate and became part of the newly established Saarland
, which according to peace treaty was governed by the League of Nations
. In a clear breach of the treaty the French in 1923 encouraged a separatist movement for a Rhenish Republic
in the remainder of the Rhenish Palatinate and the Prussian Rhineland
. The Bavarian government reacted sharply and even had the leading separatist Franz Josef Heinz assassinated by a squad under the command of Edgar Julius Jung
at the Wittelsbacher Hof in Speyer
in January 1924. In February 1924 members of the separatist movement were killed in a shooting in Pirmasens
. Also in February 1924 a treaty between Bavaria and the inter-allied commission of the Rhineland (the supreme council of the Allied occupation forces) recognised and reassured the Palatinate being a part of Bavaria.
The union with Bavaria was finally dissolved following the reorganisation of German states after World War II
during the Allied occupation of Germany. Whereas proper Bavaria was part of the US occupation Zone, the Palatinate was occupied by French Forces. The French reorganised their occupation Zone by founding new states and in 1947, the Palatinate was combined with Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen), the former parts of the People's State of Hesse left of the Rhine, and the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province
to form the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate
.
, literally "sow's stomach", a dish that consists of a thick, crispy-fried casing stuffed with a mixture of pork, potatoes, and seasonings. Other meat dishes of the region include bratwurst, Palatinate liverwurst, a blood pudding sausage called grieweworscht ("griewe" are speck (bacon) cubes, so lit. "sausage with speck cubes"), läwwerknepp or läwwerknedel (liver dumplings), and flääschknepp (meat dumplings). Sauerkraut
is the typical side dish in all seasons, but especially in winter, as are mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Also eaten are dampfnudel
s, which can be served with either sweet sauces or side dishes (such as wine, vanilla sauce or canned fruit such as plums, prunes, or pears) or with savory side dishes (such as potato soup, vegetable soup, goulash, or pepper pork).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It occupies more than a quarter of the German federal state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
(Bundesland) of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
(Rheinland-Pfalz).
Geography
The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. The highest point is the DonnersbergDonnersberg
For the Czech mountain, see MilešovkaThe Donnersberg is the highest peak of the Palatinate region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen en Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the mountain. The highway A63 runs along the southern edge...
(687 m) near Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden, the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, Kirchheim, dates back to 774. It became a town in 1368, and the...
. The Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald) popular with hikers covers more than a third of the region and is the largest coherent forest in Germany.
The eastern part is lower, and is a well known wine region. The German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstrasse) passes through the Palatinate wine region
Palatinate (wine region)
Palatinate is a German wine-growing region in the area of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before 1993, it was known as Rhine Palatinate . With under cultivation in 2008, the region is the second largest wine region in Germany after Rheinhessen...
.
Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the plain rhine rift in the east of the region, near the Rhine River, which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate.
Traditionally, the Palatinate is divided into the regions of Anterior Palatinate (Vorderpfalz), West Palatinate (Westpfalz), North Palatinate (Nordpfalz), and South Palatinate (Südpfalz).
The following administrative districts
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
and independent cities are part of the Palatinate:
Districts:
- Bad DürkheimBad Dürkheim (district)Bad Dürkheim is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Kaiserslautern, Donnersbergkreis and Alzey-Worms, the city of Worms, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the city of Neustadt/Weinstraße, the districts of Südliche Weinstraße, the city of Landau , the district...
(DÜW) - DonnersbergkreisDonnersbergkreisThe Donnersbergkreis is a district in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bad Kreuznach, Alzey-Worms, Bad Dürkheim, Kaiserslautern, Kusel.-History:...
(KIB) - GermersheimGermersheim (district)Germersheim is a district in the south-east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Südliche Weinstraße, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the district Karlsruhe as well as the district-free city of Karlsruhe, and the French département Bas-Rhin.-History:Most of the region was part of the...
(GER) - Kaiserslautern (district)Kaiserslautern (district)Kaiserslautern is a district in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Kusel, Saarpfalz-Kreis, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Dürkheim and Südwestpfalz. The city of Kaiserslautern is almost fully enclosed by, but not belonging to the district.-History:The district of...
(KL) - KuselKusel (district)Kusel is a district in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Birkenfeld, Bad Kreuznach, Donnersbergkreis, Kaiserslautern, Saarpfalz and Sankt Wendel .-History:The district of Kusel was created at the beginning of the 19th century...
(KUS) - Rhein-Pfalz-KreisRhein-Pfalz-KreisThe Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.Neighboring districts are the district-free city Worms, the district Bergstraße, district-free Mannheim, Frankenthal and Ludwigshafen, Rhein-Neckar, district-free Speyer, the districts Karlsruhe, Germersheim,...
(RP) - Südliche WeinstraßeSüdliche WeinstraßeSüdliche Weinstraße is a district in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Südwestpfalz, Bad Dürkheim, the district-free city Neustadt , Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, Germersheim, and the French département Bas-Rhin...
(SÜW) - SüdwestpfalzSüdwestpfalzSüdwestpfalz is a district in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Saarpfalz, the district-free city Zweibrücken, the districts Kaiserslautern and Bad Dürkheim, the district-free city Landau , Südliche Weinstraße, and the French département Bas-Rhin...
(PS)
Independent cities:
- FrankenthalFrankenthalFrankenthal is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.- History :Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, after the founder, as the Erkenbertruine — still stand today in the town...
(FT) - KaiserslauternKaiserslauternKaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
(KL) - LandauLandauLandau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...
(LD) - Ludwigshafen (LU)
- Neustadt an der WeinstraßeNeustadt an der WeinstraßeNeustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...
(NW) - PirmasensPirmasensPirmasens is a district-free city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It is famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called Pirmasens from 1818 until 1997, when it was renamed Südwestpfalz....
(PS) - SpeyerSpeyerSpeyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
(SP) - ZweibrückenZweibrückenZweibrücken is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.- Name :Zweibrücken appears in Latin texts as Geminus Pons and Bipontum, in French texts as Deux-Ponts. The name derives from Middle High German Zweinbrücken...
(ZW)
History
The former Celtic region was conquered by the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
under Emperor Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
about 12 B.C., whereafter it was part of the Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
province. During the decay of the Empire, Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
tribes settled here, their territory was conquered by Francia under King Clovis I
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
about 496. From 511 onwards the area belonged to the eastern part of Frankish Austrasia
Austrasia
Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...
, that - as Rhenish Franconia
Rhenish Franconia
Rhenish Franconia or Western Franconia denotes the western half of the central German stem duchy of Franconia in the 10th and 11th century, with its residence at the city of Worms...
- became part of East Francia according to the 843 Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
.
From the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century, the Palatinate was divided into several big and small states. The most important of these was the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz), a number of territories formerly held by the Count palatine
Count palatine
Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...
s (Pfalzgrafen) of Lotharingia
Lotharingia
Lotharingia was a region in northwest Europe, comprising the Low Countries, the western Rhineland, the lands today on the border between France and Germany, and what is now western Switzerland. It was born of the tripartite division in 855, of the kingdom of Middle Francia, itself formed of the...
. In the late 12th century the Count palatines had achieved the status of a Prince-elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
(Kurfürst), i.e. one of the seven nobles with the privilege of electing the King of the Romans
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...
, confirmed by the Golden Bull of 1356
Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Reichstag assembly in Nuremberg headed by the Luxembourg Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire...
. In 1214 the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach was enfeoffed with these estates, which they ruled until 1918, together with the collateral branch of Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken is a former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Zweibrücken.-Overview:→ History before 1394 see main article County of Zweibrücken→ History before 1444 see main article County of Veldenz...
from 1410, until the re-unification with Bavaria under Elector Maximilian I Joseph in 1799. The major ecclesiastical territory in the region was the Bishopric of Speyer
Bishopric of Speyer
The Bishopric of Speyer was a state, ruled by Prince-Bishops, in what is today the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was secularized in 1803...
. The Imperial city
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
of Landau
Landau
Landau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...
to preserve its status joined the Alsacien Décapole
Décapole
The Décapole was an alliance formed in 1354 by ten Imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire in the Alsace region to maintain their rights, it was disbanded in 1679....
in 1521. Nevertheless it was seized by France
Early Modern France
Kingdom of France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
after the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
.
During the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
the region was occupied by the forces of the French First Republic
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
in 1794 and after the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of revolutionary France and the Austrian monarchy...
incorporated into the département of Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...
. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, a significant stretch of land on the left bank of the Rhine, which included greater parts of the former Electoral Palatinate became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
in 1816 according to the Final Act of the Vienna Congress
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Although the territory was geographically separate from Bavaria, it was ruled together with proper Bavaria as a single state for the next 130 years.
Since 1808 the administrative regions in Bavaria had been named after their main rivers. Thus the region after its incorporation into Bavaria was officially called the "Rheinkreis". In 1835 the romantic-minded King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
ordered the administrative regions to be named by historical allusions. So the region officially became the "Palatinate" (Pfalz). It should be noted here, that the historic Electoral Palatinate was centered on the right bank of the Rhine with Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
as its capitals, while the new "Palatinate," that was established in 1815/16 was solely on the left bank of the Rhine, and included territories that had never been part of the historic Palatinate (e.g., the former Bishopric of Speyer or Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden, the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, Kirchheim, dates back to 774. It became a town in 1368, and the...
, which had formerly belonged to the Weilburg branch of Nassau
Nassau (state)
Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct in male line, was the House of Nassau.-Origins:...
). In order not to confuse the new Palatinate with the historic one (and with the Upper Palatinate
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of Bavaria.- History :The region took its name first in the early 16th century, because it was by the Treaty of Pavia one of the main portions of the territory of the Wittelsbach Elector...
), the name Rhenish Palatinate was common, but never official. The term Rhenish Bavaria (Rheinbayern) can also be found sometimes in older maps.
The French had introduced their system of administration and the Code Napoleon in the Palatinate. The Bavarian government preserved both after 1816, which gave the Palatinate a distinct legal status within the Bavarian kingdom. The royal family tried to symbolize the unity with Bavaria by erecting a royal palace in Edenkoben
Edenkoben
Edenkoben is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It lies approximately halfway between Landau and Neustadt an der Weinstraße. Edenkoben is one of the towns situated along the German Wine Route...
and by the restoration of Speyer Cathedral
Speyer Cathedral
The Speyer Cathedral, officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen, in Latin: Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae in Speyer, Germany, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer and is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Bamberg. The cathedral, which is dedicated to St...
under direct supervision of King Ludwig I himself. The town Ludwigshafen was named after the king. On the other hand the Palatinate's representatives to the common Bavarian Parliament always prided themselves of their origin from a more progressive region and tried to expand the liberalism, which the French had introduced in the Palatinate, to the whole kingdom. The German Historian Heiner Haan described the special status of the Palatinate within Bavaria as a relation of "Hauptstaat" (main state, i.e. Bavaria) and "Nebenstaat" (alongside state, i.e. the Palatinate).
During the revolution of 1848 a separatist movement tried to establish a "Palatinate Republic," which collapsed under a bloody Prussian military intervention. The union persisted after Bavaria became part of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871, and even after the Wittelsbach dynasty was deposed and Bavaria became a free state of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
in 1918. However after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
French troops occupied the Palatinate under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. The western districts of Sankt Ingbert
Sankt Ingbert
St. Ingbert is a town in the Saarpfalz district in Saarland, Germany with a population of 37361 . It is situated approx. 10 km north-east of Saarbrücken and 10 km south-west of Neunkirchen. Sankt Ingbert is an old industrial town, but most of its heavy industries have long closed down...
and Homburg
Homburg, Saarland
Homburg is a town in Saarland, Germany, the administrative seat of the Saarpfalz district. With a population of c. 44,000 inhabitants, is the third city in its federal state. The medical department of the University of Saarland is situated here. The city is also home to the Karlsberg beer brewery...
(Saarpfalz) were separated from the Bavarian Palatinate and became part of the newly established Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
, which according to peace treaty was governed by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. In a clear breach of the treaty the French in 1923 encouraged a separatist movement for a Rhenish Republic
Rhenish Republic
The Rhenish Republic was proclaimed at Aachen in October 1923 during the Occupation of the Ruhr by troops from France and Belgium between January 1923 and 1925...
in the remainder of the Rhenish Palatinate and the Prussian Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
. The Bavarian government reacted sharply and even had the leading separatist Franz Josef Heinz assassinated by a squad under the command of Edgar Julius Jung
Edgar Julius Jung
Edgar Julius Jung was a German lawyer born in Ludwigshafen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He was a leader of the Conservative Revolutionary movement in Germany, which stood not only in opposition to the Weimar Republic, whose parliamentarian system he considered decadent and foreign-imposed,...
at the Wittelsbacher Hof in Speyer
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
in January 1924. In February 1924 members of the separatist movement were killed in a shooting in Pirmasens
Pirmasens
Pirmasens is a district-free city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It is famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called Pirmasens from 1818 until 1997, when it was renamed Südwestpfalz....
. Also in February 1924 a treaty between Bavaria and the inter-allied commission of the Rhineland (the supreme council of the Allied occupation forces) recognised and reassured the Palatinate being a part of Bavaria.
The union with Bavaria was finally dissolved following the reorganisation of German states after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
during the Allied occupation of Germany. Whereas proper Bavaria was part of the US occupation Zone, the Palatinate was occupied by French Forces. The French reorganised their occupation Zone by founding new states and in 1947, the Palatinate was combined with Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen), the former parts of the People's State of Hesse left of the Rhine, and the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
to form the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
.
Cuisine
Arguably the most famous dish in Palatinate is the saumagenSaumagen
Saumagen is a German dish popular in the Palatinate. The name means "sow's stomach". The dish is similar to a sausage in that it consists of a stuffed casing; however, the stomach itself is integral to the dish. It isn't as thin as a typical sausage casing...
, literally "sow's stomach", a dish that consists of a thick, crispy-fried casing stuffed with a mixture of pork, potatoes, and seasonings. Other meat dishes of the region include bratwurst, Palatinate liverwurst, a blood pudding sausage called grieweworscht ("griewe" are speck (bacon) cubes, so lit. "sausage with speck cubes"), läwwerknepp or läwwerknedel (liver dumplings), and flääschknepp (meat dumplings). Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
is the typical side dish in all seasons, but especially in winter, as are mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Also eaten are dampfnudel
Dampfnudel
Dampfnudel is a sort of white bread eaten as a meal or as a dessert in Germany and in France . It is a typical dish in southern Germany.-Ingredients and preparation:...
s, which can be served with either sweet sauces or side dishes (such as wine, vanilla sauce or canned fruit such as plums, prunes, or pears) or with savory side dishes (such as potato soup, vegetable soup, goulash, or pepper pork).
See also
- Palatinate (disambiguation)Palatinate (disambiguation)- United Kingdom :*County palatine in England*Palatinate , student newspaper of Durham University*Palatinate , student sporting award of Durham University*Palatinate , a shade of purple used in the colours of the County of Durham...
- Palatinate Forest
- Palatinate GermanPalatinate GermanPalatine German is a West Franconian dialect of German which is spoken in the Rhine Valley roughly in an area between the cities of Zweibrücken, Kaiserslautern, Alzey, Worms, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Speyer, Landau, Wörth am Rhein and the border to the Alsace region in France...
- Palatinate (wine region)Palatinate (wine region)Palatinate is a German wine-growing region in the area of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before 1993, it was known as Rhine Palatinate . With under cultivation in 2008, the region is the second largest wine region in Germany after Rheinhessen...
- German Wine Route
External links
- Rhenish Palatinate – Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
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