Palatinate
Hierarchical Path: War of the Spanish Succession (Main Page) >> States >> Palatinate
| Capital | Düsseldorf from 1690 (after the destruction of Heidelberg) to 1720 |
| Language(s) | German |
| Religion | Calvinist, Lutheran and Catholic |
| Population | no information found |
| Annual Revenues | no information found |
| Government | Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, it had one of the votes in the College of Electors, which elected the Emperor.
Although the territory of Electoral Palatinate was relatively small and not contiguous, the principality played an important role in the War of the Spanish Succession. The lands belonging to the Electoral Palatinate lay in different districts of the empire (Lower Rhine/Westphalia, Electorate of the Rhine, Upper Rhine and Bavarian Circle). Therefore, each these districts were obliged to contribute a certain number of soldiers to the troops of the Elector (Kreistruppen). |
| Dependencies | none |
| Rulers | 1690-1716: Johann Wilhelm Joseph Janaz von Pfalz-Neuenburg (also Duke of Jülich and Berg). |
| Army | see the article on the Palatine Army |
| Navy | none |
| International relations |
Elector Johann Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuenburg was the first imperial prince to join the Hague Alliance of Emperor Leopold I, Great Britain and the Dutch Republic against Louis XIV.
During the War of the Spanish Succession, Johann Wilhelm, as an ally of the Emperor, also temporarily obtained the more prestigious fourth electoral dignity (Causa palatina) and the Upper Palatinate both taken from Bavaria. |
References
Bezzel, O.: Geschichte des Kurpfälzischen Heeres, Bayrisches Kriegsarchiv, Munich 1925
Acknowledgements
Harald Skala for the information on this electorate
Dinos Antoniadis for the map of the Electoral Palatinate
