The Palatinate, or the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz), is a historical region of Germany. Prior to World War II, it was also referred to as Rhenish Bavaria; as a state of the Holy Roman Empire, it was known as the Lower Palatinate (Unterpfalz), which designated only the western part of the Electorate of the Palatinate, as opposed to the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz). It occupies roughly the southernmost quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), covering an area of 2,105 square miles (5,450 km2) with about 1.4 million inhabitants. Its residents are known as Palatines (Pfälzer).
Franz von Sickingen was a knight of the Holy Roman Empire who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called "Knights' Revolt," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Reformation. Sickingen was nicknamed "the last knight", an epithet he shared with his contemporaries Chevalier de Bayard and Emperor Maximilian.
Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen, also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (Reichsritter), mercenary and poet. He was born around 1480 into the noble family of Berlichingen in modern-day Baden-Württemberg. Götz bought Hornberg Castle (Neckarzimmern) in 1517, and lived there until his death in 1562.
Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg is a spa town of about 4,000 inhabitants in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Since 1 July 2014, it is part of the town Bad Kreuznach. It was the seat of the former like-named Verbandsgemeinde, but not part of it. Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg was granted town rights on 29 April 1978 and is recognized as a mineral spring spa (Mineralheilbad) and a climatic spa. Today the "Spa" is famous for its clinics specializing in cardiological and orthopaedic rehabilitation. The many graduation towers form the largest open air inhalatorium in Europe.
The Knights' Revolt, also known as the Barons' Revolt, was a short-lived revolt by several German Protestant, imperial knights, led by Franz von Sickingen, against the Archbishop Richard of Trier. It has been called the Poor Barons' Rebellion as it inspired the bloody German Peasants' War of 1524–1526.
Landstuhl, officially the Sickingen Town of Landstuhl, is a town in the Kaiserslautern district of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is the seat of Verbandsgemeinde Landstuhl, a kind of municipal association. Landstuhl is situated on the north-west edge of the Palatinate Forest, 11 miles (18 km) west of Kaiserslautern. It is also located near the U.S. Air Force base Ramstein Air Base.
Casimirof Brandenburg-Bayreuth was Margrave of Bayreuth or Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach from 1515 to 1527.
Princely abbeys and Imperial abbeys were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbarkeit) and therefore were answerable directly to the Emperor. The possession of imperial immediacy came with a unique form of territorial authority known as Landeshoheit, which carried with it nearly all the attributes of sovereignty.
The Prince-Bishopric of Constance was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-12th century until its secularisation in 1802–1803. In his dual capacity as prince and as bishop, the prince-bishop also governed the Diocese of Konstanz, which existed from about 585 until its dissolution in 1821, and whose territory extended over an area much larger than the principality. It belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Mainz since 780/782.
Feilbingert is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Bad Kreuznach, whose seat is in the like-named town. The municipality's name is a fusion of the names Feil and Bingert, borne by two formerly separate villages that likewise fused together.
Sien is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.
Queidersbach is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany.
Bann is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Located in the Steinalb valley with the Palatinate Forest bordering it to the east.
Hoppstädten is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Lauterecken-Wolfstein.
Nanstein Castle is a ruined medieval castle above the town of Landstuhl in Germany, which has been partially reconstructed. The red sandstone rock castle dates from the 12th century and was once owned by Franz von Sickingen, who was mortally wounded during a siege of the castle in 1523.
Tanstein Castle is the ruin of a rock castle in the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau region. It lies just under a kilometre east of the small town of Dahn in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Palatine Ways of St. James are those sections of the Way of St. James in the Palatinate region of Germany and part of the historic pilgrimage route to the northwest Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela. It was there that, according to Christian tradition, the Apostle Saint James the Greater was buried.
The Sickingen Heights form a landscape in the western part of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The region was named after the family of imperial knight, Franz von Sickingen (1481–1523), because most of the area belonged to the territory of the House of Sickingen in the Middle Ages.
The Franconian War was waged in 1523 when the Swabian League attacked several robber baron castles in Franconia, whose nobles were supporters of Hans Thomas of Absberg in the Absberg Feud.
