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The Electoral Palatinate or the Palatinate, officially the Electorate of the Palatinate, was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of Lotharingia in 915; it was then restructured under the Counts Palatine of the Rhine in 1085. From 1214 until the Electoral Palatinate was merged into the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1805, the House of Wittelsbach provided the Counts Palatine or Electors. These counts palatine of the Rhine would serve as prince-electors from "time immemorial", and were noted as such in a papal letter of 1261; they were confirmed as electors by the Golden Bull of 1356.
The House of Wittelsbach is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, Holland, Zeeland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Bohemia, and Greece. Their ancestral lands of Bavaria and the Palatinate were prince-electorates, and the family had three of its members elected emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire. They ruled over the Kingdom of Bavaria which was created in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918.
Pfalz, Pfälzer, or Pfälzisch are German words referring to Palatinate.
John Casimir, Count Palatine of Simmern was a German prince and a younger son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine. A firm Calvinist, he was a leader of mercenary troops in the religious wars of the time, including the Dutch Revolt. From 1583–1592 he acted as regent for his nephew, Elector Palatine Frederick IV.
Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous".
Frederick III of Simmern, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine was a ruler from the house of Wittelsbach, specifically the cadet branch of Palatinate-Simmern-Sponheim. He was a son of John II of Simmern and inherited the Palatinate from the childless Elector Otto-Henry, Elector Palatine (Ottheinrich) in 1559. He was a devout convert to Calvinism, and made the Reformed confession the official religion of his domain by overseeing the composition and promulgation of the Heidelberg Catechism. His support of Calvinism gave the German Reformed movement a foothold within the Holy Roman Empire.
Stephen of Simmern-Zweibrücken was Count Palatine of Simmern and Zweibrücken from 1410 until his death in 1459.
The County Palatine of Veldenz was a principality in the contemporary Land Rhineland-Palatinate with full voting rights to the Reichstag. The county was located partially between Kaiserslautern, Sponheim and Zweibrücken, partially on the Mosel in the Archbishopric of Trier. A municipality of the same name, Veldenz, and a castle, Schloss Veldenz, are located in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich.
Louis VI of Hesse-Darmstadt was Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1661 to 1678.
Palatinate-Simmern-Kaiserslautern was a state of the Holy Roman Empire based in the Counties Palatine of Simmern and Kaiserslautern, and the Palatinian portion of the County of Sponheim in modern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Louis Philip was the Count Palatine of Simmern-Kaiserslautern from 1610 until 1655. Philip acted as Administrator of the Electoral Palatinate between 1632 and 1648.
Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach was a Princess of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and by marriage Electress Palatine.
Philipp Ludwig I, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg succeeded his father in the government of the County of Hanau-Münzenberg in 1561.
Eleanor of Prussia was a princess of the Duchy of Prussia by birth and Electress of Brandenburg by marriage.
Louis Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg, was Count, and from 1654 Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg. During the Thirty Years' War, he was a senior officer. He climbed to the rank of Major General. Before 1635, he served on the Protestant side; after 1635, he served in the imperial army.
Albert of Hanau-Münzenberg was the younger son of Philip Louis I of Hanau-Münzenberg (1553-1580) and his wife, Countess Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen (1558-1599). The only sons of his parents to reach adulthood were Albert and his elder brother Philip Louis II. Albert's son John Ernest was the last male member of the Hanau-Münzenberg line of the House of Hanau.
Maria of Nassau or Maria of Orange-Nassau was a Dutch princess of the house of Orange and by marriage pfalzgräfin or countess of Simmern-Kaiserslautern.
Marie Eleonore von Brandenburg (1607-1675) was a princess of Brandenburg, Countess Palatine and from 1655 to 1658, regent of Simmern.
