The Electoral Palatinate or the Palatinate, officially the Electorate of the Palatinate, was a state that was part 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.
Charles III Philip was Elector Palatine, Count of Palatinate-Neuburg, and Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1716 to 1742. Until 1728 he was also Count of Megen.
The Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire with full voting rights to the Reichstag. Its capital was Zweibrücken. The reigning house, a branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was also the Royal House of Sweden from 1654 to 1720.
Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532. With the support of his regent, his uncle Rupert, Wolfgang introduced the Reformation to Zweibrücken in 1537.
Palatinate-Neuburg was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1505 by a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Its capital was Neuburg an der Donau. Its area was about 2,750 km², with a population of some 100,000.
Countess Palatine Maria Francisca of Sulzbach, was a Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld by marriage to Frederick Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld.
Elisabeth Auguste of Neuburg was the only surviving child of Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine. The Palatinate-Neuburg line became extinct with her father and was succeeded by the Palatinate-Sulzbach line. Her sons with Count Palatine Joseph Charles of Sulzbach would have been the indisputable heirs to the Electorate of the Palatinate, but they all died in infancy. She was the Hereditary Princess of Sulzbach by marriage.
Otto-Henry, Elector Palatine, a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty was Count Palatine of Palatinate-Neuburg from 1505 to 1557 and prince elector of the Palatinate from 1556 to 1559. He was a son of Rupert, Count Palatine, third son of Philip, Elector Palatine; and of Elizabeth of Bavaria-Landshut, daughter of George of Bavaria.
The Electorate of Bavaria was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Philipp Ludwig of Neuburg was Count Palatine of Neuburg from 1569 until 1614.
Charles II August Christian was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1775 to 1795. A member of the Palatine House of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach, he was the elder brother of the first King of Bavaria, Maximilian I, and of Queen Amalia of Saxony.
Joseph Charles, Hereditary Prince of Sulzbach was the eldest son of Theodore Eustace, Count Palatine of Sulzbach.
The House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld, later Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, was the name of a collateral line of the Palatine Wittelsbachs. The Counts Palatine from this line initially ruled over only a relatively unimportant territory, namely the Palatine share of the Rear County of Sponheim; however, their importance steadily grew. All living members of the House of Wittelsbach descend from Palatinate-Birkenfeld, which thus became the parent branch of the Kings of Bavaria.
John Christian was the Count Palatine of Sulzbach from 1732–33. He was the second and youngest surviving son of duke Theodore Eustace, Count Palatine of Sulzbach (1659–1732) with his consort Eleonore Maria Amalia of Hesse-Rotenburg (1675–1720). His elder brother was Joseph Charles, Count Palatine of Sulzbach.
Otto Henry of Sulzbach was the Count Palatine of Sulzbach from 1569 until 1604.
Augustus was Count Palatine of Sulzbach from 1614 until 1632.
Julius Francis was duke of Saxe-Lauenburg between 1666 and 1689. He was a son of Duke Julius Henry and his third wife Anna Magdalena of Lobkowicz, daughter of Baron William the Younger Popel of Lobkowicz. He was officially known as Julius Franz von Sachsen, Engern und Westfalen.
Anna of Hesse was a princess of Hesse by birth and marriage Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken.
