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Rhineland - Palatinate History

History Lesson for those who wish to know more -

The following is a short history of the Rhineland-Palatinate, and of several states or Duchy's located along the middle Rhine River in Germany. The Rhine Rivers name comes from the Celtic <renos> meaning " raging flow ". In legend, the Palatine Hill in Rome was said to be the one on whose foot the twins Romulus and Remus were deposited when they escaped the flood of the Tiber River. It became the center of Rome and retained this importance for most of the life of the Roman Empire. The Roman emperors designated some local officials with the title " palatine " after the name of the hill.

Subsequent empires such as the Merovingian and Carolingian used the same title. It was expanded to " count palatine ", which means an official sent to report on a remote region owned by the crown. Under the later German Empire of the Saxon and Salian dynasties (919-1125), further expansion occurred. The counts of palatine were now responsible for the general administration and dispensing of justice. The first Count Palatine of the Rhine was Hermann I, who received the office in 945. While not originally hereditary, the title was held largely by his descendants until his line ended in 1155, and the Bavarian Wittelsbachs assumed control in 1180. After 1235, Emperor Friedrich II who was more concerned with Italian than German lands, appointed a count-palatine of the Wittelsbach family, which controlled the powerful duchy of Bavaria in return for the duke's support.

In 1329, to resolve an internal family dispute, the North Mark of Bavaria was detached, and named the “ Oberpfalz ” ( Upper Palatinate) and then transferred to the Count Palatine. In 1356, an edict from the Pope made the Count Palatine an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. During the Reformation (Martin Luthers Day), the Palatinate accepted Protestantism and became the foremost Calvinist region in Germany . With the decline of the monarchy after Friedrich II, administrative rights reverted to local dukes or bishops, in Saxony, Bavaria and other places. (There were thirty plus of these duchies, etc.) The count palatine of lower Lotharingia was headquartered at the palace at Aachen, held onto these powers and kept them for his descendants. They called themselves the Counts Palatine of the Rhine. This territory called the Rheinish or Lower Palatinate (German, Pfalz), was located on both sides of the Rhine River between the Main (near Frankfurt) and the Neckar Rivers. It's capital was at Heidelberg until the 18th century.

The tendency in those days was to subdivide inheritance among all the sons of a family and in this way the Palatinate was divided into four regions in 1410. This was reversed by Friedrich the Victorious (1449-1476). After this event, the Palatinate's power grew and it became the leading state or duchy in the empire. This was recognized by its ruler who became the hereditary Elector in 1356.

The Palatinate region was previously an entirely Catholic region because of the control by Bavarian and Austrian rulers. After Martin Luther published his 95 Thesis on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg on October 31 st, 1517 many of his followers came under considerable religious persecution for their beliefs. For reasons of mutual comfort and support, they gathered in what is known as the Palatine. These people came from many places; Germany, Holland, Switzerland and beyond, but all shared a common view on religion. The Palatinate later accepted Calvinism under Elector Friedrich III during the 1560's. It would eventually become Lutheran, Huguenot, Mennonite and other Protestant variations.

The protestant Elector Palatine Frederick V (1596-1632), called the "Winter King" of Bohemia, played a unique role in the struggle between Roman Catholic and Protestant Europe. His acceptance of Bohemia's offer of its crown touched off the Thirty Years War (1691-1648), with his election in 1619 as King of Bohemia. Frederick was driven from Bohemia in 1623 and was removed as Elector Palatine. During the Thirty Years War, the Palatine country and other parts of Germany suffered from the horrors of fire and sword as well as from pillage and plunder by the French armies. Many unpaid armies and bands of mercenaries who were either friends and foe, devoured the fruits of these peoples labor and by 1633, even the Catholic French supported the Elector Palatine for a time for political reasons. This war was based upon both politics and religious hatreds, as the Roman Catholic armies sought to crush the religious freedom of the politically divided Protestants. It was a complicated catastrophe from which the Palatinate never completely recovered. Although the final result was centuries in coming, it meant that instead of politically leading Germany, the Palatinate became the spoils fought over by other states and countries. German history might have been considerably different had the Palatinate rather than Prussia assumed this position. The only immediately apparent loss was that of the “Oberpfalz” or Upper Palatinate that Bavaria claimed.

During these times, the weakened Palatinate region was no match for France under King Louis XIV, whose forces devastated the region. In fact, there was so much international concern over the growing French authority, that Britain led a coalition of powers to oppose her. These struggles became known as the War of the Palatinate (or the War of the Grand Alliance or War of the League of Augsburg, 1688-1697). One major effect was a large-scale emigration from 1689 to 1697. Every large city on the Rhine above Cologne was sacked. The War ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick. The Palatinate was badly battered but still outside of French control. In 1702, the War of the Spanish Succession began in Europe and lasted until 1713, causing a great deal of instability for the Palatines. The Palatinate lay on the western edge of the Holy Roman Empire not far from France's eastern boundary. King Louis wanted to push his eastern border to the Rhine, the heart of the Palatinate. Many of the Palatine people left for Bohemian, other Germanic, Austrian and Hungarian areas. (Later immigrations gave rise in the United States to the phenomenon of the Pennsylvania Dutch. They weren't really Dutch, but Palatinate Germans who immigrated first to the Dutch Netherlands at Rotterdam, then to England and finally to America. So now you know whom “ the Pennsylvania Dutch really are !”)

The good soil of the Palatinate had sustained its inhabitants many of whom were farmers and vineyard operators. It's location was unfortunately subject to invasion by the armies of Britain, France and Germany. Mother Nature also played a role in what happened, for the winter of 1708 was particularly severe and many of the vineyards perished. So as well as the devastating effects of war, the Palatines were subjected to the winter of 1708-09, the harshest weather conditions in over 100 years.

There was a major freeze in the winter of 1708/09 in the Palatinate. On January 10 th, 1709 the Rhine River froze and was closed for five weeks. Wine froze into ice, grapevines died and cattle perished in their sheds. This set the scene for a mass migration. At the invitation of Queen Anne of England in February and March of the spring of 1709, about 7,000 harassed Palatines sailed down the Rhine to Rotterdam. From there, about 3000 were shipped to America, some directly but most via England, under the auspices of William Penn. The remaining 4,000 were sent via England to Ireland in an effort to strengthen the Protestant position. In Rotterdam they were housed in shacks covered with only reeds for protection. The lucky ones that made it to London were housed in 1,600 tents surrounding the city. London residents were resentful. Some of the Palatines were sent to places like the Scilly Isles, the West Indies and New York. This is the real reason, that so many Germans were dispersed around the world. When you boarded a ship, you did not know where it was bound for, or when. It is our luck that our Lambmann/Landtmann ancestors came to America in 1709/1710 and survived this ordeal and others later on.

Queen Anne of England was related to the ruler of the Palatinate. On March 24 th, 1709 a British naturalization act was passed whereby any foreigner who would take the oaths of allegiance to the British government and profess himself a Protestant would be immediately naturalized and have all the privileges of an English-born subject for the price of one shilling. Most Catholics, who were also escaping, were shipped back to their origins.

There were many reasons for the desire of the Palatines to immigrate to the New World. Oppressive taxation, continuous wars, religious differences, a hunger for more and better land, the advertising of the English colonies in America and a favorable attitude of the British government toward settlement in the North American Colonies. Many of the Palatines believed they were going to Pennsylvania, Carolina or one of the tropical islands. The passage down the Rhine took from four to six weeks. Tolls and fees were paid to authorities of the territories through which they had to pass.

Early in June, the number of Palatines entering Rotterdam reached 1,000 per week. Later that year, the British government issued a Royal proclamation in German that all immigrants arriving after October 1709 would be sent back to Germany. The British could not effectively handle the number of Palatines in London and there may have been as many as 32,000 by November 1709. They wintered over in England since there were no adequate arrangements for the transfer of the Palatines to the English colonies.

The trip took about six weeks by sail. Not all of them made it. Many died and were buried at sea. Food and rations were limited on ship. Once they made it to NY, the Palatines were expected to work for the British authorities, producing naval stores [tar and pitch ] for the English Navy in return for their passage to NY. They were also expected to act as a buffer between the French and Native Indians on the northern frontier of New York and the English colonies to the south and east.

Now you have a little foundation into the background of your ancestry. If you have more interest, please note the web links to the right for more information on the Rhineland - Palatinate Region in History.