Chapter XVII: Appendix: D

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF ALL THE REIGNING PRINCES OF THE PALATINATE.

1. CONRAD OF HOHENSTAUFEN.--He was the first prince invested with the electoral dignity. He was raised to the honor by his brother the Emperor Frederick I. (Barbarossa); was born in 1127; died in 1195.

2. HENRY THE GUELPH.--Son of Henry the Lion--duke of Brunswick; became Pfalzgrave of the Rhine after Conrad. Born in 1169; died 1227.

3. HENRY THE YOUNGER; married Mathilda of Brabant; born in 1194; died 1214.

4. LOUIS I., duke of Bavaria, was made elector by the German emperor for distinguished military services, although Henry the Younger’s father was still living, and was the rightful heir of Conrad of Hohenstaufen.

5. OTHO, the Illustrious, son of Louis I. followed the latter; he was born in 1206; died 1253.

6. LOUIS II., the Severe, son of Otho I., married Mary of Brabant, whom he had beheaded without cause in a fit of jealousy.

7. RUDOLPH I., son of Louis, at the beginning reigned in common with his brother Louis of Bavaria, who afterwards became emperor. He divided his lands, and retained the Palatinate of the Rhine, while his brother kept Bavaria.

8. ADOLPHUS the Just, became invested with the electorate by his uncle emperor Louis, in 1320. He was born in 1300; died in 1327.

9. RUDOLPH II., next succeeded to the electorate.

10. RUPERT I., the Elder, reigned according to the will of his uncle, in common with his brother, and for the deceased brother Adolphus. He was the founder of the University of Heidelberg in 1346, and he also built the Rupertina Chapel of Heidelberg castle. He was born in 1309; died 1390.

11. RUPERT II., the Hard-hearted, son of Adolph, came next to the electorate. He was an impetuous soldier, who participated in most of the numerous wars, which distracted the peace of Germany in his day.

12. RUPERT III., surnamed the Good, and on account of his love of justice, called Justinian; the only son of Rupert II. He was popular with all the German princes, who elected him king of Germany in 1400. He built the Rupert’s building in the castle of Heidelberg. He was born in 1352; died in 1410.

13. LOUIS III., surnamed the Bearded, was the ancestor of the Heidelberg line of princes. He was patron of Conrad of Constance in 1414, and confined Pope John XXIII, for a long time in the Rudolph building a prisoner. Born in 1376; died in 1437.

14. LOUIS IV., surnamed the Candid, came next and reigned 12 years. He was born in 1424; died 1449.

15. FREDERICK I., the Victorious, brother of Louis IV. became elector at the latter’s death. German affairs were in a greatly disturbed condition, when he came to the electorate. He became arrayed against the emperor, and likewise the Pope; but he triumphed over all his enemies, and his name lives in history as one of the most eminent of all the German princes. He was born in 1425; died in 1476.

16. PHILIP, the Sincere, son of Louis IV. succeeded Frederick I. He was a prince who was devoted to the sciences, and who labored for the welfare of the people over whom he reigned. Born in 1448; died in 1508.

17. LOUIS V., surnamed the Pacific; was so called because he labored unceasingly, at the meetings of the diets of the German empire, to pacify all the princes who differed in their religious opinions. He was the son of Philip; and was a great disciple of peace; he nevertheless prepared for war by constructing important fortifications of the castle of Heidelberg. He constructed the Louis building of the castle, and connected the grand rampart, the Louis tower, the watch tower, and the big tower, by subterranean passages. His reign was a comparatively pacific one, and lasted 36 years. It was during his reign that Martin Luther launched his Reformation, and nailed the 95 theses on the church door of Wittenberg; and was excommunicated by the pope from the church of Rome. Louis was born in 1478; died 1544.

18. FREDERICK II., the Wise, was a brother of Louis V. His reign lasted only six years; but he improved that time by completing the fortifications of the Heidelberg castle, and built the new court in connection with it. He was born in 1482; died in 1550.

19. OTHO HENRY, the Magnanimous, was next to obtain the electorate. He received his name because of his generosity in protecting the arts and sciences; and it was he who built the most beautiful architectural monument of the castle of Heidelberg,--the Otho-Henry building. He was born in 1502; died in 1559.

20. FREDERICK III., the Pious, had an uneventful reign, excepting the religious contentions, in consequence of the Reformation. Born in 1515; died 1570.

21. LOUIS VI., son of the former, reigned 15 years, from 1559 until 1576. Born in 1539; died in 1583.

22. JOHN CASIMIR, brother of the former, came to the electorate in 1576. He was a chivalrous prince; much esteemed by his subjects. He built the first Big Tun, in the cellar of the Heidelberg castle. Born in 1543; died 1592.

23. FREDERICK IV., son of Louis VI., reigned 18 years, during which he erected the splendid Frederick’s building with its new chapel in the castle. Born 1574; died 1610.

24. FREDERICK V., surnamed the Patient, married Elizabeth Stuart of England, grand-daughter of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. He made many fine architectural additions to the castle of Heidelberg; among them the palace of Elizabeth, and its magnificent gate which is still admired in the grandeur of its ruins by thousands of tourists each year. Frederick was elected king of Bohemia in 1619, but soon after he was defeated in a great battle near Prague by the emperor Ferdinand, and thereby lost his crown, when he fled to Holland, where he died without ever returning to the castle of his ancestors. Born in 1596; died 1632.

25. CHARLES LOUIS, surnamed the German Solomon, returned to his hereditary lands in 1649, as heir to the Palatinate. He restored the castle which had been almost ruined by the ravages of the Thirty Years’ War, and made himself useful in re-establishing prosperity to the Palatinate, which had been severely afflicted, and he soon succeeded in making the rich soil of the valleys of the Upper Rhine, and Neckar bloom again like a garden. He was a noble prince; born in 1617, died in 1680 while on his way from Mannheim to Heidelberg in an orchard in the village of Edingen.

26. CHARLES, his only son and heir succeeded him. He died without issue and his sister married to the duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. of France, who made pretensions to the electorate, and was supported by Louis. Her unjust claim was the signal for the unfortunate war, which brought the ruin and desolation to the Palatinate, the details of which have been recounted in these pages.

Sketches of the Palatine electors, 27, 28, 29 and 30 have already been noted among the sketches of the counts Palatine, who reigned during the period of the German emigration from the Palatinate to America.