Palatine Counts at the Rhine

A palatine count (Pfalzgraf) was originally an office in the Frankish kingdom and later the Holy Roman Empire, which administered the royal palaces. The palatine count of Lorraine in Aachen was 1093 granted a fief at the middle Rhine, which would evolve into one of Germany's most prominent principalities with the status of an electorate. Because there were more than one office of palatine count did those who controlled the fief at the Rhine style themselves as palatine counts at the Rhine. From 1214 were these members of the Wittelsbach house and they continued to use that title even after 1400 when there were only one remaining office of palatine count. When the Palatinate was partitioned 1410 became the part that had the status of electorate known as the Electoral Palatinate in English and Kurpfalz in German. I have used the German word in this list of regents.

1093-1095 1095-1099 1099-1105 1105-1113 1113-1129 1129-1139	Heinrich II Heinrich III Ludwig Siegfried Gottfried Wilhelm
1139-1142 1142-1155 1156-1195 1195-1211 1211-1214	Heinrich IV Jasimirgott Hermann III Konrad von Hohenstaufen Heinrich V Heinrich VI
1214-1227	House of Wittelsbach Ludwig I der Kelheimer
1227-1253	Otto (the Illustrious)
1253-1294	Ludwig II (the Stern)
1294-1317	Rudolf I
1317-1329	Ludwig IV
1329-1353 1353-1390 1390-1398	Rudolf II Ruprecht I Ruprecht II
1398-1410	Ruprecht III

The Palatinate (Pfalz) is partitioned 1410 between Ruprecht III's four sons in Kurpfalz, Oberpfalz, Pfalz-Mosbach and Pfalz-Zweibrücken.

Pfalz-Mosbach		Oberpfalz (Pfalz-Amberg Line)
1410-1461 1461-1499	Otto I Otto II	1410-1443 1443-1448	Johann Christoffer

Oberpfalz and Pfalz-Mosbach unites with Kurpfalz when the branches of the house of Wittelsbach that rule those territories became extinct 1499 and 1448.

Kurpfalz

Pfalz-Heidelberg Line

1410-1436 1436-1449 1449-1476 1476-1508 1508-1544 1544-1556 1556-1559	Ludwig III Ludwig IV Friedrich I der Siegreiche (the Victorious) Philipp der Aufrichtige  (the Honest) Ludwig V der Friedfertige (the Peaceful) Friedrich II der Weise (the Wise) Otto Heinrich
Pfalz-Simmern Line
1559-1576 1576-1583 1583-1610 1610-1623	Friedrich III Ludwig VI Friedrich IV Friedrich V (the Winter King)
1623-1628 1628-1648	Occupied by the Emperor Maximilian (Bavarian line)
1648-1680 1680-1685	Karl Ludwig Karl
Pfalz-Neuburg Line
1685-1690	Philipp Wilhelm
1690-1716	Johann Wilhelm
1716-1742	Karl Philipp
1742- (1799)	Karl Theodor

Karl Theodor inherits Bavaria 1777 whereby Kurpfalz is united with that land.

Pfalz-Zweibrücken

Zweibrücken was originally a county that had been created 1182 by Heinrich I who belonged to the Walramian dynasty. Zweibrücken was united with the Palatinate when Ruprecht II purchased the county 1385 from its present count Eberhard. When the Palatinate was divided 1410 Zweibrücken was given to Stephan as the duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken. His branch of the house of Wittelsbach would survive all others, but repeated partitions of his inheritance (1459, 1515, 1569 and 1604) would reduce the territory of Zweibrücken.

Pfalz-Zweibrücken Line

1410-1459 1459-1489 1489-1514 1514-1532 1532-1569 1569-1604 1604-1635 1635-1661 1661-1681 1677-1693	Stephan Ludwig I Alexander Ludwig II Wolfgang Johann I Johann II Friedrich Friedrich Ludwig Occupied by France
1681-1697	Karl (XI)
1697-1718 1718-1731	Karl (XII) Gustav Samuel Leopold
Pfalz-Birkenfeld Line
1731-1735 1735-1775 1775-1795 1795- (1825)	Christian III Christian IV Karl (Birkenfeld 1767-75) Maximilian Joseph

Maximilian Joseph inherits Kurpfalz and Bavaria 1799

Pfalz-Birkenfeld was created when Pfalz-Zweibrücken was partitioned into five parts 1569. The Birkenfeld line was itself partitioned 1600 into Pfalz-Birkenfeld (extinct 1671) and in Pfalz-Bischweiler. The latter was partitioned 1654 in Pfalz-Bischweiler and Pfalz-Gelnhausen. The Bischweiler line inherited Birkenfeld when the older line became extinct 1671 and they also inherited the duchy of Zweibrücken in 1731. But four years later was their territory divided in a way that the line Pfalz-Gelnhausen became rulers of Birkenfeld while the Pfalz-Bischweiler line had to settle with Zweibrücken.

The focus in this page is to show the rulers of the most important Palatine principalities. A more comprehensive record of the different branches of the Palatine house of Wittelsbach is available on this page.