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This article gives details on the history of the Count Palatine in Mediaeval European Palatinate regions and social structure. The Palatinate (Pfalz Pfälzer dialect Palz) historically also Rhenish Palatinate (palatinatum Renensis Rheinpfalz is a region in south-western Germany For English counties palatine, see County palatine. A county palatine is an area ruled by a Count palatine (or Earl palatine who may hold the higher title of Duke) with special authority and autonomy For other meanings, see Palatinate or Paladin (disambiguation). For a longer history on the term and all other developments of its usage, see Paladin. A paladin (from Latin palatinus, plural palatini; cf derivative spellings below was a high-level official in numerous countries of medieval

Count palatine is a noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine or Paladin, which can have other meanings as well. A paladin (from Latin palatinus, plural palatini; cf derivative spellings below was a high-level official in numerous countries of medieval

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Importance of a Count Palatine in Mediaeval Europe

Comes palatinus: The origin of the "Knight Paladin"

This Latin title is the original, but also pre-feudal: it originated as a Roman Comes, which was a non-hereditary court title of high rank, the specific part palatinus being the adjective derived from palatium ('palace'). The French Solar Energy Authority ( Commissariat à l'Energie Solaire, ComES) a public Scientific and industrial entity was set up in (See Paladin for details. A paladin (from Latin palatinus, plural palatini; cf derivative spellings below was a high-level official in numerous countries of medieval )

But after the fall of Rome, a new, feudal type of title, also known simply as palatinus, started developing. The Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty employed a high official, the comes palatinus, who at first assisted the king in his judicial duties and at a later date discharged many of these himself. The Merovingians (also Merovings) were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin Other counts palatine were employed on military and administrative work.

The system was maintained by the Carolingian sovereigns (see the twelve legendary Paladines). The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolings, or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the A paladin (from Latin palatinus, plural palatini; cf derivative spellings below was a high-level official in numerous countries of medieval A Frankish capitulary of 882 and Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, writing about the same time, testify to the extent to which the judicial work of the Frankish Empire had passed into their hands, and one grant of power was followed by another. A capitulary ( Medieval Latin capitularium) was a series of Legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of

Instead of remaining near the person of the king, some of the counts palatine were sent to various parts of his empire to act as judges and governors, the districts ruled by them being called palatinates. Being in a special sense the representatives of the sovereign, they were entrusted with more extended power than the ordinary counts. Thus comes the later and more general use of the word palatine, its application as an adjective to persons entrusted with special powers and also to the districts over which these powers were exercised.

Related terms

Pfalzgraf is an exclusively German title (from the above Latin comes palatinus 'count of the palace'), rendered in English also (recorded since 1548) as palsgrave since medieval times for the permanent representative (Grafio is probably from the Greek grafein 'to write', hence 'scribe', plausibly via the Byzantine Greek grapheus or suggrapheus "he who calls a meeting, i. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. e. the court, together", and denoted a civil servant, rather than a feudal count) of the Frankish king, later of the Holy Roman Emperor, in a palatial domain of the crown (pfalz). The Franks or Frankish people (Franci or gens Francorum) were West Germanic tribes first identified in the 3rd century as an Ethnic group The Holy Roman Emperor (Römischer Kaiser or Römisch-Deutscher Kaiser Romanorum Imperator was the elected monarch ruling over the many varying numbers of states A palace is a grand residence especially the home of a Head of state or some other high-ranking Public figure. A county palatine is an area ruled by a Count palatine (or Earl palatine who may hold the higher title of Duke) with special authority and autonomy There were dozens of these royal Pfalzen throughout the Empire, and the monarch travelled between them. The empire had no real capital; such practice of was not uncommon in the early feudal times, e. g. in England. This practice of a mobile, somewhat omnipresent king, thus also 'eating his taxes' literally wining and dining, was common in early feudal Europe. Travel was often already required because of military considerations. The count responsible for these places was thus responsible for the palace during the king's absence. In the empire the word count palatine was also used to designate the officials who assisted the emperor to exercise the rights which were reserved for his personal consideration, like granting arms. A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short in European tradition is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people They were called comites palatini caesarii, or comites sacri palatii; in German, Hofpfalzgrafen. Both the Latin form (Comes) palatinus and the French (comte) palatin have been used as part of the full title of Dukes of Burgundy (a branch of the French royal dynasty) to render their rare German title Freigraf, which was the style of a (later lost) bordering principality, the allodial countship of Burgundy (Freigrafschaft Burgund in German) which came to be known as Franche-Comté. Freigraf is a title of Germany nobility. It is derived from the German words frei ("free" and the feudal title Graf (" Allodial title is a concept in some systems of property law It describes a situation where Real property ( Land, Buildings and Fixtures) is owned Franche-Comté ( Franc-Comtois: Fràntche-Comté; Franco-Provençal: Franche-Comtât) the former "Free County" of Burgundy

In early medieval Poland the Palatinus was next in rank to the King. In the first centuries of its existence the Polish nation was led by a series of strong rulers who converted the Poles to Christendom, created a strong Central European As he is also the chief commander of the King's army the rank is merged with Wojewoda, with the latter replacing the title of Palatine. A voivode or waywode is a Slavic title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force During the Fragmentation of Poland each Prince would have his own voivode. In the first centuries of its existence the Polish nation was led by a series of strong rulers who converted the Poles to Christendom, created a strong Central European When some of these Principalities are reunited in the Kingdom of Poland the Palatines are infeudated with them as there is no local Prince anymore. Or rather on behalf of the King to whom all these princely titles returned. The Principalities are thus made Voivodships (sometimes translated as Palatinates). In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Voivodes sit in the Senat. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also known as the Most Serene Republic Throughout its history the dignity remained non-hereditary or semi-hereditary. Today voivodes are government officials.

Mediaeval social structure and development of the Count Palatine

During the 11th century, some imperial palatine counts became a valuable political counterweight against the mighty duchies. Surviving old palatine counties were turned into new institutional pillars through which the imperial authority could be exercised. By the reigns of Henry the Fowler and especially of Otto the Great, comites palatini were sent into all parts of the country to support the royal authority by checking the independent tendencies of the great tribal dukes. Otto I the Great ( 23 November 912 &ndash 7 May 973) son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke We hear of a count palatine in Saxony, and of others in Lorraine, in Bavaria and in Swabia, their duties being to administer the royal estates in these duchies.

Next to the Dukes of Lotharingia, Bavaria, Swabia and Saxonia, who had become dangerously powerful feudal princes, loyal supporters of the German Emperor were installed as counts palatine. --> Lotharingia or Lorraine was a short-lived kingdom in Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 Swabia, Suabia, or Svebia ( German: Schwaben, Schwabenland or Ländle) is both a historic and linguistic

The Lotharingian palatines out of the Ezzonian dynasty were important commanders of the imperial army and were often employed during internal and external conflicts (e. The Ezzonids (more commonly known as Ezzonen) were a dynasty of Lotharingian stock dating back as far as the ninth century g. to suppress rebelling counts or dukes, to settle frontier disputes with the Hungarian and the French kingdom and to lead imperial campaigns).

Although a palatinate could be rooted for decades into one dynasty, the office of the palatine counts became hereditary only during the 12th century. During the 11th century the palatinates were still regarded as beneficia, non-hereditary fiefs. The count palatine in Bavaria, an office held by the family of Wittelsbach, became duke of this land, the lower comital title being then merged in the higher ducal one; and with one other exception the German territorial counts palatine soon became insignificant, although, the office having become hereditary, Pfalzgrafen were in existence until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. A duke is a member of the Nobility, historically of highest rank below the Sovereign, and historically controlled a Duchy or a Dukedom

The exception was the Count Palatine of the Rhine, who became one of the four lay electors and the most important lay official of the empire. The Palatinate of the Rhine (Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein later the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire The Prince-Electors (or simply Electors) of the Holy Roman Empire ( German: Kurfürst ( pl Junior branches of his family also bore this title.

The term count palatine was not used on the British isles. Just as Count always remained reserved for continental territories, even though the equivalence of earl became clear by rendering it in Latin also as Comes, earl palatine was the exclusively British title for the incumbent of a British county palatine. A county palatine is an area ruled by a Count palatine (or Earl palatine who may hold the higher title of Duke) with special authority and autonomy A county palatine is an area ruled by a Count palatine (or Earl palatine who may hold the higher title of Duke) with special authority and autonomy

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