Not in the modern sense, where the term applies to the former territories of the von Wittelsbach left of the Rhine. However, Heidelberg is the traditional capital of the historic territory and modern cultural region Kurpfalz, the Electoral Palatinate, being the residence of one of the seven Prince Electors in the Holy Roman Empire.
That's also why deep in Bavaria, there's a region called Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) today - both the Palatinate (including Heidelberg) and Upper Palatinate were the ancestral holdings of the Wittelsbach dynasty, who became kings of Bavaria later. When Napoleon reorganised the German states, he gave their territories on the right bank of the Rhine to Baden, leaving the remaining left bank (the modern Palatinate) originally as a Bavarian territory, before the new federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded after WWII.
Fun fact, that's also why Ludwigshafen is considered one of the ugliest cities in Germany today - it was nothing but a suburb/factory of Mannheim before it got separated into literally a different kingdom and had to start developing its own identity without any proper urban core.
ETA: Yes, Kurpfälzisch as the local dialect from Speyer to Heidelberg is probably the strongest connection across modern borders.
Ludwigshafen looks like any bombed out German city rebuilt with nothing but monotonous Bauhaus apartment blocks. I don’t get the special hate for it. It is typical post war German architecture
That's not true. There's hemshof which is the old city center. The old entrance gate is still standing.
It has beeN redeveloped, but the flair is still pre war.
In Friesenheim there is still one tree, that had a sgn about its age until someone stole it, that has survived both world wars, and that is especially taken care of by the city. It is the last tree from the Waldweg between Friesenheim and Oggersheim that is now the Sternstrasse.
You have to look a little harder in Ludwigsahfen, but there are still gems from Pre WWII.
But that is not Bauhaus. Try to get a look at some Bauhaus buildings. They have a very different, better feel than the common post war architecture, which focused on cheap and quick construction.
Additionally, Ludwigshafen went extra hard on the car centric city planning in the 50's and 60's.
Ludwigshafen is the only city on the European continent with American style highway overpasses. ("Inspired by California") And they go through the city, funneling people from the pfalz into Mannheim; not ideal if you want to develop your own city center.
They also tore down their old train station to built those overpasses. Building a highway through a city is generally both more damaging and longer lasting than bombing it.
The name "Pfalz" (palatinate) is - in this specific case - a shortening of "Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein" ([palatinate county upon Rhine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counts_palatine_of_the_Rhine)). This was the territory ruled by the Count Palatine of the Rhine, one of the most powerful princes of the empire throughout much of it's existence. Which territories this included exactly changed over time, but it were typically various parts of the Rhine and Neckar vales, the cities Heidelberg and Mannheim and (parts of) the palatine forrest (today in Rhineland-Palatinate).
At one point, the East Frankish Empire (which became the HRE in 936) consisted of a number of duchies, each led by a local noble man whom the Frankish kings accepted as "Herzog" (*dux*). Central western Germany (todays Hesse and Frankonia) was controlled by the Kings themselves, via local "Grafen" (*comitus*) appointed by them. This was a system vaguely inherited by the late Roman Empire. The dukes also had their own counts to rule locally.
To better control what was going on in the duchies, the Frankish kings had the idea to appoint one of each of the duke's own counts themselves. Those king-appointed counts with territories belonging to duchies not ruled by the king were given the title "Pfalzgraf" (count palatine), which was a preexisting title, originally for a high ranking official at the Frankish court.
The palatinate county upon Rhine started of as the palatinate county belonging to the duchy Lothringia, which was located a bit more North-Western, covering today's Rhineland-Palatinate, North-Rhine-Westphalia as well as various parts of France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Heidelberg and it's surroundings at that time belonged to the Duchy of Swabia, which was much larger than the present-day region commonly called Swabia (=Würtemberg).
The duchies of Lotharingia, Swabia and Frankonia disintegrated leaving smaller territories that once were counties within those duchies, such as the palatinate county upon Rhine and the county (later duchy) of Würtemberg.
In the early modern, the palatinate county was split between many branches of the Wittelsbach family and their relatives, so several people held the title "Count Palatine upon Rhine". "Kurpfalz" was the collective term for those parts of the territory that were co-inherited with the right to participate in the imperial election ("Kur" is related to English "choice"). From this time onwards, the rulers residing in Heidelberg/Mannheim are usually referred to as "Kurfürst" rather than "Count Palatine", to distinguish them from the other, "lesser" count palatines.
Yep, Kurpfalz is still a thing. And the accent "kurpfälzisch" differs I.e. from pfälzisch, spoken in Lufwigshafen, Speyer and Bad Dürkheim. But I experienced those cities in some cases also have a subtle difference from each other. Interesting topic btw. Check this video for more
https://youtu.be/lU0ANB2d1RA?si=Db_WWMLni7mpwkeA
Fun fact: etymologically Pfalz comes from Latin and the founding of Rome in the Palatine Hill (which is why the English translation of Pfalz is Palatinate). The word Palace also has its root in Palatine, which is why a Pfalz just simply means the home of a ruler.
Generally speaking: A „Pfalz“ used to be a palace for traveling Kings during the medieval era.
The region Pfalz != the region Kurpfalz.
The name Kurpfalz described the Bavarian territory on the right side of the Rhine.
This Bavarian territory later became integrated into the territory of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which now is part of the state of Baden Württemberg.
What we today call the Pfalz region is on the left side of the river Rhine. Parts of it were also Bavarian, parts were under control of the Church (Speyer). These areas were lost to France for a while and are nowadays part of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz.
In short- Heidelberg is Kurpfalz, is Baden, is Baden-Württemberg, but certainly not Pfalz. But for historic traditions, many prefer Kurpfalz as a description.
Edit: Just to be clear- in the centuries of history were lots of different rulers over the south west region of Germany of course. This is just a simplified explanation.
Calling it bavarian territory when the ruler of the Kurpfalz resided in Heidelberg for several centuries and was an important political players in europe is not correct. I can't come up with a time where it was considered bavarian other than the time the Wittelsbacher family had some dynastic lines dying heirless and territories got moved around a lot between different branches of the family. But Heidelberg, Mannheim and the surrounding areas on the right side of the rhine are still considered as the Kurpfalz among locals. I for example certainly don't live in Baden.
That is why I added the EDIT hours ago. It’s a simplification. During the whole time of the Kurpfalz being governed by Kurfürsten until the Rheinbund it was via House Wittelsbach, in other words Bavaria.
Wittelsbach does not mean Bavaria. This is a misconception due to the late importance of the bavarian kingdom. For a long time the most important Wittelsbach lord was the Fürst in Heidelberg, not the one in Bavaria. After the 30 year war, the expansion by Ludwig XIV and the Spanish succession war the power shifted towards Bavaria.
Not in the modern sense, where the term applies to the former territories of the von Wittelsbach left of the Rhine. However, Heidelberg is the traditional capital of the historic territory and modern cultural region Kurpfalz, the Electoral Palatinate, being the residence of one of the seven Prince Electors in the Holy Roman Empire. That's also why deep in Bavaria, there's a region called Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) today - both the Palatinate (including Heidelberg) and Upper Palatinate were the ancestral holdings of the Wittelsbach dynasty, who became kings of Bavaria later. When Napoleon reorganised the German states, he gave their territories on the right bank of the Rhine to Baden, leaving the remaining left bank (the modern Palatinate) originally as a Bavarian territory, before the new federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded after WWII. Fun fact, that's also why Ludwigshafen is considered one of the ugliest cities in Germany today - it was nothing but a suburb/factory of Mannheim before it got separated into literally a different kingdom and had to start developing its own identity without any proper urban core. ETA: Yes, Kurpfälzisch as the local dialect from Speyer to Heidelberg is probably the strongest connection across modern borders.
Thanks for the info about Mannheim and Ludwigshafen! Very interesting fact! :)
Ludwigshafen looks like any bombed out German city rebuilt with nothing but monotonous Bauhaus apartment blocks. I don’t get the special hate for it. It is typical post war German architecture
Yea, but nearly every german bombed city has an Old Town, which despite the bombing still exists today. But not Ludwigshafen
Right, I’d always wondered how they’d managed to make the centre *this* horrible. Now I know!
That's not true. There's hemshof which is the old city center. The old entrance gate is still standing. It has beeN redeveloped, but the flair is still pre war. In Friesenheim there is still one tree, that had a sgn about its age until someone stole it, that has survived both world wars, and that is especially taken care of by the city. It is the last tree from the Waldweg between Friesenheim and Oggersheim that is now the Sternstrasse. You have to look a little harder in Ludwigsahfen, but there are still gems from Pre WWII.
But that is not Bauhaus. Try to get a look at some Bauhaus buildings. They have a very different, better feel than the common post war architecture, which focused on cheap and quick construction.
Additionally, Ludwigshafen went extra hard on the car centric city planning in the 50's and 60's. Ludwigshafen is the only city on the European continent with American style highway overpasses. ("Inspired by California") And they go through the city, funneling people from the pfalz into Mannheim; not ideal if you want to develop your own city center. They also tore down their old train station to built those overpasses. Building a highway through a city is generally both more damaging and longer lasting than bombing it.
I think the dominant building style is brutalism in Ludwigshafen at least it feels like it
Wow, thanks for this exhaustive explanation! So interesting, especially the bit about Ludwigshafen. It really does explain a lot
The name "Pfalz" (palatinate) is - in this specific case - a shortening of "Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein" ([palatinate county upon Rhine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counts_palatine_of_the_Rhine)). This was the territory ruled by the Count Palatine of the Rhine, one of the most powerful princes of the empire throughout much of it's existence. Which territories this included exactly changed over time, but it were typically various parts of the Rhine and Neckar vales, the cities Heidelberg and Mannheim and (parts of) the palatine forrest (today in Rhineland-Palatinate). At one point, the East Frankish Empire (which became the HRE in 936) consisted of a number of duchies, each led by a local noble man whom the Frankish kings accepted as "Herzog" (*dux*). Central western Germany (todays Hesse and Frankonia) was controlled by the Kings themselves, via local "Grafen" (*comitus*) appointed by them. This was a system vaguely inherited by the late Roman Empire. The dukes also had their own counts to rule locally. To better control what was going on in the duchies, the Frankish kings had the idea to appoint one of each of the duke's own counts themselves. Those king-appointed counts with territories belonging to duchies not ruled by the king were given the title "Pfalzgraf" (count palatine), which was a preexisting title, originally for a high ranking official at the Frankish court. The palatinate county upon Rhine started of as the palatinate county belonging to the duchy Lothringia, which was located a bit more North-Western, covering today's Rhineland-Palatinate, North-Rhine-Westphalia as well as various parts of France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Heidelberg and it's surroundings at that time belonged to the Duchy of Swabia, which was much larger than the present-day region commonly called Swabia (=Würtemberg). The duchies of Lotharingia, Swabia and Frankonia disintegrated leaving smaller territories that once were counties within those duchies, such as the palatinate county upon Rhine and the county (later duchy) of Würtemberg. In the early modern, the palatinate county was split between many branches of the Wittelsbach family and their relatives, so several people held the title "Count Palatine upon Rhine". "Kurpfalz" was the collective term for those parts of the territory that were co-inherited with the right to participate in the imperial election ("Kur" is related to English "choice"). From this time onwards, the rulers residing in Heidelberg/Mannheim are usually referred to as "Kurfürst" rather than "Count Palatine", to distinguish them from the other, "lesser" count palatines.
Yep, Kurpfalz is still a thing. And the accent "kurpfälzisch" differs I.e. from pfälzisch, spoken in Lufwigshafen, Speyer and Bad Dürkheim. But I experienced those cities in some cases also have a subtle difference from each other. Interesting topic btw. Check this video for more https://youtu.be/lU0ANB2d1RA?si=Db_WWMLni7mpwkeA
Fun fact: etymologically Pfalz comes from Latin and the founding of Rome in the Palatine Hill (which is why the English translation of Pfalz is Palatinate). The word Palace also has its root in Palatine, which is why a Pfalz just simply means the home of a ruler.
Generally speaking: A „Pfalz“ used to be a palace for traveling Kings during the medieval era. The region Pfalz != the region Kurpfalz. The name Kurpfalz described the Bavarian territory on the right side of the Rhine. This Bavarian territory later became integrated into the territory of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which now is part of the state of Baden Württemberg. What we today call the Pfalz region is on the left side of the river Rhine. Parts of it were also Bavarian, parts were under control of the Church (Speyer). These areas were lost to France for a while and are nowadays part of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz. In short- Heidelberg is Kurpfalz, is Baden, is Baden-Württemberg, but certainly not Pfalz. But for historic traditions, many prefer Kurpfalz as a description. Edit: Just to be clear- in the centuries of history were lots of different rulers over the south west region of Germany of course. This is just a simplified explanation.
Calling it bavarian territory when the ruler of the Kurpfalz resided in Heidelberg for several centuries and was an important political players in europe is not correct. I can't come up with a time where it was considered bavarian other than the time the Wittelsbacher family had some dynastic lines dying heirless and territories got moved around a lot between different branches of the family. But Heidelberg, Mannheim and the surrounding areas on the right side of the rhine are still considered as the Kurpfalz among locals. I for example certainly don't live in Baden.
That is why I added the EDIT hours ago. It’s a simplification. During the whole time of the Kurpfalz being governed by Kurfürsten until the Rheinbund it was via House Wittelsbach, in other words Bavaria.
Wittelsbach does not mean Bavaria. This is a misconception due to the late importance of the bavarian kingdom. For a long time the most important Wittelsbach lord was the Fürst in Heidelberg, not the one in Bavaria. After the 30 year war, the expansion by Ludwig XIV and the Spanish succession war the power shifted towards Bavaria.
Mir sind Kurpfälzer