Early Germans

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PALATINE HISTORY

[This article has been published, with my permission as
Irish Palatine Story on the Internet
in Irish Palatine Association Journal, No. 7 December 1996]

The Palatinate or German PFALZ, was, in German history, the land of the Count Palatine, a title held by a leading secular prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Geographically, the Palatinate was divided between two small territorial clusters: the Rhenish, or Lower Palatinate, and the Upper Palatinate. The Rhenish Palatinate included lands on both sides of the Middle Rhine River between its Main and Neckar tributaries. Its capital until the 18th century was Heidelberg. The Upper Palatinate was located in northern Bavaria, on both sides of the Naab River as it flows south toward the Danube and extended eastward to the Bohemian Forest. The boundaries of the Palatinate varied with the political and dynastic fortunes of the Counts Palatine.

The Palatinate has a border beginning in the north, on the Moselle River about 35 miles southwest of Coblenz to Bingen and east to Mainz, down the Rhine River to Oppenheim, Guntersblum and Worms, then continuing eastward above the Nieckar River about 25 miles east of Heidelberg then looping back westerly below Heidelberg to Speyer, south down the Rhine River to Alsace, then north-westerly back up to its beginning on the Moselle River.

The first Count Palatine of the Rhine was Hermann I, who received the office in 945. Although not originally hereditary, the title was held mainly by his descendants until his line expired in 1155, and the Bavarian Wittelsbachs took over in 1180. In 1356, the Golden Bull ( a papal bull: an official document, usually commands from the Pope and sealed with the official Papal seal called a Bulla) made the Count Palatine an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. During the Reformation, the Palatinate accepted Protestantism and became the foremost Calvinist region in Germany.

After Martin Luther published his 95 Theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg on 31 October 1517, many of his followers came under considerable religious persecution for their beliefs. Perhaps for reasons of mutual comfort and support, they gathered in what is known as the Palatine. These folk came from many places, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and beyond, but all shared a common view on religion.

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 election in 1619 as King of Bohemia precipitated the Thirty Years War that lasted from 1619 until 1648. Frederick was driven from Bohemia and in 1623, deposed 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. This war was based upon both politics and religious hatreds, as the Roman Catholic armies sought to crush the religious freedom of a politically-divided Protestantism.

Many unpaid armies and bands of mercenaries, both of friends and foe, devoured the substance of the people and by 1633, even the catholic French supported the Elector Palatine for a time for political reasons.

During the War of the Grand Alliance (1689-97), the troops of the French monarch Louis XIV ravaged the Rhenish Palatinate, causing many Germans to emigrate. Many of the early German settlers of America (e.g. the Pennsylvania Dutch) were refugees from the Palatinate. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Palatinate's lands on the west bank of the Rhine were incorporated into France, while its eastern lands were divided largely between neighbouring Baden and Hesse.

Nearly the entire 17th century in central Europe was a period of turmoil as Louis XIV of France sought to increase his empire. The War of the Palatinate (as it was called in Germany), aka The War of The League of Augsburg, began in 1688 when Louis claimed the Palatinate. 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 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. Louis wanted to push his eastern border to the Rhine, the heart of the Palatinate.

While the land of the Palatinate was good for its inhabitants, many of whom were farmers, vineyard operators etc., its 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 in 100 years.

The scene was set for a mass migration. At the invitation of Queen Anne in the spring of 1709, about 7 000 harassed Palatines sailed down the Rhine to Rotterdam. From there, about 3000 were dispatched to America, either directly or via England, under the auspices of William Penn. The remaining 4 000 were sent via England to Ireland to strengthen the protestant interest.

Although the Palatines were scattered as agricultural settlers over much of Ireland, major accumulations were found in Counties Limerick and Tipperary. As the years progressed and dissatisfactions increased, many of these folk seized opportunities to join their compatriots in Pennsylvania, or to go to newly-opened settlements in Canada.

There were many reasons for the desire of the Palatines to emigrate to the New World: oppressive taxation, religious bickering, hunger for more and better land, the advertising of the English colonies in America and the favourable 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 4 to 6 weeks. Tolls and fees were demanded by authorities of the territories through which they passed. 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 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.

In 1710, three large groups of Palatines sailed from London. The first went to Ireland, the second to Carolina and the third to New York with the new Governor, Robert Hunter. There were 3 000 Palatines on 10 ships that sailed for NY and approximately 470 died on the voyage or shortly after their arrival.

In NY, the Palatines were expected to work for the British authorities, producing naval stores [tar and pitch] for the navy in return for their passage to NY. They were also expected to act as a buffer between the French and Natives on the northern frontier and the English colonies to the south and east.

After the defeat of Napoleon (1814-15), the Congress of Vienna gave the east-bank lands of the Rhine valley to Bavaria. These lands, together with some surrounding territories, again took the name of Palatinate in 1838.

- The Build-up to the Palatine Migration -

The Palatinate was a name applied to two little countries of the old German Empire, the Upper Palatinate and the lower or Rhenish Palatinate, which were politically connected until 1620. The Palatinate was originally a feudal district whose ruler, the Count Palatine, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, exercised all prerogatives of a king. These Counts Palatine were so paternal in their government that their people - rather than subjects - took pride in calling themselves 'the Palatines".

The lower Palatinate (Unterpfalz), the division with which we are chiefly concerned was made up of territory on both sides of the Rhine, embraced roughly within the space marked off by the cities of Mainz, Norms, Heilbronn, Landau, and Zweibrucken. It included the Electoral Palatinate with Heidelberg, and for a time Mannheim, as its capital; and also the Principality of Simmern, the Duchy of Zweibrucken (Deux Pont). The first Count Palatine ruled from 945 until 996, and although the office was not hereditary it appears to have been held mainly by his descendants until the death of Count Herman III in 1155. In ll55 the German king, Frederick I, appointed his stepbrother Conrad as Count Palatine. In 1214, on the death of the reigning count, the Palatinate was given by the German King Frederick II to Otto, the infant son of Louis I, Duke of Bavaria. The Palatinate was ruled by Louis of Bavaria on behalf of his son until 1228, when it passed to Otto, who ruled until his death in 1353.

When the possessions of the house of Wittelbach were founded, a dispute arose over the exercise of the electoral vote, and the question was not settled until 1356 when the Golden Bull bestowed the privilege upon the Count Palatine of the Rhine who exercised it until 1623. The Palatinate was divided into four parts among the sons of the German King Rupert in 1410, but in 1559, on the extinction of the senior line, Frederick, Count Palatine of Simmern, succeeded to the Palatinate becoming the elector Frederick III.

This Frederick III was the elector who introduced Calvinism in the Palatinate and made it the established religion. Under his direction, the Heidelberg catechism was drawn up in l563. He also aided the French Huguenots and extended his protection to Protestant refugees of every sect, especially to the Protestants of France. He was often called by his admirers the Alfred the Great of the Palatinate. Under his kindly rule the Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Anabaptists flourished, notwithstanding the fact that severe Calvinism was the theology of the established or reformed church.

During the Wars of Louis XIV, the Palatinate, one of the richest and most fertile lands in Germany, was mercilessly devastated by the French armies in 1674 and 1689. In 1685 the Simmern lines died out and was succeeded by the collateral line of Neuberg whose members were of the Catholic faith. This led to the emigration in 1704-10, of a large number of Protestant inhabitants (estimated at 13,000) to England. These went at special invitation of Queen Anne, who was seeking desirable subjects to train in British ways and later send to her colonies in America. In England these people from the Palatinate were pitiable objects of English charity and at the same time creators of serious discontent among the British poor; for bread was scarce and commanding double price, while these foreigners were supported by public collections and by the Queen. It is not surprising that they are so often spoken of as 'the poor Palatines'. But these are the words with which Lord Macaulay describes them:

"Honest, laborious men, who had once been thriving Burghers of Mannheim and Heidelberg, or who had cultivated the vine on the banks of the Neckar and the Rhine. Their ingenuity and their diligence could not fail to enrich any land which should afford them asylum".

In England these people lived in tents from the early summer of 1709 until they sailed in mild weather in January 1710. From there a large body crossed over to Ireland, while others went to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1710 between 3000 and 4000 Palatines settled in Columbia and Ulster Counties, New York, whence many removed to Montgomery and Herkimer Counties to the region around Worcester, Massachusetts, and to Pennsylvania. For more than a century these good people continued to come to the United States, and a colony of Palatines settled in New Jersey as late as the 1850's, finding there some who had come a hundred years earlier.

Baron Christopher von Graffenreidt and Ludwig Michel who had been attracted to North Carolina by their previous association with the now deceased Duke of Albermarle, found these 'Poor Palatines' in England intermingled with Swiss and people from several of the German provinces. He and Michel were looking for a profitable speculation, and ready to grapple with this problem for a consideration. It was understood that the Queen would not only assume the expense of their transportation, but also bestow upon them considerable assistance. This really took place and this last sum amounted to 14,000 pounds sterling.

Other advantages and promises gilded the enterprise. Between von Graffenreidt and the Lords Proprietors was drawn up an elaborate contract which still exists. His pay was five and a half pounds apiece for their comfort on arrival and for their support for a year in their new homes. Young people, healthy and laborious and of all kinds of occupations were selected, and ample provision was made for their comfortable voyage in well-equipped ships. Von Graffenreidt appointed three directors, notables from North Carolina then in London.

In the group then were French Protestants from Guyenne and from Gascony, a few French Swiss, German Swiss, and Germans from beyond the Palatinate. One of these young Germans was a son of August Hermann Franck, Professor of Oriental languages (changed to a professor-ship of theology in 1698) at Halle, a pupil of Spender and the teacher of Zinzendorff. Professor Francke was a pietist preacher, whose activity however, took the practical direction of founding, endowing and organizing schools for the religious training of the poor neglected children of his city and its surrounding country.

Nor did Francke overlook their more material needs of a practical sort. He set up a printing office for his boys and opened an apothecary. He had them instructed in the natural sciences and in their native language. He gave them systematic physical exercises, and had them instructed in manual trades. All his foundations exist at the present time (- speech given in 1929 -), and several thousand pupils annually receive instructions in the buildings grouped around the Francke Platz in Halle. A bronze statue of the founder adorns the center of the square.

The pietist preacher had been in correspondence with Cotton Mather about the chance of his son Johann - already a man - might have to make a man of himself in New England; and Johann was now in London ready to sail for Boston, but fate decreed otherwise. Hans saw among the poor Palatines a beautiful girl named Sevil Muller and New Bern, rather than Boston, became the destination of John Martin Francke and Sevil Muller was his destiny. Sevil was the daughter of Jacob and Katherine Muller who came with their children to New Bern from the Palatinate in 1710.

Francke had with him his surveying instruments, and he brought along many small wares that he thought might be useful to colonists. He went up one bank of Trent River and down the other, starting out with his surveyor's compass on his shoulder and his peddler's pack on his back. He returned to New Bern in less than two years., with a fine estate called Little Germany not far from the head of the river, with land on both sides of the Trent, and with his pockets full of ready money. He was immediately elected a member of the General Assembly of 1712; and returned to New Bern as a Justice of the Peace. His sons took wives from the best that the colony afforded; and. his wife's brothers, the Mullers - Jacob, John and Phillip, have also had an honorable part in building up North Carolina and other states.

This article was originally published in the Kinston, NC Daily Free Press on Oct. 11, 1929 and is based on an address by a Dr. Collier Cobb of the University of NC to an annual meeting of the Society of Descendants of the Palatines.