98-632: Winter King may refer to: A derisive sobriquet applied to Frederick V of the Palatinate The Winter King (character) , a character in the TV series Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake "The Winter King" (episode) , a 2023 episode of the TV series Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake The Winter King (novel) , novel of The Warlord Chronicles trilogy by Bernard Cornwell The Winter King (TV series) , British Arthurian fiction television series, based on
196-569: A mystic , and a Calvinist , he succeeded his father as Prince-Elector of the Rhenish Palatinate in 1610, and at the age of 17 was married to the Protestant princess Elizabeth Stuart . In 1618 the largely Protestant Czech nobility of Bohemia rebelled against their Catholic king, Ferdinand II , beginning a conflict that would become the Thirty Years' War . Frederick was asked to assume
294-663: A Catholic prince, this would upset the confessional balance of Europe, and they were thus resolved that she should marry Frederick V. Hans Meinhard von Schönberg , who had served as Frederick V's Hofmeister since his return to Heidelberg, was sent to London to court the princess in spring 1612. After intense negotiations, a marriage contract was signed on 26 May 1612, over the objection of her mother, Queen Anne . Frederick travelled to London to collect his bride, landing on English soil on 16 October 1612. Frederick and Elizabeth, who had previously corresponded in French, now met each other for
392-636: A courtyard garden, the Hortus Palatinus , designed by English gardener Inigo Jones and French engineer Salomon de Caus . Frederick was depicted therein as Apollo and as Hercules . Politically, Frederick positioned himself as a leader of the Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire, and as a defender of the liberty of the German nobles against the Catholic Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor . Since
490-735: A crushing defeat that morning in the Battle of White Mountain . Electoral Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate ( German : Kurpfalz ) or the Palatinate ( Pfalz ), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate ( Kurfürstentum Pfalz ), was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire . The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of Lotharingia in 915; it
588-519: A meeting of the Protestant Union , during which he was struck by fever and nearly died. Subsequently contemporaries described him as changed, melancholy and possibly depressed. As such, Frederick transferred much responsibility to his chancellor , Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg . Frederick undertook a large building campaign, designed to glorify his regime. In addition to the renovations to Heidelberg Castle mentioned above, he commissioned
686-583: A meeting of the Imperial party at Mulhouse , Frederick despatched a legal defense of his actions. He argued that he had not broken the imperial peace because Bohemia was located outside of the Holy Roman Empire and there was not, therefore, a conflict between an imperial prince and the emperor. Frederick argued that it would therefore be illegal for Ferdinand to use imperial power against him. This meeting, which included John George of Saxony and Maximilian of Bavaria, rejected Frederick's argument, finding that Bohemia
784-399: A portion of the nobility and the clergy. Neither Frederick nor his wife spoke Czech , so court offices were staffed primarily with foreigners, while the administration of the localities was left to the local nobles. This made an alliance of the royal family with the corporate bodies of the realm difficult. Further alienation was caused by Frederick V's court preacher, Abraham Scultetus , who
882-528: A treaty with Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria , leader of the Catholic League . This treaty provided that Maximilian would be commander of the forces against Frederick, promised that Maximilian would retain all of the occupied Bohemian lands for himself, and that he would be granted Frederick's electoral title as well. The Emperor was also able to obtain the support of Elector John George I of Saxony; John George's court preacher, Matthias Hoe von Hoenegg , encouraged
980-619: A union of the two areas could be commercially advantageous. On 12 September 1619, the Protestant Union met at Rothenburg ob der Tauber and called on Frederick not to intervene in Bohemian affairs. Other possible allies – the Dutch Republic , Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy , and the Republic of Venice – sent letters saying they would not be able to offer Frederick assistance if he accepted
1078-570: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Frederick V of the Palatinate Frederick V ( German : Friedrich V. ; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both roles, and
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#17328527853411176-513: Is marked by the rule of Elector Palatine Frederick V , whose coronation as king of Bohemia in 1619 sparked the Thirty Years' War . After the 1648 Peace of Westphalia , the ravaged lands were further afflicted by the Reunion campaigns launched by King Louis XIV of France, culminating in the Nine Years' War (1688–97). Ruled in personal union with the Electorate of Bavaria from 1777, the Palatinate
1274-600: The British throne , and is the founder of the Hanoverian line of kings. Frederick was born on 26 August 1596 was born at the hunting lodge ( German : Jagdschloss ) in Deinschwang, Palatinate (present-day Lauterhofen , Germany ). His father, Frederick IV , was the ruler of Electoral Palatinate ; his mother was Louise Juliana of Nassau , the daughter of William I of Orange and Charlotte de Bourbon-Monpensier . Frederick
1372-614: The Ezzonid dynasty governed several counties on both banks of the river. The southernmost point was near Alzey . From about 1085/86, after the death of the last Ezzonian count palatine Herman II , Palatinate authority ceased to have any military significance in Lotharingia. In practice, the Count Palatinate's Palatine authority had collapsed, reducing his successor ( Henry of Laach ) to a mere feudal magnate over his own territories – along
1470-650: The Golden Bull of 1356 . The territory stretched from the left bank of the Upper Rhine , from the Hunsrück mountain range in what is today the Palatinate region in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the adjacent parts of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine (bailiwick of Seltz from 1418 to 1766) to the opposite territory on the east bank of the Rhine in present-day Hesse and Baden-Württemberg up to
1568-637: The House of Salm (Count Otto I of Salm in 1040) and the House of Babenberg ( Henry Jasomirgott in 1140/41). The first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine was Conrad , a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and younger half-brother of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . The territories attached to this hereditary office in 1156 started from those held by the Hohenstaufens in the Donnersberg , Nahegau , Haardt , Bergstraße and Kraichgau regions (other branches of
1666-573: The Long War against the Ottoman Empire from 1593 to 1606. Dissatisfied with the outcome, Rudolf sought to launch a new war against the Ottomans. To gain Bohemian support, Rudolf agreed to guarantee Bohemia's religious liberty , issuing his so-called Letter of Majesty in 1609. Still, the Bohemian nobles remained suspicious of Rudolf and in contact with the Protestant Union . The Bohemian Estates elected
1764-594: The Odenwald range and the southern Kraichgau region, containing the capital cities of Heidelberg and Mannheim . The counts palatine of the Rhine held the office of imperial vicars in the territories under Frankish law (in Franconia , Swabia and the Rhineland ) and ranked among the most significant secular Princes of the Holy Roman Empire . In 1541 elector Otto Henry converted to Lutheranism . Their climax and decline
1862-664: The Peace of Augsburg , the Empire had been delicately balanced between Catholic, Lutheran , and Calvinist principalities (although Calvinism was not recognised in the Peace of Augsburg). The conflicts between princes of these three faiths developed into a deep struggle over the Empire's constitution. Furthermore, the Twelve Years' Truce , a hiatus in the Eighty Years' War , was set to expire in 1621, and
1960-675: The Protestant Union signed the Treaty of Ulm (1620), thereby withdrawing their support for Frederick and declaring neutrality in the conflict between Frederick and the Catholic League. With the signing of the Treaty of Ulm Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases , began raising Imperial troops in the Spanish Netherlands and in the Alsace region. In early August 1620, 25,000 troops, under
2058-529: The Siege of Pilsen , which saw Pilsen fall to rebel forces on 21 November 1618, leaving the entire kingdom in Protestant hands. Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor died on 20 March 1619. Although his successor, the future Emperor Ferdinand II , had previously been crowned King of Bohemia, the Estates of Bohemia now refused to recognise him as their king. Fearing an invasion by Imperial forces, the Estates sought an alliance with
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#17328527853412156-669: The University of Heidelberg , the oldest University in Germany . In 1400, the Elector Palatine, Rupert III , was elected as King of the Romans , but he was never crowned as Holy Roman Emperor because he was defeated in Italy while attempting to travel to Rome for a coronation. Due to the practice of dividing territories among different branches of the family, by the early 16th century junior lines of
2254-624: The Upper Palatinate centred on Amberg . The Lower Palatinate's economy was dominated by agriculture, while the Upper Palatinate was a mining region with one of the most successful economies in Europe. The Kingdom of Bohemia was an elective monarchy , and despite being a kingdom, was a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Since 1526, the kings of Bohemia had all been members of the House of Habsburg ; since 1555, these kings had also been emperors. In
2352-564: The Utraquist administrator of the diocese, Jiřík Dicastus, and a Protestant elder, Jan Cyril Špalek z Třebíče. The liturgy was modelled on that used at the coronation of Charles IV , with only a few parts altered. The litany was sung – per the Catholic tradition – rather than spoken as was normally done by the Calvinists. Frederick was anointed with little objection. At the end of the coronation,
2450-462: The Virgin Mary was destroyed. There was even a rumour that the grave of St. Wenceslaus was to be desecrated. Scultetus' iconoclasm was deeply unpopular, and Frederick attempted to distance himself from it, claiming that his orders were not being carried out by his followers. The nickname "The Winter King" appeared shortly after the beginning of Frederick's reign and our first printed reference using
2548-550: The orb represented their position as Arch- Steward of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, Baden was raised to a grand duchy and parts of the former Palatinate including Mannheim became part of it. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814 and 1815, southern parts of the left-bank Palatinate were restored and enlarged by mediatisation (consuming the former Prince-Bishopric of Speyer , the Free Imperial City of Speyer , and others) up to
2646-415: The 1617 vote of the Estates of Bohemia, making Ferdinand King of Bohemia, was binding. Frederick's decision to accept the Bohemian crown has been the subject of much historical speculation. Later Catholic propaganda, in a view accepted by Friedrich Schiller , portrayed the decision as based mainly on Elizabeth Stuart's desire to be a queen. More recently, historians have concluded that Frederick's decision
2744-500: The Bohemian forces, Frederick used his private funds, pawned his jewels and, in May 1620, drove the Palatinate into insolvency when he decided to move two tons of gold to Bohemia. Bad news continued to arrive for Frederick. James VI of Scotland and I of England refused to support his son-in-law militarily. The Netherlands sent only a small force and promised only 50,000 florins a month for Frederick. Worst of all for Frederick, on 3 July 1620,
2842-576: The Bohemian offer. Only Gabriel Bethlen offered words of encouragement. Between 24 September and 28, Frederick reached his decision "not to resist the will of the Almighty" and thus decided to accept the Bohemian crown. The Dutch Republic, the Republic of Venice, Denmark , and Sweden recognised Frederick as King of Bohemia. On 29 September 1619, Frederick left Heidelberg for Prague. He travelled through Ansbach , Amberg, Neumarkt, and Waldsassen , where he
2940-562: The Bohemian throne. This formally severed all ties between Bohemia and the Habsburgs and made war inevitable. Ferdinand of Bavaria , Archbishop of Cologne predicted this decision would lead to twenty, forty, or sixty years of war. The preferred candidate of Bohemians as their new king was the Elector of Saxony, but he let it be known he would not accept the throne. This left Frederick as the most senior Protestant prince available, since no one else
3038-495: The Cornwell novels 'Winter King', a cultivar of Crataegus viridis (green hawthorn) See also [ edit ] [REDACTED] Search for "The Winter King" on Misplaced Pages. All pages with titles containing Winter King All pages with titles beginning with Winter King All pages with titles beginning with The Winter King " Winter's King " is a science fiction short story. Topics referred to by
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3136-679: The Emperor to smash Frederick and the Bohemians. Frederick's chancellor, Christian of Anhalt, urged Frederick to call a meeting of Protestant princes at Nuremberg in December 1619. This conference was a fiasco, as few princes bothered to send representatives. John George of Saxony declined to send a representative. Those who did attend half-heartedly promised to secure Frederick's Rhineland territories during Frederick's absence in Bohemia. In March 1620, during
3234-440: The Estates paid homage to Frederick. Although a large part of the country was already devastated by war, and many refugees were encamped in the town, the coronation was celebrated with lavish parties. Frederick assumed a weak crown and a state torn with internal divisions. The state's finances had been disrupted for years, and, at any rate, Bohemian kings had only very limited ability to raise funds, being primarily dependent on
3332-812: The Garter and he wore the Order's chain during the wedding ceremony. Elaborate celebrations, organised by Francis Bacon , followed the ceremony; these included a performance of The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn by Francis Beaumont and The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn by George Chapman . On their return trip to Heidelberg, Frederick and Elizabeth travelled to The Hague to visit Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange before leaving for Germany on 5 May 1613. The couple entered Heidelberg on 12 June 1613, amidst widespread celebration. Elizabeth
3430-517: The Habsburg Matthias as Rudolf's heir, and Matthias became king of Bohemia in 1611 and emperor in 1612. Yet in the latter year there was discussion within the Protestant Union about fielding a Protestant candidate to supplant Matthias as king of Bohemia, and Frederick's name was discussed in this regard. Strategists in the Palatinate believed that if Frederick became king, this would lead John George I, Elector of Saxony , to break his alliance with
3528-520: The Habsburgs and come fully to the Protestant cause. This assumption proved unfounded. Meanwhile, the sectarian conflicts in Bohemia continued. In 1617, Matthias prevailed on the Bohemian Estates to elect the Habsburg Ferdinand, Duke of Styria , as heir to the throne of Bohemia. Ferdinand was an intensely loyal Catholic, and many Protestant noblemen believed that Ferdinand intended to withdraw
3626-571: The Hohenstaufens received lands in the Duchy of Swabia , Franche-Comté , and so forth). Much of this was from their imperial ancestors, the Salian emperors, and apart from Conrad's maternal ancestry, the Counts of Saarbrücken . These backgrounds explain the composition of Upper and Rhenish Palatinate in the inheritance centuries onwards. About 1182, Conrad moved his residence from Stahleck Castle near Bacharach up
3724-549: The Letter of Majesty – a very disputed legal interpretation which the Habsburg government rejected. On 23 May 1618, an assembly of Protestant noblemen, led by Count Jindřich Matyáš Thurn , stormed Prague Castle , and seized two Imperial governors, Vilem Slavata of Chlum and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice . The rebels charged them with violating the Letter of Majesty, found them guilty, and threw them and their scribe Philip Fabricius out of
3822-608: The Palatinate married Philippe of Orléans , younger brother of Louis XIV ; on this basis, Louis claimed the Rhineland territories of the Palatinate for France. However, he was outmaneuvered by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , whose third wife was Eleonore-Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg , eldest daughter of Philip William , a Catholic who was the closest male heir in the direct line. Leopold installed his father-in-law as Elector Palatine, ensuring that his electoral vote and this strategic region remained in Imperial control. When France invaded
3920-472: The Palatinate in 1623. He lived the rest of his life in exile with his wife and family, mostly at The Hague , and died in Mainz in 1632. His eldest surviving son Charles Louis was restored to the electorate in 1648 under the Peace of Westphalia . Another son was Prince Rupert of the Rhine , one of the most colourful figures of his time. His daughter Princess Sophia was eventually named heiress presumptive to
4018-464: The Palatinate in September 1688 to enforce its claim, these wider connections meant the conflict rapidly escalated, leading to the outbreak of the Nine Years' War . The French were forced to withdraw in 1689 but before doing so, destroyed much of Heidelberg, another 20 substantial towns and numerous villages. This destruction was systematically applied across a large section of the Rhineland but especially
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4116-551: The Palatinate restored to her son Charles Louis and the Protestant cause. When the Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648, he regained the Lower Palatinate and the title 'Elector Palatine' but now ranked lower in precedence than the others. He was succeeded by Charles II, Elector Palatine , in 1680, but the Simmern branch became extinct in the male line after he died in 1685. In 1670, Charles II's sister Elizabeth Charlotte of
4214-405: The Palatinate territories until 1918. During a later division of territory among the heirs of Duke Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria , in 1294, the elder branch of the Wittelsbachs came into possession of both the Rhenish Palatinate and the territories in the Bavarian Nordgau (Bavaria north of the Danube river) with the centre around the town of Amberg . As this region was politically connected to
4312-402: The Palatinate, which was raided again in 1693; the devastation shocked much of Europe. France later renounced its claim to the region in the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick . Johann Wilhelm succeeded as elector in 1690, changing his residence first to Düsseldorf , then back to Heidelberg and finally Mannheim in 1720. Like his father, he was a Catholic, which under the 1555 Peace of Augsburg meant
4410-417: The Palatinate. By marriage, the Palatinate's arms also became quartered with those of Welf and later Wittelsbach. The arms of Bavaria were used with reference to the elector's holdings in Bavaria. This was extended to quartering of the lion and the Bavarian Arms upon the ascension of Maximilian I to the position of elector of the Palatinate in 1623, used concurrently with the arms shown. From 1356 onwards,
4508-415: The Palatine Wittelsbachs came to rule in Simmern , Kaiserslautern , and Zweibrücken in the Lower Palatinate, and in Neuburg and Sulzbach in the Upper Palatinate. The Elector Palatine, now based in Heidelberg, adopted Lutheranism in the 1530s; when the senior branch of the family died out in 1559, the electorate passed to Frederick III of Simmern, a staunch Calvinist , and the Palatinate became one of
4606-459: The Protestant Union failed to support him militarily by signing the Treaty of Ulm . His brief reign as king of Bohemia ended with his defeat at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620 – a year and four days after his coronation. After the battle, the Imperial forces invaded Frederick's Palatine lands, forcing him to flee to his uncle Prince Maurice , Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic in 1622. An Imperial edict formally deprived him of
4704-491: The Protestant majority in the Palatinate was theoretically obliged to convert to Catholicism. The 1705 'Palatine Church Division' compromised by allocating five-sevenths of public church property to the Reformed or Calvinist church and the remainder to Catholicism, while excluding the Lutheran Church, whose membership exceeded 40% of the population in some areas. In 1716, Charles Philip succeeded his brother as elector and in January 1742, helped his cousin Charles Albert become
4802-401: The Rhenish Palatinate, the name Upper Palatinate ( German : Oberpfalz ) became common from the early 16th century in contrast to the Lower Palatinate along the Rhine. With the Treaty of Pavia in 1329, the Wittelsbach Emperor Louis IV , a son of Louis II, returned the Palatinate to his nephews Rudolf and Rupert I . In the Golden Bull of 1356 , the Palatinate was recognized as one of
4900-468: The Rhine ) in a pre-arranged exchange for Tyrol , which Bavaria returned to Austria. Most of the area remained a part of Bavaria until after the Second World War (after 1918 the Free State of Bavaria ), with some western parts becoming part of the Territory of the Saar Basin after World War I. In September 1946 the territory was made part of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate , along with former left bank territories of Prussia (southern part of
4998-535: The Rhine river to Heidelberg . Upon Conrad's death in 1195, the Palatinate passed to the House of Welf through the (secret) marriage of his daughter Agnes with Henry of Brunswick . When Henry's son Henry the Younger died without heirs in 1214, the Hohenstaufen king Frederick II enfeoffed the Wittelsbach Duke Louis I of Bavaria , whose son, Otto II of Bavaria , married Agnes of the Palatinate , daughter of Henry of Brunswick and Agnes of Hohenstaufen , in 1222. The Bavarian House of Wittelsbach eventually held
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#17328527853415096-430: The Rhine'. The Palatine territories on the left bank of the Rhine were annexed by France in 1795, mainly becoming part of the Mont-Tonnerre department. In 1799 Elector Charles Theodore died and the territory was inherited by the Duke of Palatine Zweibrücken , uniting all the Wittelsbach lands. The loss of the left bank territories was accepted by the new Elector Maximilian Joseph in the Treaty of Paris . Those on
5194-403: The Spanish party at the Habsburg court. This was a questionable evasion of the role played by Frederick's own agents. The first mention in Prague of Frederick's name as a possible candidate as king of Bohemia came in November 1618. It is not known if Frederick's agents played a role in talking up his possible candidacy. Palatine diplomat Christoph von Dohna approached James I of England with
5292-413: The Upper Rhine in south-western Franconia. From this time on, his territory became known as the County Palatine of the Rhine (not because Palatine authority existed there, but as an acknowledgement that the Count still held the title, if not the authority, of Count Palatine). Various noble dynasties competed to be enfeoffed with the Palatinate by the Holy Roman Emperor – among them the House of Ascania ,
5390-445: The brevity of his reign in Bohemia earned him the derisive sobriquet " the Winter King " ( Czech : Zimní král ; German: Winterkönig ). Frederick was born at the hunting lodge ( German : Jagdschloss ) in Deinschwang, Palatinate (present-day Lauterhofen , Germany ). He was the son of Frederick IV and of Louise Juliana of Orange-Nassau , the daughter of William the Silent and Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier . An intellectual,
5488-504: The command of Spinola, marched into Bohemia. In the third week of August, they shifted their focus and marched into the nearly unarmed Electoral Palatinate, occupying Mainz . The Electoral Palatinate was defended by only 2,000 English volunteers and the country was easily taken. Imperial troops set up camp in Frankenthal and Mannheim . Spinola crossed the Rhine on 5 September 1620 and proceeded to capture Bad Kreuznach on 10 September and Oppenheim on 14 September. From Bohemia, Frederick
5586-404: The conduct of the war to his generals. Frederick focused his attention on organizing supplies and preparing fortifications. After a series of skirmishes, on 5 November 1620, Frederick drew his forces back towards Prague and Imperial troops followed them. On 7 November, Bohemian forces determined to make a stand at White Mountain , just outside Prague. The day before, King Frederick had ridden down
5684-430: The crown of Bohemia. He accepted the offer and was crowned on 4 November 1619, as Frederick I . The estates chose Frederick because he was the leader of the Protestant Union , a military alliance founded by his father, and hoped for the support of Frederick's father-in-law, James VI of Scotland and I of England . However, James opposed his son-in-law's takeover of Bohemia from the Habsburgs and Frederick's allies in
5782-445: The early seventeenth century, however, Bohemia faced a political crisis. The Estates of the realm of Bohemia became worried that the Habsburgs were planning to transform Bohemia into an absolute monarchy . A large number of Bohemian nobles were Protestant and feared that a Catholic emperor would attempt to impose Catholicism on Bohemia. Thus, a substantial opposition movement developed to the rule of Emperor Rudolf II . Rudolf had waged
5880-404: The first non-Habsburg emperor in over 300 years. He died in December and the Palatinate passed to Charles Theodore , then Duke of Sulzbach , who also inherited the Electorate of Bavaria in 1777. The title and authority of the two electorates were combined, Charles and his heirs retaining only the vote and precedence of the Bavarian elector, although continuing to use the title 'Count Palatine of
5978-410: The first time, and got on well together. They were formally engaged in January 1613 and married on 14 February 1613 at the royal chapel at the Palace of Whitehall . The event was celebrated in John Donne's poetic masterpiece Epithalamion, or Mariage Song on the Lady Elizabeth, and Count Palatine being married on St. Valentines Day . Shortly before the ceremony, Frederick was inducted into the Order of
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#17328527853416076-430: The future Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden , although this never came to pass. In keeping with his father's policy, Frederick V sought a marriage to Elizabeth Stuart , daughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England . James had initially considered marrying Elizabeth to Louis XIII of France , but these plans were rejected by his advisors. Frederick's advisors in the Palatinate were worried that if Elizabeth were married to
6174-460: The goodwill of the nobility and the tax allocations of the diets . The Protestant nobles felt that higher taxes were necessary to pay for war against the German Catholic League , but the country already felt overburdened in the wake of the Long War . Further limiting Frederick's ability to manoeuvre was the need to distribute royal bounty to supporters in order to ensure their loyalty to his regime. In Prague, Frederick soon came to be alienated from
6272-426: The lines and exhorted the soldiers. He then rushed to Prague to implore the Bohemian Estates to raise money for his troops and to receive the envoys of the English king. However, it was too late. When, on 8 November 1620, Frederick wanted to ride back to the troops, he was met at the gates of Prague by fleeing soldiers of his army and his chancellor, Anhalt, who informed him of the disaster: the Bohemian army had received
6370-507: The major centers of Calvinism in Europe, supporting Calvinist rebellions in both the Netherlands and France . Elector Frederick IV became the leader of the Protestant Union in 1608. In 1619, the Protestant Frederick V , Elector Palatine, accepted the throne of Bohemia from the Bohemian Diet . This initiated the 1618–1648 Thirty Years' War , one of the most destructive conflicts in human history; it caused over eight million fatalities from military action, violence, famine, and plague in
6468-493: The most important of the Counts Palatine. Marital alliances meant that, by the Middle Ages, most Count Palatine positions had been inherited by the duke of the associated province, but the importance of the Count Palatine of Lotharingia enabled it to remain as an independent position. In 985, Herman I , a scion of the Ezzonids , is mentioned as count palatine of Lotharingia (which by then had been divided into Upper and Lower Lotharingia ). While his Palatine authority operated over
6566-440: The new border with France, and given (temporarily) to the Habsburg Austrian Empire ; after this time, it was this new region that was principally known as "the Palatinate". The right-bank Palatinate remained with Baden while northern parts became part of Prussia ( Rhine Province ) and Hesse ( Rhenish Hesse ). In 1816, the Palatinate became a formal part of the Wittelsbach Kingdom of Bavaria (the Rheinkreis or Circle of
6664-413: The other members of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown ( Silesia , Lusatia , Moravia ) and on 31 July 1619 at Prague, these states formed the Bohemian Confederacy, dedicated to opposing the Habsburgs; under the terms of this agreement, Protestantism became virtually the state religion of the Bohemian lands. In August 1619, the general parliament of all the Bohemian lands declared that Ferdinand had forfeited
6762-440: The period 1621–1622, the Palatinate was occupied by Spanish and Bavarian troops and Frederick was exiled to the Dutch Republic . His territories and electoral rights were transferred to the distantly related but Catholic Maximilian I of Bavaria , Duke of Bavaria and now Prince Elector Palatine After his death in 1632, Frederick's daughter Princess Elizabeth and wife Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia , worked tirelessly to have
6860-426: The possibility of Frederick becoming king, but James reacted negatively to this idea. The princes of the Protestant Union similarly rejected the idea, fearing it might lead to religious war and the Elector of Saxony was staunchly opposed. Behind the scenes, Frederick authorised sending a force under Count Ernst von Mansfeld to support the Bohemian rebels. In August 1618, forces under Mansfeld entered Bohemia and led
6958-428: The practice of Lutheranism in Bohemia and recognized the secular areas in the Netherlands. Ferdinand also agreed to give John George Lusatia , thus cementing John George's dominance of the Upper Saxon Circle . This was the context when the parliament of the Bohemian Confederacy met on 25 March 1620. Frederick called for massive tax increases and conscription to fight the impending Imperial threat. To raise money for
7056-402: The protections of Rudolf II's Letter of Majesty. These suspicions were further aroused when Imperial officials ordered Protestants to stop erecting Protestant churches on the " Stifts ", lands held by ecclesiastical lords who were not subject to the Bohemian Estates. The Protestants claimed the status of these lands fell under the term "royal land", and thus were subject to Bohemia's authority by
7154-508: The right were taken by the Elector of Baden , after the 1805 Peace of Pressburg dissolved the Holy Roman Empire; the remaining Wittelsbach territories were united by Maximilian Joseph as the Kingdom of Bavaria . In 1156 Conrad of Hohenstaufen , brother of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, became Count Palatine. The old coat of arms of the House of Hohenstaufen , the single lion, became coat of arms of
7252-419: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Winter King . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winter_King&oldid=1255665636 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
7350-496: The secular electorates, and given the hereditary offices of archsteward ( German : Erztruchseß , Latin : Archidapifer ) of the Empire and imperial vicar ( Reichsverweser ) of Franconia, Swabia, the Rhine, and southern Germany. From that time forth, the Count Palatine of the Rhine was usually known as the Elector Palatine ( German : Kurfürst von der Pfalz , Latin : Palatinus elector ). In 1386, Rupert I helped establish
7448-690: The semi-independent authority of the dukes (and their successors). Under the Merovingian dynasty , the position had been a purely appointed one, but by the Middle Ages had evolved into an hereditary one. Up to the tenth century, the Frankish empire was centered at the royal palace ( Pfalz ) in Aachen , in what had become the Carolingian kingdom of Lotharingia . Consequently, the Count Palatine of Lotharingia became
7546-427: The term came in a 1619 Imperial pamphlet that presented the phrase in the context of a royal chronogram . Frederick's propagandists attempted to respond to the phrase by arguing that Frederick was in fact a "Winter Lion" who defended the crown of Bohemia against troublemakers and liars, and that he would also be a "Summer Lion." Meanwhile, Ferdinand II rallied his forces against Frederick. On 21 October 1619, he signed
7644-502: The time. Under the terms of the Golden Bull of 1356 , Frederick's closest male relative would serve as his guardian and as regent of the Palatinate until Frederick reached the age of majority. However, his nearest male relative, Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg , was a Catholic, so, shortly before his death, Frederick IV had named another Wittelsbach, John II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken , as his son's guardian. Frederick V welcomed John to Heidelberg, whereas Wolfgang William
7742-463: The vast majority in the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. In terms of proportional German casualties and destruction, it was surpassed only by the period January to May 1945 and remains the single greatest war trauma in German memory. Frederick was evicted from Bohemia in 1620 following his defeat by the forces of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , at the Battle of the White Mountain . Over
7840-463: The whole of Upper Lorraine , the feudal territories of his family were instead scattered around south-western Franconia, including parts of the Rhineland around Cologne and Bonn , and areas around the rivers Moselle and Nahe . In continual conflicts with the rivalling Archbishops of Cologne , he changed the emphasis of his rule to the southern Eifel region and further to the Upper Rhine, where
7938-599: The windows of the Bohemian Chancellery. This event – known as the Second Defenestration of Prague – marked the beginning of the Bohemian Revolt , and with it, the beginning of the Thirty Years' War . In these circumstances Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg , Frederick V's governor of the Upper Palatinate, moved to intervene in Bohemia. He did not initially propose nominating Frederick as king because
8036-464: The young elector was still seen as politically inexperienced, and was a Calvinist, while there were virtually no Calvinists in Bohemia. At any rate, Frederick was not initially eager to defy the Emperor, who had praised Frederick's loyalty. Frederick did not publicly break with the Emperor, but in a letter to his father-in-law, James I of England , he placed the blame for the Bohemian vote on the Jesuits and
8134-667: Was a frequent visitor to the court of Henry IV of France . His tutor was Calvinist theologian Daniel Tilenus , a professor of theology at the Academy of Sedan . During the Eighty Years' War and the French Wars of Religion , Tilenus called for the unity of Protestant princes, and taught that it was their Christian duty to intervene if their brethren were being harassed. These views are likely to have shaped Frederick's future policies. On 19 September 1610, Frederick's father, Frederick IV, died from "extravagant living"; his son being 14 years old at
8232-409: Was an indivisible part of the Empire. On 1 April 1620, the Imperial party issued an ultimatum calling on Frederick to leave Bohemia by 1 June. If Frederick did not comply by this date, Ferdinand threatened to enforce his right as Holy Roman Emperor and rightful King of Bohemia to overthrow the usurper . A little later, John George of Saxony signed a treaty with Ferdinand in which Ferdinand guaranteed
8330-430: Was based primarily on a sense of duty to his fellow Protestants, although Frederick wavered between his obligations to the emperor and his commitment to his religious brethren. There also seems to have been economic considerations; the Upper Palatinate was at that time Europe's center for iron production, while Bohemia was a focal point for the tin and glass trade. Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg , told Frederick that
8428-513: Was caused by this dispute. Frederick IV's marriage policy had been designed to solidify the Palatinate's position within the Reformed camp in Europe. Two of Frederick V's sisters were married to leading Protestant princes: his sister Luise Juliane to his one-time guardian John II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken , and his sister Elizabeth Charlotte to George William, Elector of Brandenburg . Frederick IV had hoped that his daughter Katharina would marry
8526-510: Was deeply devoted to the Roman Catholic Church. The capital of the Palatinate, Heidelberg , was suffering from an outbreak of bubonic plague at this time, so Frederick spent his first two years in the Upper Palatinate before being brought to Heidelberg in 1598. In 1604, at his mother's urging, he was sent to Sedan to live in the court of his uncle Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon . During his time at Sedan, Frederick
8624-405: Was denied entry. This led to a heated dispute among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1613, Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor intervened in the dispute, with the result being that Frederick V was able to begin his personal rule in the Palatinate even though he was still underage. The dispute ended in 1614, when Frederick attained his eighteenth birthday. However, much bad blood among the houses
8722-449: Was determined to use his new post to advance the cause of Calvinism in Bohemia. The Utraquist churches had retained the use of relics and images in church, but Scultetus now launched an iconoclastic crusade against images: beginning on 21 December 1619, images were removed from St. Vitus Cathedral , and on 27–28 December, the famous Prague Altarpiece of Lucas Cranach the Elder depicting
8820-526: Was elected Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick was the only elector who voted against Ferdinand; even the Protestant prince-electors John George I of Saxony and John Sigismund of Brandenburg adhered to the tradition of supporting the Habsburg Imperial candidate. The electoral college also condemned the Bohemian Confederation's attempt to remove Ferdinand from the throne of Bohemia and declared that
8918-558: Was finally disestablished with the German mediatization and annexation by Baden on 27 April 1803 and the rest eventually to the Kingdom of Bavaria as the Circle of the Rhine . The comital office of Count Palatine at the Frankish court of King Childebert I was already mentioned about 535. The Counts Palatine were the permanent representatives of the king in particular geographic areas, in contrast to
9016-691: Was likely to lead to renewed fighting between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire . With its central location in Germany, the Palatinate was vulnerable to incursions of imperial troops from the Habsburg hereditary lands . Unlike many principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, the Electoral Palatinate was not a solid dominion, but instead consisted of two unconnected provinces surrounded by foreign lands. The Lower Palatinate centred on Heidelberg , while
9114-575: Was met by representatives from the Bohemian Estates. Together, they then travelled through Cheb , Sokolov , Žatec , Louny , and Slaný . Finally on 31 October 1619, Frederick entered Prague, along with 568 people and 100 cars, and was greeted enthusiastically. Frederick donned the Crown of Saint Wenceslas in St. Vitus Cathedral on 4 November 1619. The coronation was conducted not by the Archbishop of Prague but by
9212-416: Was popular with Frederick's subjects, and this popularity grew when, on 1 January 1614, she gave birth to a son, Frederick Henry . As part of the marriage negotiations, Frederick had agreed to expand Heidelberg Castle . These renovations were completed in 1615 and the "Elizabeth Entrance" to Heidelberg Castle was dedicated. One of Frederick's first acts upon taking the reins of government was attendance at
9310-421: Was powerless to stop the occupation of his ancestral homeland. After capturing Linz , Upper Austria , Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria crossed the Bohemian border on 26 September 1620. At Rokycany , Maximilian's forces first met with the 15,000 ragtag, poorly paid and poorly equipped troops that Frederick had managed to raise. Frederick visited his army on 28 September 1620, but, lacking a military background, left
9408-407: Was related to almost all of the ruling families of the Holy Roman Empire and a number of diplomats and dignitaries attended his baptism at Amberg on 6 October 1596. The Palatine Simmerns , the elder branch of the House of Wittelsbach , were noted for their attachment to Calvinism ; this was in marked contrast to the other cadet branch of Wittelsbachs, headed by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, which
9506-486: Was then restructured under the Counts Palatine of the Rhine in 1085. From 1214 until the Electoral Palatinate was merged into the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1805, the House of Wittelsbach provided the Counts Palatine or Electors. These counts palatine of the Rhine would serve as prince-electors ( Kurfürsten ) from "time immemorial", and were noted as such in a papal letter of 1261; they were confirmed as electors by
9604-673: Was willing to risk conflict with the emperor. In August 1619, the chances of Frederick becoming King of Bohemia became greater when Gabriel Bethlen launched an anti-Habsburg revolt in Royal Hungary . This was also precisely the period when Ferdinand was travelling to Frankfurt for his coronation. On 26 August 1619, the states of the Bohemian Confederacy elected Frederick as the new King of Bohemia, Frederick receiving news of his election on 29 August in Amberg. Two days later, Ferdinand II
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