The Bipont editions were famous editions of the classic authors, printed at Zweibrucken in the Rhenish Palatinate. The collection forms fifty volumes begun in 1779 and finished at Strasburg. Research Bipont Editions
The Heidelberg Catechism was a religious catechism first published at Heidelberg in 1563, drawn out by Zechariah Ursinus for the use of the Reformed Church, and published in the Palatinate. It was received beyond this limit, was approved by the Synod of Dort, and was the model on which the Westminster Assembly framed the Shorter Catechism. Research Heidelberg Catechism
Palatinates were in Europe districts the ruler of which received from the king almost royal rights of ruling in his province. Maryland was by its charter erected into a palatinate after the model of the palatinate of Durham in England, and so continued as long as it was under proprietary government. The proprietors of Carolina were at first given their province as a palatinate. Research Palatinate
In England, a Count Palatine was formerly the superior of a county, who exercised regal prerogatives within his county, in virtue of which he had his own courts of law, appointed judges and law officers, and could pardon murders, treasons, and felonies. All writs and judicial processes proceeded in his name, while the king's writs were of no avail within the palatinate. The Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster were the Counts Palatine of England, the corresponding counties being called counties palatine. Research Count Palatine
Elector was the title of certain princes of the old German Empire who had the right of electing the emperors. In the reign of Conrad I, king of Germany from 912 to 918, the dukes and counts became gradually independent of the sovereign and assumed the right of choosing future monarchs. In the 13th century the number of these electors was seven - the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves, the King of Bohemia, the CountPalatine, the Duke of Saxony, and the Markgrave of Brandenburg. In 1648 an eighth electorate was created to make room for Bavaria, and Hanover was added as a ninth in 1692. The votes of the Palatinate and of Bavaria were merged in one in 1777. In 1802 the two ecclesiastical electors of Cologne and Treves were set aside, and Baden, Wurtemberg, Hesse - Cassel, and Salzburg declared electorates so that there were ten electors in 1806 when the old German empre was dissolved. Research Elector
Elizabeth Stuart was Queen of Bohemia. She was born in 1596 at Falkland Palace, Fifeshire and died in 1662. She was the daughter of James I of England (James VI of Scotland). Her marriage with the PalatineFrederick was celebrated at Whitehall in 1613. Her husband, then at the head of the Protestant interest in Germany, accepted in 1619 the crown of Bohemia offered to him by the revolted Protestants of that country; but after his defeat by the imperialists at the battle of Prague in 1620 he and his wife were obliged to flee, first to Breslau and Berlin, and then to the Hague. She returned to England at the Restoration with her nephew Charles II, and died at Leicester House, London, on the 13th of February 1662. Elizabeth had thirteen children, of whom Charles Louis, the eldest surviving, was reinstated in the palatinate by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. By her daughters, ElizabethCharlotte and Sophia, she was the ancestress of Louis Philippe and of George I, and her sons, Rupert and Maurice, became famous Cavalier leaders. Research Elizabeth Stuart
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was an English courtier. He was born in 1592 and died in 1628 being stabbed to death by John Felton. He was the son of George Villiers, a knight. At eighteen he was sent to France, where he resided three years, and on his return made so great an impression on James I that in two years he was made a knight, a gentleman of the bed-chamber, baron, viscount. Marquis of Buckingham, lord high-admiral, etc, and at last dispenser of all the honours and offices of the three kingdoms.
In 1623, when the Earl of Bristol was negotiating a marriage for Prince Charles with the Infanta of Spain, the Marquis of Buckingham went with the prince incognito to Madrid to carry on the suit in person in the hope of securing the Palatinate as dowry. The result, however, was the breaking off of the marriage, and the declaration of war with Spain. During his absence the Marquis of Buckingham was created duke.
After the death of James I in 1625 he was sent to France as proxy for Charles I to marry the PrincessHenrietta Maria. In 1626, after the failure of the Cadiz expedition, he was impeached, but saved by the favour of the king. Despite the difficulty in obtaining supplies the Duke of Buckingham took upon himself the conduct of a war with France, but his expedition in aid of the Rochellese proved an entire failure. In the meantime the spirit of revolt was becoming more formidable; the Petition of Right was carried despite the duke's exertions; and he was again protected from impeachment only by the king's prorogation of parliament. He then went to Portsmouth to lead another expedition to Rochelle, but was stabbed on August the 24th, 1628, by John Felton, an ex-lieutenant who had been disappointed of promotion.
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham was an English soldier. He was born in 1627 at Westminster, London and died in 1688. The son of George Villiers he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and served in the royal army under Rupert and then went abroad. In 1648 he returned to England, was with Charles II in Scotland and at the battle of Worcester, and afterwards served as a volunteer in the French army in Flanders.
He then returned to England, and in 1657 married the daughter of LordFairfax. At the Restoration he became master of the horse and one of the king's confidential cabal from 1667 until 1673. In 1666 he engaged in a conspiracy, and in 1676 was committed to the Tower for a contempt by order of the House of Lords; but on each occasion he recovered the king's favour. On the death of Charles II he retired to his seat in Yorkshire. Among his literary compositions the comedy of the Rehearsal (1671) takes the first place.
George William Frederick Villiers, Earl of Clarendon was an English diplomat. He was the eldest son of the Honourable George Villiers and was through his mother indirectly related to the Hydes, the family of the great Earl of Clarendon. He was educated at Cambridge, entered the civil service at an early age, and in 1820 was attached to the embassy at St Petersburg. In 1823 he was appointed to a commissionership of the excise in Dublin. In 1831 he was sent to France to negotiate a commercial treaty, and in 1833, as minister plenipotentiary at Madrid, was instrumental in negotiating the Quadruple Alliance, signed in 1834.
Having succeeded to his uncle's title in 1838 he returned home in the following year, and in January 1840 was appointed lord privy-seal, and in October chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. He supported the repeal of the corn-laws and the reduction of duties, and in 1846 was appointed president of the board of trade in Lord J. Russell's ministry, and in the following year Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He resigned with his party in 1852, when the Earl of Derby took office, but soon after the formation of the Aberdeen ministry he was appointed to the foreign secretaryship, which he held until January 1855. After a few weeks' interval he returned to the post under LordPalmerston, and retained it until 1858, being one of the signatories of the Treaty of Paris.
In 1861 he was sent as ambassador-extraordinary to the coronation of the King of Prussia, and in 1864 was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. In the following administration, under Russell, he resumed the direction of the foreign office. He was sent in 1868 on a special mission to the pope and the King of Italy, and again occupied the post of foreign secretary in the Gladstone ministry until his death, in June, 1870. Research George Villiers
Ludwig Bamberger was a German economist and publicist. He was born in 1823 at Mainz and died in 1899. His studies in French law were interrupted by the revolution of 1848 and he became a republican and newspaper editor. He took part in the republican rising in the Palatinate in 1849 and had to flee to Switzerland. In 1852 he was sentenced to death, and living in exile in France worked for a bank until he returned to Germany in 1866 As a politician he obtained the standardisation of the German coinage, the adoption of the gold standard and the establishment of the Reichsbank. Research Ludwig Bamberger
Baron Paul Heinrich Dietrich von Holbach was a German philosopher. He was born in 1723 at Heidelsheim, in the Palatinate and died in 1789. He was educated in Paris, where he passed the greater part of his life and became the patron and associate of the encyc1opaedists, and contributed many papers on natural history, politics, and philosophy to the Encyclopedia. The principal work attributed to him, which appeared under the name of Mirabaud, is the Systeme de la Nature. He afterwards published Systeme Social, or Principes Naturels de la Morale et de la Politique: Bons Sens, or Idees Natnrelles opposees aux Idees Surnaturelles - a sort of atheist's catechism; Elements de la Morale Universelle; etc, etc. According to Holbach matter is the only form of existence, and everything is the effect of a blind necessity. Research Paul Holbach
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Bipont Editions
