Palatine German Book Review

Subject: Palatine German Book Review 


A brief extraction from a book:  The PALATINATE
 
As explained by Hermann and Gertrud Guth in "Palatine Mennonite 
Census Lists, 1664-1793 (1987)," the ancient "Kurpfalz" 
territory of the German Reich was an autonomous state with the 
Kurfuerst (elector) as the sovereign ruler. This Kurfuerst was 
one of the seven German-ruling princes who elected the German 
Kaiser/Emperor. The Kurpfalz territory included parts of
the present-day Palatinate (Pfalz  in German), a governmental
administrative district west of the Rhine, and parts of the 
state of Baden east of the Rhine. Between these two 
territories, large sections were under the rule of various 
other nobles.
The state of Kurpfalz ended in 1801 under Napoleon. The 
Palatinate then became part of France. In 1815, the territory 
fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria; and after World War II it was 
known as the Bavarian Palatinate.
The first Swiss-German Anabaptists or Mennonites immigrated to 
this area in 1664. Kurfuerst Karl Ludwig signed the "Edict of 
Tolerance" permitting the settlement of the "Menisten" under 
certain conditions. Large areas on both sides of the Rhine 
River had been devastated during the Thirty Years" War 
(1618-1648). The desire by the sovereigns for reconstruction 
had much to do with the invitation extended Swiss-Anabaptists, 
forced from their homeland because of their religious faith, to 
settle there. With certain restrictions.
Karl Ludwig's edict  of Aug. 4, 1664, stated that in villages 
with five or more Mennonite households, no more than 20 persons 
could gather at one time for religious services. They also were 
forbidden to criticize authority, were to refrain from any 
"rebaptizing" and each family was required to pay an annual 
protection fee of six gulden. It was this careful registration 
that led to the lists comprising the book introduced by the
Guths.
Subsequent electors took the opportunity to impose additional 
fees as the mood was upon them, but Elector Karl Theodor on 
April 27, 1744, renewed the original edict but added that 
thenumber of Mennonite families permitted to live in his 
country would be limited to 200. Some moved to nearby villages 
of other sovereignties but many had no choice but to set forth 
on the dangerous voyage to America.
By 1671, family surnames from the Cantons of Aargau and Zurich 
apper  in the former Upper Palatinate (the Kraichgau area 
southeast of Heidelberg). Bernese names were predominant in the 
Lower Palatinate (west of the Rhine River near Worms and 
Alzey). About 1712 the names of Amish-Mennonite families from 
the Canton of Berne appeared primarily in the southern part
 of the Palatinate; these families arrived after they were 
expelled from the city of Ste. Marie-aux Mines (Markirch) in 
Alscace where they had first settled after leaving their Swiss 
homeland.
Throughout the census lists are numerous familiar to these
pages Staufer, Lehmann, Flory, Kindig, Herr. . .
 
Submitted by: a666324@io.msp.sc.ti.com (Kirk Cramer)
October 12, 1995