Historical Association of the Palatinate

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Bookplate of the Historical Society of the Palatinate (1893)

The Historical Association of the Palatinate is a history association with a focus on the Palatinate region in Rhineland-Palatinate .

history

Preliminary activity

The historical section of the Palatinate Academy of Sciences can be seen as the regional forerunner of the association . This scientific association was founded by Elector Karl Theodor on October 15, 1763 in Mannheim , whereby the maintenance of the Palatinate history was one of the express founding concerns. For the first time, people came together here with the planned goal of researching and making known the history of the Palatinate. The later Cardinal Johann Casimir von Häffelin (1737–1827) was particularly active in this regard within the Academy . The elector appointed him a. a. to the Palatinate Kabinettsantiquarius and the Münzkabinettsdirektor , in which office he was to “systematically collect, maintain and catalog all antiquities and other monuments that might be found by the subjects or otherwise” . He also gave lectures on the subject and published a large number of writings. In addition, between 1766 and 1794, the Academy officially published its research reports in the Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae , of which a volume appeared about every three years.

Due to the elector's move to Munich (1778), as well as the later break-up of the Electoral Palatinate and its division into Baden (on the right bank of the Rhine) and France (on the left bank of the Rhine), historical activity largely came to a standstill. In the Palatinate on the left bank of the Rhine - apart from individual initiatives such as Bishop Joseph Colmar's rescue of the Speyer Cathedral from demolition - it did not start again until 1816, with the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria .

Club history

Joseph von Stichaner, founder and first chairman of the association

In 1819 Freiherr vom Stein founded the “Society for Older German History” in Frankfurt am Main , Germany's first historical association. According to his model, regional offshoots with the same goal were often formed. They were not only open to researchers, but also to all those interested in history and were intended to create a broad awareness of the matter. From 1817 to 1832, Joseph von Stichaner , who was very committed to history , held office in Speyer as regional president of the Rhine district . He worked with like-minded friends in this regard and also published many historical specialist articles. On his own initiative, he built the Speyer Antikenhalle in 1825 for the exhibition of archaeological finds from his district.

On May 29, 1827, King Ludwig I founded the historical associations of Bavaria. Joseph von Stichaner happily took up this initiative and in the same year founded his own section in the Rhine district. The district president himself was the chairman and main activist, supported by around 40 interested parties. The association was called the "Historischer Verein des Rheinkreis" . After Stichaner was transferred in 1832 and the political events at the time , the association fell asleep.

In August 1834 five members got together to revive him. These were cathedral capitular Johann Jakob von Geissel (later Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne ), Johann Friedrich Butenschoen (school councilor), Christian Ludwig Schülein (school principal), Peter Gayer (district archivist) and Friedrich Stephan Umpfenbach (government secretary). They elected District President Carl Albert Leopold von Stengel (1784–1865) as their chairman . For a short time the association became very active; u. a. In 1835 he published the booklet "The Battle of Hasenbühl and the King's Cross at Göllheim" , which covered the cost of saving the King's Cross in Göllheim and building the chapel there. Peter Gayer, a talented graphic artist, also recorded many historical buildings in drawings, which - after being demolished or remodeled in the meantime - are often the only source of their appearance today. After his death in 1836, the association's activities came to a standstill again and was only resumed in December 1838 on the initiative of the District President, Prince Karl Theodor von Wrede (1797–1871).

Baron Sigmund von Pfeufer, the re-founder of 1869

The driving force was now the Lyzealdirektor Georg von Jäger (1778–1863), who drew up regular statutes that came into force on October 19, 1841; The number of members was 541. The historian Johann Kaspar Zeuss (1806-1856) also sat on the board of the association and wrote for him the works “Traditiones possessionesque Wizenburgenses” (1842) and “The free imperial city of Speier before its destruction according to documented sources locally portrayed ” (1843). 1837 was the Rhine district in Pfalz been renamed, which is why you now as "the Historical Society of the Palatinate" called. This name has been retained to this day. In the wake of the Palatinate uprising of 1849 and the subsequent social turmoil, the association's activities were again interrupted.

It was not until 1869 that District President Sigmund von Pfeufer (1824–1894) suggested the revival and on April 3, 1869, the “Historical Association of the Palatinate” was re-established. Pfeufer became chairman, Ludwig Schandein (district archivist) and the canon Franz Xaver Remling supported him as board members.

The association has existed without interruption ever since. It is based in Speyer and currently has around 3,000 members and 14 district, district and local groups. The chairman of the association is the former Lord Mayor of Speyer Werner Schineller . The association's collections are housed in the Palatinate Historical Museum, which was completed in 1910 and is co-operator.

literature

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