Frederick V of the Palatinate
Frederick V 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 the brevity of his reign in Bohemia earned him the derisive sobriquet "the Winter King".
Portrait by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, c. 1630
Portrait of Frederick by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, 1613.
Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1662), 1613.
Heidelberg Castle and the Hortus Palatinus commissioned by Frederick, and designed by English architect Inigo Jones (1573–1652) and French engineer Salomon de Caus (1576–1626), painting by Jacques Fouquier.
The Electoral Palatinate or the Palatinate, officially the Electorate of the Palatinate, 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 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 from "time immemorial", and were noted as such in a papal letter of 1261; they were confirmed as electors by the Golden Bull of 1356.
Frederick I, King of Bohemia (1619–1620)
Heidelberg Castle, destroyed by the French in 1689 and never rebuilt
Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (1799–1806)