Talk:Count palatine
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[edit] duties
(quote)During the 11th century, some imperial Palatine counts became a valuable political counterweight against the mighty duchies. Surviving old palatine counties were turned into new institutional pillars through which the imperial authority could be exercised. By the reigns of Henry the Fowler and especially of Otto the Great, comites palatini were sent into all parts of the country to support the royal authority by checking the independent tendencies of the great tribal dukes. We hear of a count palatine in Saxony, and of others in Lorraine, in Bavaria and in Swabia, their duties being to administer the royal estates in these duchies.(end of quote)
It is all more or less correct but an emphasis should be laid on the first 2 sentences: A Count Palatine represented the King/Emperor on a regional level; in case his overlord was not within his area he acted in the name of the king/emperor. He did not simply "administer the royal estates", although that was an important job at that time of a "travelling kingship") he had control over all royal/imperial rights and powers ("reserved matters"): taxation, mining and minting, jurisdiction at the highest level of appelation. Important rights of the Counts Palatine were later transferred on the Electorals with the regulations of the "Goldene Bulle", 1356. (Sorry for my English) 91.64.0.69 02:15, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
