The County Palatine of the Rhine (German: Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein), later the Electoral Palatinate (German: Kurpfalz), is a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire, a palatinate administered by a count palatine.
Its rulers serve as prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire from "time immemorial", are noted as such in a papal letter of 1261, and are confirmed as electors by the Golden Bull of 1356.The Electoral Palatinate is a much larger territory than what later becomes known as the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz), on the left bank of the Rhine, and is now the modern region of the Palatinate in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate and parts of the French region of Alsace (bailiwick of Seltz from 1418 to 1766).
The Electoral Palatinate also includes territory lying on the east bank of the Rhine, containing the cities of Heidelberg and Mannheim.
