Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

was begun with the intention that the palace
should be habitable the following year. But
the building was not completed until 1706/07,
“even in view of the fact that it could never be
a perpetual residence”. 7
In 1711, Master Builder Adam Breunig,
who had been working on the rebuilding,
submitted two proposals for extensions to the
palace, and the court of honour in particular.
The idea was to eliminate the asymmetries
of the central block’s garden front. 8 The
conversion made rapid progress despite the
meagre funds. The court of honour wings
were completed in 1713. The same year the
electoral couple immortalized themselves
by means of two elaborate coats of arms
(Palatinate and Medici) at the main entrance.
During their stays in the Palatinate, Johann
Wilhelm and Anna Maria Luisa used the
Schwetzingen palace as a hunting lodge.
The kill of a number of hunts organized
between 1710 and 1716 is displayed in the
palace, in the shape of 13 depictions of
stags with cartouches. His hunting passion
gained Johann Wilhelm the nickname ‚Der
Jäger aus Kurpfalz’ (The Palatine Hunter) in
contemporary literature, a title that has since
become part of German folklore.
Elector Johann Wilhelm died on 8th June 1716
in Düsseldorf. His tomb is in the Church of
St. Andreas. His widow returned to her native
Florence in 1717. 9
(Susan Richter)
Carl Philipp (1661-1742),
Elector Palatine (1716-1742)
Carl Philipp was born on 4th November 1661,
the fourth son of Duke Philipp Wilhelm von
Pfalz-Neuburg. 10 He was the seventh of the
Count Palatine’s 17 children.
As a younger son, Carl Philipp was originally
destined for the church. In 1675, he was
7 Martin 1933, p. 26, n. 10.
8 Martin, pp. 26 ff., n. 10.
9 Leo Peters, Der kurfürstliche Hof und der Hofadel, in: Wieland
Koenig (ed.), Anna Maria Luisa Medici, Kurfürstin von der
Pfalz, exhibition at the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf,
1988, pp. 49-55, here pp. 51 f.
10 Re. biographical data cp. Hans Schmidt, Kurfürst Karl Philipp
von der Pfalz als Reichsfürst, Mannheim 1963.
VII. Appendices
named a canon at Cologne; in 1677, he was
a canon at Salzburg and a member of the
Knights of Malta, and in 1679, he became
a canon of Mainz. Personally, however, he
inclined towards a military career, and in
1684, he entered the imperial service. He
took part in many campaigns, including
several during the Ottoman Wars. In 1697,
he was among the candidates for the Polish
crown but lost out to the Elector of Saxony,
Augustus II “the Strong”.
In 1705, he was made Governor of the Tyrol
by the Emperor, and took up his residence in
Innsbruck until 1717.
When his brother, Elector Palatine Johann
Wilhelm, had died without issue on 8th
June 1716, Carl Philipp succeeded him as
Elector, at the age of 55. The major event of
his early years as Elector was the moving
of the Palatine residence from Heidelberg
to Mannheim in 1720. The decision had
been prompted by bitter quarrels between
the Elector and the Protestant churches
of Heidelberg. 11 But it was also in keeping
with a general tendency of the times. The
moving of residences away from old capitals,
frequently with the intention of building
11 Schmidt 1963, pp. 114 ff., n. 1.
VII.
Carl Philipp (1661-1742),
Elector Palatine (1716-1742)
213