County Palatine of the Rhine Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein
State of the Holy Roman Empire
← 20px 1085–1803 →   →
Flag Coat of arms
Map of the different Oberämter of the Electoral Palatinate in 1789
Capital	Heidelberg; Düsseldorf, from 1690 Mannheim, from 1720
Language(s)	German
Religion	Catholicism; Calvinism (from 1559); Catholicism again (from 1685)
Government	Principality
Pfalzgraf (Count palatine)
- 1085–95	Heinrich II of Laach (first Pfalzgraf)
- 1156–95	Conrad of Hohenstaufen
- 1353–90	Rupert I the Red (first Elector)
- 1799–1803	Maximilian Joseph, Duke of Zweibrücken (last Pfalzgraf; died 1825)
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Demotion of County     Palatine of Lotharingia	1085
- Confirmed as Electorate	1356
- Peace of Westphalia	1648
- Subsumption by Bavaria	1777
- Annexation by Baden	1803
- Abolition of the Holy Roman Empire	July 12, 1806

The County Palatine of the Rhine (German: Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein), later the Electoral Palatinate (German: Kurpfalz), was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire, a palatinate administered by a count palatine. Its rulers served as prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire from "time immemorial", were noted as such in a papal letter of 1261, and were confirmed as electors by the Golden Bull of 1356.

The Electoral Palatinate was a much larger territory than what later became 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 included territory lying on the east bank of the Rhine, containing the cities of Heidelberg and Mannheim.

History[link]

County Palatine of Lotharingia[link]

The Palatinate emerged from the County Palatine of Lotharingia, which came into existence in the 10th century. During the 11th century, the Palatinate was dominated by the Ezzonian dynasty, who governed several counties on both banks of the Rhine. These territories were centered around Cologne-Bonn, but extended south to the Mosel and Nahe Rivers. The southernmost point was near Alzey.^[1]

Early history[link]

From about 1085/86, after the death of the last Ezzonian palatine count, Herman II, Count Palatine of Lotharingia, the Palatinate lost its military importance in Lotharingia. The territorial authority of the count palatine was reduced to his counties along the Rhine, from then-on called County Palatine of the Rhine.

The first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine was Conrad of Hohenstaufen who was the younger brother of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The territories attached to this hereditary office started from those held by the Hohenstaufens in Franconia and Rhineland (other branches of the Hohenstaufens received Swabian lands, Franche-Comté, and so forth). Much of this was from their imperial ancestors, the Franconian emperors, and a part from Conrad's maternal ancestry, the Saarbrücken. These backgrounds explain the composition of Upper and Rhenish Palatinate in the inheritance centuries onwards.

In 1195, the Palatinate passed to the House of Welf through the marriage of Agnes, heir to the Staufen count. In the early 13th century, with the marriage of the Welf heiress Agnes, the territory fell to the Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria, who were also dukes and counts palatine of Bavaria.

During a later division of territory among the heirs of Duke Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria, in 1294, the elder branch of the Wittelsbachs came into possession of both the Rhenish Palatinate and the territories in the Bavarian "Nordgau" (Bavaria north of the Danube river) with the centre around the town of Amberg. As this region was politically connected to the Rhenish Palatinate, the name Upper Palatinate (German: Oberpfalz) became common from the early 16th century in contrast to the Lower Palatinate along the Rhine.

With the Treaty of Pavia in 1329, the emperor Louis IV, a son of Louis II, returned the Palatinate to his nephews Rudolf and Rupert.

Electorate[link]

In the Golden Bull of 1356, the Palatinate was recognized as one of the secular electorates, and given the hereditary offices of archsteward (German: Erztruchseß, Latin: Archidapifer) of the Empire and imperial vicar (Reichsverweser) of Franconia, Swabia, the Rhine, and southern Germany. From that time forth, the Count Palatine of the Rhine was usually known as the Elector Palatine (German: Kurfürst von der Pfalz, Latin: Palatinus elector).

Due to the practice of dividing territories among different branches of the family, by the early 16th century junior lines of the Palatine Wittelsbachs came to rule in Simmern, Kaiserslautern, and Zweibrücken in the Lower Palatinate, and in Neuburg and Sulzbach in the Upper Palatinate. The Elector Palatine, now based in Heidelberg, adopted Lutheranism in the 1530s and Calvinism in the 1550s.

When the senior branch of the family died out in 1559, the Electorate passed to Frederick III of Simmern, a staunch Calvinist, and the Palatinate became one of the major centers of Calvinism in Europe, supporting Calvinist rebellions in both the Netherlands and France.

Thirty Years' War[link]

In 1619, Frederick V accepted the throne of Bohemia from the Bohemian estates. He was soon defeated by the forces of Emperor Ferdinand II at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, and Spanish and Bavarian troops soon occupied the Palatinate itself. Called "the Winter King", because his reign in Bohemia only lasted one winter. In 1623, Frederick was put under the ban of the Empire. Frederick V's territories and his position as Elector were transferred to the Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian I, of a distantly related branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Although technically Elector Palatine, he was known as the Elector of Bavaria. From 1648 he ruled in Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate alone, but retained all his Electoral dignities and the seniority of the Palatinate Electorate.

By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Frederick V's son, Charles Louis was restored to the Lower Palatinate, and given a new electoral title, also called "Elector Palatine", but lower in precedence than the other electorates.

Later history[link]

In 1685, the Simmern line died out, and the Palatinate was inherited by Philip William, Count Palatine of Neuburg (also Duke of Jülich and Berg), a Catholic. During the reign of Johann Wilhelm (1690-1716) the Electoral residence was moved to Düsseldorf, before being moved back to Heidelberg in 1718 and then to Mannheim in 1720.

In 1742, the Palatinate was inherited by Duke Charles Theodore of Sulzbach. Charles Theodore also inherited the Electorate of Bavaria when its ruling line became extinct in 1777. The title and authority of Elector Palatine were subsumed into the Electorate of Bavaria, Charles Theodore and his heirs retaining only the single vote and precedence of the Bavarian elector. They continued to use the title "Count Palatine of the Rhine" (German: Pfalzgraf bei Rhein, Latin: Comes Palatinus Rheni).

Charles Theodore's heir, Maximilian Joseph, Duke of Zweibrücken (on the French border), brought all the Wittelsbach territories under a single rule in 1799. The Palatinate was dissolved in the Wars of the French Revolution. First, its left bank territories were occupied, and then annexed, by France starting in 1795; then, in 1803, its right bank territories were taken by the Margrave of Baden. The Rhenish Palatinate, as a distinct territory, disappeared. In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire was abolished, and all the rights and responsibilities of the electors with it.

After the Empire[link]

In 1806, Baden was raised to a grand duchy and parts of the former Palatinate including Mannheim became part of the new grand duchy. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814 and 1815, the left-bank Palatinate — enlarged by other territories such as the former Bishopric of Speyer and the free imperial city of Speyer — was returned to the Wittelsbachs and became a formal part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816 in exchange for Tirol, which Bavaria ceded to Austria. After this time, it was this region that was principally known as the Palatinate. The area remained a part of Bavaria until after the Second World War, when it was separated and became a part of the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate, along with former left bank territories of Prussia and Hesse-Darmstadt.

Coat of arms[link]

The full coat of arms of 1703^[2]

In 1156 Conrad of Hohenstaufen, brother of emperor Frederick Barbarossa became count palatinate. The old coat of arms of the House of Hohenstaufen, the single lion, became coat of arms of the palatinate. By marriage, the Palatinate's arms also became quartered with those of Welf and later Wittelsbach.^[3] The arms of Bavaria were also used with reference to the elector's holdings in Bavaria. This was extended to quartering of the lion and the Bavarian Arms upon the ascension of Maximilian I to the position of elector of the Palatinate in 1623, used concurrently with the arms shown. The orb represented their position as Arch-Steward of the Holy Roman Empire.

See also[link]

• List of Counts Palatine of the Rhine

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Palatinate

• (German) Heidelberg and the Palatine; elaborate information on history and architecture, illustrated with many pictures.
• (German) Virtual Library of the History of the Electoral Palatinate
• Charles D. Gunnoe, (2004) "Palatinate" in Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World

v t e Members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire following the Golden Bull of 1356     Spiritual Archbishop of Mainz Archbishop of Trier Archbishop of Cologne Secular King of Bohemia Palatine Saxony Brandenburg Added in the 17th century 1623 Bavaria 1692 Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Added from 1803 to 06 Prince of Regensburg Salzburg (1803–05) Würzburg (1805–06) Württemberg Baden Hesse

v t e Swabian League (1488–1534) of the  Holy Roman Empire Imperial Cities Aalen Augsburg Biberach Bopfingen Dinkelsbühl Donauwörth Esslingen Giengen Heilbronn Isny Kaufbeuren Kempten Leutkirch Lindau Memmingen Nördlingen Pfullendorf Ravensburg Reutlingen Schwäbisch Gmünd Schwäbisch Hall Überlingen Ulm Wangen Weil Wimpfen Nobility St George's Shield (Gesellschaft von Sanktjörgenschild) Territories Brandenburg-Ansbach Baden Bavaria Bayreuth Palatinate Hesse Mainz Trier Württemberg

v t e Electoral Rhenish Circle (1512–1806) of the Holy Roman Empire Electorates Cologne · Mainz · Palatinate · Trier Other territories Arenberg · Beilstein · Koblenz · Nieder-Isenburg · Rheineck · Thurn and Taxis

Coordinates: 49°30′00″N 8°01′00″E / 49.5°N 8.01667°E / 49.5; 8.01667

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Location of Palatinate in Rhineland-Palatinate

The Palatinate (German: Pfalz from Latin: Palātium, palace; Pfälzer dialect: Palz), historically also Rhenish Palatinate (German: Rheinpfalz), is a region in south-western Germany. It occupies more than a quarter of the German federal state (Bundesland) of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz).

Geography[link]

The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. The highest point is the Donnersberg (687 m) near Kirchheimbolanden. The Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald), popular with hikers, covers more than a third of the region and is the largest contiguous forest in Germany.

The eastern part is lower and is a well-known wine region. The German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstrasse) passes through the Palatinate wine region.

Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the Rhine Rift plain in the east of the region, near the Rhine River, which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate.

Traditionally, the Palatinate is divided into the regions of Anterior Palatinate (Vorderpfalz), West Palatinate (Westpfalz), North Palatinate (Nordpfalz), and South Palatinate (Südpfalz).

The following administrative districts and independent cities are part of the Palatinate:

Administrative divisions of the Palatinate (German)

Districts:

• Bad Dürkheim (DÜW)
• Donnersbergkreis (KIB)
• Germersheim (GER)
• Kaiserslautern (district) (KL)
• Kusel (KUS)
• Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis (RP)
• Südliche Weinstraße (SÜW)
• Südwestpfalz (PS)

Independent cities:

• Frankenthal(FT)
• Kaiserslautern (KL)
• Landau (LD)
• Ludwigshafen (LU)
• Neustadt an der Weinstraße (NW)
• Pirmasens (PS)
• Speyer (SP)
• Zweibrücken (ZW)

History[link]

The former Celtic region was conquered by the Roman Empire under Emperor Augustus about 12 B.C., whereafter it was part of the Germania Superior province. During the decay of the Empire, Alamanni tribes settled here, their territory was conquered by Francia under King Clovis I about 496. From 511 onwards the area belonged to the eastern part of Frankish Austrasia, that - as Rhenish Franconia - became part of East Francia according to the 843 Treaty of Verdun.

Palatinate Lion

From the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century, the Palatinate was divided into several big and small states. The most important of these was the Electorate of the Palatinate (Kurpfalz), a number of territories formerly held by the Counts palatine (Pfalzgrafen) of Lotharingia. In the late 12th century the Counts palatine had achieved the status of a Prince-elector (Kurfürst), i.e. one of the seven nobles with the privilege of electing the King of the Romans, confirmed by the Golden Bull of 1356. In 1214 the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach was enfeoffed with these estates, which they ruled until 1918, together with the collateral branch of Palatinate-Zweibrücken from 1410, until the re-unification with Bavaria under Elector Maximilian I Joseph in 1799. The major ecclesiastical territory in the region was the Bishopric of Speyer. The Imperial city of Landau to preserve its status joined the Alsacien Décapole in 1521. Nevertheless it was seized by France after the Thirty Years' War.

During the French Revolutionary Wars the region was occupied by the forces of the French First Republic in 1794 and after the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio incorporated into the département of Mont-Tonnerre. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a significant stretch of land on the left bank of the Rhine, which included greater parts of the former Electorate of the Palatinate became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816 according to the Final Act of the Vienna Congress. Although the territory was geographically separate from Bavaria, it was ruled together with proper Bavaria as a single state for the next 130 years.

Since 1808 the administrative regions in Bavaria had been named after their main rivers. Thus the region after its incorporation into Bavaria was officially called the "Rheinkreis". In 1835 the romantic-minded King Ludwig I of Bavaria ordered the administrative regions to be named by historical allusions. So the region officially became the "Palatinate" (Pfalz). It should be noted here, that the historic Electorate of the Palatinate was centered on the right bank of the Rhine with Heidelberg and Mannheim as its capitals, while the new "Palatinate," that was established in 1815/16 was solely on the left bank of the Rhine, and included territories that had never been part of the historic Palatinate (e.g., the former Bishopric of Speyer or Kirchheimbolanden, which had formerly belonged to the Weilburg branch of Nassau). In order not to confuse the new Palatinate with the historic one (and with the Upper Palatinate), the name Rhenish Palatinate was common, but never official. The term Rhenish Bavaria (Rheinbayern) can also be found sometimes in older maps.

The French had introduced their system of administration and the Code Napoleon in the Palatinate. The Bavarian government preserved both after 1816, which gave the Palatinate a distinct legal status within the Bavarian kingdom. The royal family tried to symbolize the unity with Bavaria by erecting a royal palace in Edenkoben and by the restoration of Speyer Cathedral under direct supervision of King Ludwig I himself. The town Ludwigshafen was named after the king. On the other hand the Palatinate's representatives to the common Bavarian Parliament always prided themselves of their origin from a more progressive region and tried to expand the liberalism, which the French had introduced in the Palatinate, to the whole kingdom. The German Historian Heiner Haan described the special status of the Palatinate within Bavaria as a relation of "Hauptstaat" (main state, i.e. Bavaria) and "Nebenstaat" (alongside state, i.e. the Palatinate).

During the revolution of 1848 a separatist movement tried to establish a "Palatinate Republic," which collapsed under a bloody Prussian military intervention. The union persisted after Bavaria became part of the German Empire in 1871, and even after the Wittelsbach dynasty was deposed and Bavaria became a free state of the Weimar Republic in 1918. However after World War I French troops occupied the Palatinate under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The western districts of Sankt Ingbert and Homburg (Saarpfalz) were separated from the Bavarian Palatinate and became part of the newly established Saarland, which according to peace treaty was governed by the League of Nations. In a clear breach of the treaty the French in 1923 encouraged a separatist movement for a Rhenish Republic in the remainder of the Rhenish Palatinate and the Prussian Rhineland. The Bavarian government reacted sharply and even had the leading separatist Franz Josef Heinz assassinated by a squad under the command of Edgar Julius Jung at the Wittelsbacher Hof in Speyer in January 1924. In February 1924 members of the separatist movement were killed in a shooting in Pirmasens. Also in February 1924 a treaty between Bavaria and the inter-allied commission of the Rhineland (the supreme council of the Allied occupation forces) recognised and reassured the Palatinate being a part of Bavaria.

The union with Bavaria was finally dissolved following the reorganisation of German states after World War II during the Allied occupation of Germany. Whereas proper Bavaria was part of the US occupation Zone, the Palatinate was occupied by French Forces. The French reorganised their occupation Zone by founding new states and in 1947, the Palatinate was combined with Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen), the former parts of the People's State of Hesse left of the Rhine, and the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province to form the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Fläschknepp with horseradish sauce

Läwwerknepp with sauerkraut and garnishes

Emigration[link]

The Pennsylvania Dutch spoken by the Amish in the United States is (among other dialects) derived from the German dialect spoken in the Palatinate, which many Palatine refugees brought to the colony in the early decades of the 18th century. The only existing Pennsylvania German newspaper, Hiwwe wie Driwwe is being published bi-annually in the village Ober-Olm, which is located close to Mainz, the state capital. In the same village, one can find the headquarter of the German-Pennsylvanian Association.

Cuisine[link]

This section requires expansion.

Arguably the most famous dish in Palatinate is the saumagen, literally "sow's stomach", a dish that consists of a thick, crispy-fried casing stuffed with a mixture of pork, potatoes, and seasonings. Other meat dishes of the region include bratwurst, Palatinate liverwurst, a blood pudding sausage called grieweworscht ("griewe" are speck (bacon) cubes, so lit. "sausage with speck cubes"), läwwerknepp or läwwerknedel (liver dumplings), and flääschknepp (meat dumplings). Sauerkraut is the typical side dish in all seasons, but especially in winter, as are mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Also eaten are dampfnudels, which can be served with either sweet sauces or side dishes (such as wine, vanilla sauce or canned fruit such as plums, prunes, or pears) or with savory side dishes (such as potato soup, vegetable soup, goulash, or pepper pork).

See also[link]

• Palatinate (disambiguation)
• Palatinate Forest
• Palatinate German
• Palatinate (wine region)
• German Wine Route
• Hiwwe wie Driwwe

External links[link]

• Rhenish Palatinate – Catholic Encyclopedia article

Coordinates: 49°26′N 7°46′E / 49.433°N 7.767°E / 49.433; 7.767

Rick Steves
Rick Steves at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald, Switzerland
Born	(1955-05-10) May 10, 1955 (age 57) Edmonds, Washington, U.S.
Occupation	Writer; television & radio host
Known for	Travel guides
Religion	Lutheran

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (December 2010)

Richard "Rick" Steves (born May 10, 1955, Edmonds, Washington) is an American author and television personality focusing on European travel. He is the host of the American Public Television series Rick Steves' Europe, has a public radio travel show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored various location-specific travel guides.

Career[link]

Steves started his career by teaching travel classes at his alma mater, University of Washington, and working as a tour guide in the summer. At the time, he also worked as a piano teacher (his father had owned a piano store). In 1979, based on his travel classes, he wrote the first edition of Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), a general guide on how to travel in Europe. Steves self-published the first edition of his travel skills book ETBD in 1980. Unlike most guidebook entrepreneurs, he opened a storefront business, which at first was both travel center and piano teaching studio. He held travel classes and slide shows, did travel consulting, organized a few group tours per year, and updated his books. He did not provide ticket booking or other standard travel agency services. He incorporated his business as "Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door." The store was in Steves' hometown of Edmonds, Washington (a city north of Seattle). The company's headquarters are still in Edmonds.^[1]

During the 1980s, his business grew slowly but steadily. He brought out more guidebooks, published by the alternative publisher John Muir Press, under the label "2 to 22 Days in ..." His group tours competed more on sincerity, small group size, and service than on price. He sold railpasses and travel gear in his store and eventually by mail order, ran a trip consulting service, and held slideshows and lectures. Gene Openshaw, a childhood friend of Steves', wrote most of the history and art material in his books. Dave Hoerlein, an architect by training, drew maps for the guidebooks and became a popular tour guide.^{[citation needed]}

In 1991, the company had approximately five employees. That year, Steves began producing TV shows about European destinations. These shows were produced with his own funding and given to public television stations for free. The TV shows made him a nationwide figure, and his tour, guidebook, and merchandise businesses boomed. An important factor in the company's success was the information exchange possible between the various parts of the business. The tour business benefited from the yearly guidebook updating and his trip consulting businesses, and vice versa. The company is privately held by Steves.^{[citation needed]}

Current activities[link]

Steves advocates independent travel. His books and media deal with travel mainly in Europe, and are directed at an American audience. As host, writer, and producer of the popular and long running Oregon Public Broadcasting television series Rick Steves' Europe, and through his travel books, he encourages Americans to become what he calls "temporary locals." He encourages his readers and viewers to discover not only major cities, but also cozy villages away from popular tourist routes. Steves' television series, guidebooks, radio shows, mobile applications, and his company's European escorted bus tours attract fans known as "Rickniks".^[2]

Steves' relationship with public television began with his first series, Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, in 1991. Since then, he has become one of public television's top pledge drive hosts, raising millions of dollars annually for stations across the U.S.^{[citation needed]} He writes and co-produces his television programs through his own production company, Back Door Productions.

Tourists of Italy encounter Rick Steves on a backstreet, using his book as a guide.

Since self-publishing his first book in 1980, Steves has written country guidebooks, city and regional guides, phrase books, and co-authored Europe 101: History and Art for Travelers. His guidebook to Italy is the bestselling international guidebook in the U.S. In 1999, he started writing in a new genre of travel writing with his anecdotal Postcards from Europe, recounting his favorite moments from his many years of travel. Steves' books are published by Avalon Travel Publishing, a member of the Perseus Books Group. In 2009, Steves published the book Travel as a Political Act, a guide to political advocacy based on his travels.

In addition to his guidebooks and television shows, Steves has expanded into radio, newspaper and mobile applications. In 2005, Steves launched a weekly public radio program, Travel with Rick Steves. Focusing on world travel, each program has a guest travel expert for interviews, followed by call-ins with questions and comments. In 2006, Steves became a syndicated newspaper columnist with his Tribune Media Services column. In 2010, he launched the mobile application Rick Steves' Audio Europe, a library of audio content (including self-guided walking tours) organized into geographic-specific playlists for the iPhone and Android.

Political advocacy[link]

Steves supports the decriminalization of marijuana among responsible adult users in the USA.^[3] According to Steves:

Like most of Europe, I believe marijuana is a soft drug (like alcohol and tobacco), not a hard drug. Like alcohol and tobacco, there is no reason why it shouldn't be taxed and regulated. Crime should only enter the equation if it is abused to the point where innocent people are harmed.

Steves is currently on the Advisory Board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He is a co-sponsor of New Approach Washington, an initiative to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana in Washington State.^[4] Steves hosted an ACLU-sponsored educational program broadcast, Marijuana: It's Time for a Conversation.

Steves also supports issues of homelessness. He purchased a 24-unit apartment complex in Lynnwood, WA to house homeless mothers and their children. It is administrated by the local YWCA.^[5] He raises funds for the hunger advocacy group Bread for the World.^[6]

Steves also supports the arts. In 2011 he gave US$1 million to Edmonds Center for the Arts and Cascade Symphony Orchestra.^[7]

Steves is an Honorary Council member of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington.^[8]

Views on Terrorism[link]

In a column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Steves wrote about the September 11 attacks:^[9]

And the United States was outraged. So much so that—three long years later—many Americans still refuse to even dignify the attack by asking, 'Why did they do it?'

A few years later in an interview with the Seattle Times, Steves said:

I think we're 300 million people and if we lose a few hundred people a year to terrorists, that doesn't change who we are and it shouldn't change the fabric of our society. Frankly I think we should get used to losing—as long as we're taking the stance in the world of being the military superpower, you're going to have people nipping at you. And if it's hundreds or thousands—we lose 15,000 people a year to have the right to bear arms and most people think that's a good deal, year after year. We spend 15,000 people for the right to bear arms. What do we spend to be as aggressive and heavy weight on this planet? We're always going to have terrorism."^[10]

In a book Steves writes: "We cannot rest on the notion of the 'innocent civilian.' Morally, when it comes to a free and powerful nation like ours, I believe there are no innocent civilians. If I pay taxes, I am a combatant." ^[11]

Family and personal life[link]

Steves is divorced and the father of two grown children, Andy and Jackie.

In 2005 Steves purchased a 24-unit apartment complex in Lynnwood, Washington and had it fixed up to serve as transitional housing for homeless mothers and their children. Steves is allowing free use of the complex for 15 years—leaving management responsibilities to the local YWCA Pathways for Women, while Rotarians in the Edmonds Noontime Rotary Club help maintain the buildings, do grounds upkeep, and provide everything from the furniture to the flowers. In addition, the club raised $30,000 in donations to build a play structure for the children of Trinity Place.

Steves is an active Lutheran, and has written and hosted educational videos on subjects such as Martin Luther and the European Reformation of the Church. He writes "I've got no problem with hedonism ... after all, I'm a Lutheran."^[12] Steves supports Liberation Theology^[13].

Steves spends about a third of every year in Europe, researching guidebooks, filming TV shows, and making new discoveries for travelers. He lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington, where his office window overlooks his old junior high school.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Rick Steves at the Internet Movie Database
• Transitions Abroad interview with Clay Hubbs
• Rolf Potts interview
• Transitions Abroad columns written by Steves
• Interview: Rick Steves on Guided Tours
• Interview: Rick Steves on Baby Boomer Travel Trends
• Steves on KUOW radio program Speakers Forum
• The Rick Steves Guide to terrorism in the world
• Can we fight terrorism constructively?

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