Interest in Liselotte has only increased again in recent years, as is illustrated by works on the literary potential of her letters and on the history of her body. Studies have repeatedly proven the richness of her letters far beyond the topic of the anecdotal and the eternal emphasis on her “German nature”. During these years, the formulated desideratum of research (e.g critical and complete edition of their correspondence) could not be implemented. The portraits of Elisabeth-Charlotte briefly heightened the interest in her, supported by the major “Liselotte” exhibition in Heidelberg in 1996-97. Only Arlette Lebigre and Dirk van der Cruysse, in 19, attempted to overcome these clichés. This image was deepened in numerous plays and popular biographies in both countries.
Her “original German nature” was contrasted with the “desert environment of a shameless and disorderly frivolity”, the “moral lack of discipline of the French court”. In Germany in particular, Liselotte became the key witness to the Franco-German “hereditary enmity” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On both sides of the Rhine, Elisabeth-Charlotte has been used as a reliable “supplier of anecdotes”. Even in today’s Germany and France, she is not only known to historical and literary specialists of courtly culture in the early modern period, but also to a broader public beyond academia and special research. The daughter of a Palatinate elector and sister-in-law of Louis XIV owes her recognition to her passion for writing letters, since the majority of her estimated 6,000 surviving letters were published in the mid-19th century (albeit in often fragmented versions). Organisers: History Seminar, Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg, in cooperation with the German Historical Institute Paris, the Center de Recherce du Château de Versailles and the State Palaces and Gardens, Baden-WürttembergĨ December 2022 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of Elisabeth-Charlotte von der Pfalz (1652-1722), commonly known as “Liselotte” or – in France – as “Madame Palatine”. Where: Ottheinrichsbau building at Heidelberg Palace / The Palace of Versailles Research Centre
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