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1775
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According to
Rauter (1970), pp.265-266 this Society was
founded in 1775, and was one of the last of the 18th century societies in
the "Deutsche Gesellschaft" tradition.
He attributes its late founding to the late arrival of the German
Enlightenment in the Palatinate of Prince-Elector Karl Theodor.
[Note: The name of the Prince-Elector is seen in various forms in the
literature, including Kurfürst Carl Theodor and
Kurfürst Karl Theodor.]
The publications of the Society from 1787 to 1794 give the name of the
Society as
Kurfürstliche Deutsche Gesellschaft in Mannheim.
But it is likely that it had this name from its founding in 1775, since
Rauter (1970), p.268 indicates that the charter
of the Society was signed by Carl Theodor on 13 October 1775, and
Carl Theodor was clearly the Society's patron from the beginning.
Rauter (1970), p.271 cites a publication in
the first volume of the Society's Schriften, in which the
Society is referred to as the
Kurpfälzische Deutsche Gesellschaft.
It is not clear whether this was an official name of the Society.
Rauter (1970), p.275 indicates that the Society
ceased sometime in the first decade of the nineteenth century.
Perhaps it ceased sometime around 1809, the date of the last volume
(Bd.11) of its Schriften.
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