History of Bavaria
Encyclopedia
The history of Bavaria
stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion in the Holy Roman Empire
s to its status as an independent kingdom and, finally, as a large and significant Bundesland
(state) of the modern Federal Republic of Germany
.
.
The earliest known inhabitants that are mentioned in written sources were a people, probably Celt
s, participating in the widespread La Tène culture
, whom the Romans
subdued just before the opening of the Christian
era, founding colonies among them and including their land in the provinces of Raetia
and Noricum
. The Roman centre of administration for this area was Castra Regina, now and since the Middle Ages known as Regensburg
.1
For the Roman history of the territory, see Vindelicia
and Raetia
.
One theory of the etymological origins of the name "Bavarian" is that Bai(o)arii was derived from Bai(a)haim (Boiohaemum in Latin
), which is thought to be equivalent with the land of the antique tribe of the Boii
and modern Bohemia
(Reindel 1981).
The Bavarian name was first mentioned historically by the Franks
in a list of peoples, prepared c. 520. The first document that also describes their location (east of the Swabians) is in the History of the Goths by the historian Jordanes
dating from 551. Then follows a remark by Venantius Fortunatus
in his description of his travels from Ravenna to Tours (565-571) in which he had crossed the lands of the Bavarians, referring to the dangers of travel in the region: 'If the road is clear and if the Bavarian does not stop you … then travel across the Alps.'
Archaeological evidence dating from the 5th and 6th centuries points to social and cultural influences from several regions and peoples, such as Alamanni
, Lombards
, Thuringians, Goths
, Bohemian
Slavs
and the local Romanised population .2
Recent research (e.g. Wolfram and Pohl 1990) has moved away from searching for specific geographical origins of the Bavarians. It is now thought that the tribal ethnicity was established by the process of ethnogenesis
, whereby an ethnic identity is formed because political and social pressures make a coherent identity necessary.
For a century and a half a succession of dukes resisted the inroads of the Slavs on their eastern frontier, and by the time of Duke Theodo I
, who died in 717, had achieved complete independence from the feeble Frankish kings. When Charles Martel
became the virtual ruler of the Frankish realm he brought the Bavarians into strict dependence, and deposed two dukes successively for contumacy. Pippin the Short likewise maintaining Frankish authority, and several marriages took place between the family to which he belonged and the Agilolfings, who were united in a similar manner with the kings of the Lombards
. The ease with which the Franks suppressed various risings gives colour to the supposition that family quarrels rather than the revolt of an oppressed people motivated the rebellions.
Bavarian law was committed to writing between the years 739 and 748. Supplementary clauses, added afterwards, bear evidence of Frankish influence. Thus, while the dukedom belongs to the Agilolfing family, the duke must be chosen by the people and his election confirmed by the Frankish king, to whom he owes fealty
. The duke
has a fivefold weregild
, summons the nobles and clergy for purposes of deliberation, calls out the host, administers justice and regulates finance. Five noble families exist, possibly representing former divisions of the people. Subordinate to the nobles we find the freeborn, and then the freedmen. The law divides the country into gaits or counties, under their counts, assisted by judges responsible for declaring the law.
. The 8th century witnessed indeed a heathen reaction, but the arrival in Bavaria in about 734 of Saint Boniface
checked apostasy
. Boniface organised the Bavarian church and founded or restored bishopric
s at Salzburg
, Freising
, Regensburg
, and Passau
.
Tassilo III, who became duke of the Bavarians in 749, recognized the supremacy of the Frankish king Pippin the Short in 757, but soon afterwards refused to furnish a contribution to the war in Aquitaine
. Moreover, during the early years of the reign of Charlemagne
, Tassilo gave decisions in ecclesiastical and civil causes in his own name, refused to appear in the assemblies of the Franks, and in general acted as an independent ruler. His control of the Alpine passes, and his position as an ally of the Avars
and as son-in-law of the Lombard king Desiderius
formed so serious a menace to the Frankish kingdom that Charlemagne determined to crush him.
The details of this contest remain obscure. Tassilo appears to have done homage in 781, and again in 787, probably owing to the presence of Frankish armies. But further trouble soon arose, and in 788 the Franks summoned the duke to Ingelheim, and sentenced him to death on a charge of treachery. The King, however, pardoned Tassilo who entered a monastery and formally renounced his duchy at Frankfurt
in 794.
Gerold, a brother-in-law of Charlemagne, ruled Bavaria till his death in a battle with the Avars in 799, when Frankish counts took over the administration and assimilated the land with the rest of the Carolingian
empire. Measures taken by Charlemagne for the intellectual progress and material welfare of his realm improved conditions. The Bavarians offered no resistance to the change which thus abolished their dukedom. Their incorporation with the Frankish dominions, due mainly to the unifying influence of the church, appeared already so complete that Charlemagne did not find it necessary to issue more than two capitularies dealing especially with Bavarian affairs.
The history of Bavaria for the ensuing century intertwines with that of the Carolingian
empire. Given at the partition of 817 to the king of the East Franks, Louis the German
, Bavaria formed part of the larger territories confirmed to him in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun
. Louis made Regensburg the centre of his government and actively developed Bavaria, providing for its security by numerous campaigns against the Slavs. When he divided his possessions in 865, it passed to his eldest son, Carloman, who had already managed its administration, and after his death in 880 it formed part of the extensive territories of Emperor Charles the Fat
. This incompetent ruler left its defence to Arnulf
, an illegitimate son of Carloman. Due mainly to the support of the Bavarians, Arnulf could take the field against Charles in 887 and secure his own election as German king in the following year. In 899 Bavaria passed to Louis the Child
, during whose reign continuous Hungarian
ravages occurred. Resistance to these inroads became gradually feebler, and tradition has it that on 5 July 907 almost the whole of the Bavarian tribe perished in the Battle of Pressburg
against these formidable enemies.
During the reign of Louis the Child, Luitpold
, Count of Scheyern, who possessed large Bavarian domains, ruled the Mark of Carinthia, created on the southeastern frontier for the defence of Bavaria. He died in the great battle of 907, but his son Arnulf, surnamed the Bad, rallied the remnants of the tribe, drove back the Hungarians, and became duke of the Bavarians in 911, uniting Bavaria and Carinthia under his rule. The German king Conrad I
unsuccessfully attacked Arnulf when the latter refused to acknowledge his royal supremacy.
dynasty, recognized Arnulf as duke, confirming his right to appoint bishops, coin money and issue laws.
A similar conflict took place between Arnulf's son and successor Eberhard
and Henry's son Otto I the Great. Eberhard proved less successful than his father, and in 938 fled from Bavaria, which Otto granted (with reduced privileges) to the late duke's uncle, Bertold. Otto also appointed a count palatine
in the person of Eberhard's brother Arnulf to watch the royal interests.
When Bertold died in 947, Otto conferred the duchy upon his own brother Henry
, who had married Judith, a daughter of Duke Arnulf. The Bavarians disliked Henry, who spent his short reign mainly in disputes with his people.
The ravages of the Hungarians ceased after their defeat on the Lechfeld
(955), and the area of the duchy temporarily grew with the addition of certain adjacent districts in Italy
.
In 955 Henry's young son Henry
, surnamed the Quarrelsome, succeeded him, but in 974 he became involved in a conspiracy against King Otto II
. The rising occurred because the king had granted the duchy of Swabia to Henry's enemy, Otto
, a grandson of Emperor Otto the Great, and had given the new Bavarian Eastern March, subsequently known as Austria
, to Leopold, count of Babenberg
. The revolt soon failed, but Henry, who on his escape from prison renewed his plots, formally lost his duchy of Bavaria in 976 to Otto, Duke of Swabia. At the same time Carinthia was made a separate duchy, the office of Count Palatine was reestablished, and the Bavarian church became dependent on the king instead of on the duke.
Restored in 985, Henry proved himself a capable ruler by establishing internal order, issuing important laws and taking measures to reform the monasteries. His son and successor, chosen German king as Henry II
in 1002, gave Bavaria to his brother-in-law Henry
of Luxembourg
, after whose death in 1026 it passed successively to Henry, afterwards Emperor Henry III
, and then to another member of the family of Luxembourg, ruling as Duke Henry VII
. In 1061, Empress Agnes
, mother of and regent for the German king Henry IV
, entrusted the duchy to Otto of Nordheim
.
, a member of an influential Bavarian family with roots in northern Italy.
In consequence of his support of Pope Gregory VII
in his quarrel with Henry, Welf lost but subsequently regained Bavaria; two of his sons followed him in succession: Welf II
from 1101 and Henry IX
from 1120. Both exercised considerable influence among the German princes.
Henry IX's son Henry X
, called the Proud, succeeded in 1126, and also obtained the Duchy of Saxony
in 1137. Alarmed at this prince's power, King Conrad III
refused to allow two duchies to remain in the same hands, and declared Henry deposed. He bestowed Bavaria upon Leopold IV, Margrave of Austria. When Leopold died in 1141, the king retained the duchy himself; but it continued to be the scene of considerable disorder, and in 1143 he entrusted it to Henry, surnamed Jasomirgott, Margrave of Austria.
The struggle for its possession continued until 1156, when Emperor Frederick I
, in his desire to restore peace to Germany, persuaded Henry to give up Bavaria to Henry the Lion
, duke of Saxony and son of Henry the Proud. In return, Austria was elevated from a margraviate to an independent duchy in the Privilegium Minus
. It was Henry the Lion who founded Munich
.
still divided Bavaria from Swabia, but on three other sides Bavaria took advantage of opportunities for expansion, and the duchy occupied a considerable area north of the Danube
. During the later years of the rule of the Welf
s, however, a contrary tendency operated, and the extent of Bavaria shrank. The immense energies of Duke Henry the Lion focused on his northern duchy of Saxony rather than on his southern duchy of Bavaria, and when the dispute over the Bavarian succession ended in 1156, the district between the Enns
and the Inn
became part of Austria.
The increasing importance of former Bavarian territories like the Mark of Styria (erected into a duchy in 1180) and of the county of Tirol
had diminished both the actual and the relative strength of Bavaria, which now on almost all sides lacked opportunities for expansion. The neighbouring Duchy of Carinthia
, the large territories of the Archbishop of Salzburg, as well as a general tendency to claim more independence on the part of both clerical and lay nobles: all these cramped Bavarian expansionism.
, a member of the old Bavarian family of Wittelsbach
, and a descendant of the counts of Scheyern. The Wittelsbach dynasty ruled Bavaria without interruption until 1918. Also the Electoral Palatinate was acquired by the Wittelsbach in 1214.
When Otto of Wittelsbach gained Bavaria at Altenburg in September 1180 the duchy's borders comprised the Böhmerwald
, the Inn, the Alps and the Lech; and the duke exercised practical power only over his extensive private domains around Wittelsbach
, Kelheim
and Straubing
.
Otto only enjoyed his rule for three years. His son Louis I succeeded him in 1183, played a leading part in German affairs during the early years of the reign of the emperor Frederick II
, and died (assassinated) at Kelheim in September 1231. His son Otto II
, called the Illustrious, the next duke, found that his loyalty to the Hohenstaufen
emperors saw himself placed under a papal ban and Bavaria placed under an interdict
. Like his father, Otto II increased the area of his lands by purchases, and he considerably strengthened his hold upon the duchy before he died in November 1253.
The efforts of the dukes to increase their power and to give unity to the duchy had met with a fair measure of success; but they were soon vitiated by partitions among different members of the family, which for 250 years made the history of Bavaria little more than a jejune chronicle of territorial divisions bringing war and weakness in their train.
The first of these divisions occurred in 1255. Louis II
and Henry XIII
, the sons of Duke Otto II, who for two years after their father's death had ruled Bavaria jointly, split their inheritance: Louis II obtained the western part of the duchy, afterwards called Upper Bavaria, but also the Electoral Palatinate and Henry secured eastern or Lower Bavaria.
, Louis III, and Stephen XVIII. The families of these three princes governed Lower Bavaria until 1833, when Henry XL (son of Otto XL) died, followed in 1734 by his cousin Otto V; and as both died without sons the whole of Lower Eastern Bavaria then passed to Henry XVILA. Dying in 1539, Henry left an only son, John II
, who died childless in the following year, when the Wittelsbach emperor Louis IV0, by securing Lower Eastern Bavaria for himself, united the whole of the duchy under his sway.
of Hohenstaufen, and after Conradin's execution in Italy in 1268, Louis and his brother Henry inherited the domains of the Hohenstaufen in Swabia
and elsewhere. He supported Rudolph, count of Habsburg
, in his efforts to secure the German throne in 1273, married the new king's daughter Mechtild, and aided him in campaigns in Bohemia and elsewhere.
For some years after Louis' death in 1294 his sons Rudolph I
and Louis
, afterwards the emperor Louis IV, ruled their duchy in common; but as their relations were never harmonious a division of Upper Bavaria occurred in 1310, by which Rudolph received the land east of the Isar
together with the town of Munich
, and Louis the district between the Isar and the Lech. It was not long, however, before this arrangement led to war between the brothers, with the outcome that in 1317, three years after he had become German king, Louis compelled Rudolph to abdicate, and for twelve years ruled alone over the whole of Upper Bavaria. But in 1329 a series of events induced him to conclude the Treaty of Pavia
with Rudolph's sons, Rudolph and Rupert, to whom he transferred the Palatinate of the Rhine (which the Wittelsbach family had owned since 1214) and also a portion of Bavaria north of the Danube, afterwards called the Upper Palatinate
(Oberpfalz).
At the same time the two lines of the Wittelsbach family decided to exercise the electoral vote alternately, and that in the event of the extinction of either branch of the family, the surviving branch should inherit its possessions.
The consolidation of Bavaria under Louis IV. lasted for seven years, during which the emperor was able to improve the condition of the country. When he died in 1347 he left six sons to share his possessions, who agreed upon a division of Bavaria in 1349. Its history, however, was complicated by its connections with Brandenburg
, Holland, Hainaut
and Tirol
, all of which the emperor had also left to his sons. All the six brothers exercised some authority in Bavaria; but three alone left issue, and of these the eldest, Louis V, Duke of Bavaria
, also margrave of Brandenburg and count of Tyrol, died in 1361; followed to the grave two years later by his only (and childless) son Meinhard
. Tyrol then passed to Habsburg. Brandenburg was lost in 1373.
The two remaining brothers, Stephen II
and Albert I
, ruled over Bavaria-Landshut and Bavaria-Straubing respectively, and when Stephen died in 1375 his three sons governed his portion of Bavaria jointly. In 1392, on the extinction of all the lines except those of Stephen and Albert, an important partition took place, which sub-divided the greater part of the duchy amongst Stephen's three sons, Stephen III
, Frederick
and John II
, who founded respectively the lines of Ingolstadt
, Landshut
and Munich.
The main result of the threefold division of 1392 proved a succession of civil wars which led to the temporary eclipse of Bavaria as a force in German politics. Neighbouring states encroached upon its borders, and the nobles ignored the authority of the dukes, who, deprived of the electoral vote, were mainly occupied for fifty years with internal strife.
This condition of affairs, however, had some benefits. The government of the country and the control of the finances passed mainly into the hands of an assembly called the Landtag or Landschaft, organized in 1392. The towns, assuming a certain independence, became strong and wealthy as trade increased, and the citizens of Munich and Regensburg often proved formidable antagonists to the dukes. Thus a period of disorder saw the growth of representative institutions and the establishment of a strong civic spirit.
passed with Holland and Hainaut on his death in 1404 to his son William II
, and in 1417 to his younger son John III
, who resigned the bishopric of Liège
to take up his new position. When John died in 1425 this family became extinct, and after a contest between various claimants, the three remaining branches of the Wittelsbach family Ingolstadt, Landshut and Munich partitioned Bavaria-Straubing between themselves. But Holland and Hainaut passed to Burgundy.
, achieved renown rather as a soldier than as a statesman; and his rule saw struggles with various towns, and with his brother, John of Bavaria-Munich. On his death in 1413 his son Louis VII
, called the Bearded, succeeded. Before his accession, this restless and quarrelsome prince, had played an important part in the affairs of France, where his sister Isabella had married King Charles VI
. About 1417 he became involved in a violent quarrel with his cousin, Henry XVI of Bavaria-Landshut
, fell under both the papal and the imperial ban, and in 1439 came under attack from his son, Louis VIII the Lame. This prince, who had married a daughter of Frederick I of Hohenzollern, margrave of Brandenburg, very much disliked the favour shown by his father to an illegitimate son. Aided by Albert Achilles, afterwards margrave of Brandenburg, he took the elder Louis prisoner and compelled him to abdicate in 1443. When Louis the Lame died in 1445 his father came into the power of his implacable enemy, Henry of Bavaria-Landshut, and died in prison in 1447.
in 1393, and whose long reign comprised almost entirely family feuds. He died in July 1450, and his son, Louis IX
(called the Rich) succeeded. About this time Bavaria began to recover some of its former importance.
Louis IX expelled the Jews from his duchy, increased the security of traders, and improved both the administration of justice and the condition of the finances. In 1472 he founded the university of Ingolstadt
, attempted to reform the monasteries, and successfully defeated Albert Achilles of Brandenburg. On the death of Louis IX in January 1479 his son George
, also called the Rich, succeeded; and when George, a faithful adherent of the German king Maximilian I, died without sons in December 1503, a war broke out for the possession of his duchy.
Bavaria-Munich
passed on the death of John II in 1397 to his sons Ernest
and William III, but they only obtained possession of their lands after a struggle with Stephen of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. Both brothers then engaged in warfare with the other branches of the family and with the citizens of Munich. William III, a loyal servant of the emperor Sigismund, died in 1435, leaving an only son, Adolf, who died five years later; and Ernest, distinguished for his bodily strength, died in 1438. In 1440 the whole of Bavaria-Munich came to Ernest's son Albert III
, who had become estranged from his father owing to his union with the unfortunate Agnes Bernauer
. Albert, whose attempts to reform the monasteries earned for him the surname of Pious, almost became the elected king of Bohemia in 1440. He died in 1460, leaving five sons, the two elder of whom, John IV
and Sigismund
, reigned in common until the death of John in 1463. The third brother, Albert, who had been educated for the church, joined his brother in 1465, and when Sigismund abdicated two years later became sole ruler in spite of the claims of his two younger brothers.
Albert IV
, called the Wise, added the district of Abensberg
to his possessions, and in 1504 became involved in the Landshut War of Succession
which broke out for the possession of Bavaria-Landshut on the death of George the Rich. Albert's rival was George's son-in-law, Rupert, formerly bishop of Freising, and also successor of Philip, count palatine of the Rhine. The emperor Maximilian I
, interested as archduke of Austria and count of Tirol, interfered in the dispute. Rupert died in 1504, and the following year an arrangement was made at the Diet of Cologne
by which the emperor and Philip's grandson, Otto Henry, obtained certain outlying districts, while Albert by securing the bulk of George's possessions united Bavaria under his rule. In 1506 Albert decreed that the duchy should pass according to the rules of primogeniture, and endeavoured in other ways also to consolidate Bavaria. He was partially successful in improving the condition of the country; and in 1500 Bavaria formed one of the six circles into which Germany was divided for the maintenance of peace. He died in March 1508, and was succeeded by his son, William IV
, whose mother, Kunigunde, was a daughter of the emperor Frederick III.
, an arrangement which lasted until the death of Louis in 1545.
William followed the traditional Wittelsbach policy of opposition to the Habsburgs until in 1534 he made a treaty at Linz
with Ferdinand
, king of Hungary and Bohemia. This link strengthened in 1546, when the emperor Charles V
obtained the help of the duke during the war of the league of Schmalkalden
by promising him in certain eventualities the succession to the Bohemian throne, and the electoral dignity enjoyed by the count palatine of the Rhine. William also did much at a critical period to secure Bavaria for Catholicism
. The reformed doctrines had made considerable progress in the duchy when the duke obtained from the pope extensive rights over the bishoprics and monasteries, and took measures to repress the reformers, many of whom were banished; while the Jesuits
, whom he invited into the duchy in 1541, made the university of Ingolstadt
their headquarters for Germany. William, whose death occurred in March 1550, was succeeded by his son Albert V
, who had married a daughter of Ferdinand of Habsburg, afterwards the emperor Ferdinand I. Early in his reign Albert made some concessions to the reformers, who were still strong in Bavaria; but about 1563 he changed his attitude, favoured the decrees of the Council of Trent
, and pressed forward the work of the Counter-Reformation
. As education passed by degrees into the hands of the Jesuits the progress of Protestantism
was effectually arrested in Bavaria.
Albert V patronised art extensively. Artists of all kinds resorted to his court in Munich, and splendid buildings arose in the city; while Italy and elsewhere contributed to the collection of artistic works. The expenses of a magnificent court led the duke to quarrel with the Landschaft (the nobles), to oppress his subjects, and to leave a great burden of debt when he died in October 1579.
The succeeding duke, Albert's son, William V
(called the Pious), had received a Jesuit education and showed keen attachment to Jesuit tenets. He secured the archbishopric of Cologne
for his brother Ernest
in 1583, and this dignity remained in the possession of the family for nearly 200 years. In 1597 he abdicated in favour of his son Maximilian I
, and retired into a monastery, where he died in 1626.
; during the earlier years of which he was so successful as to acquire the Upper Palatinate
and the electoral dignity
which had been enjoyed since 1356 by the elder branch of the Wittelsbach family. In spite of subsequent reverses, Maximilian retained these gains at the Peace of Westphalia
in 1648. During the later years of this war Bavaria, especially the northern part, suffered severely. In 1632 the Swedes
invaded, and when Maximilian violated the treaty of Ulm
in 1647, the French and the Swedes ravaged the land. After repairing this damage to some extent, the elector died at Ingolstadt
in September 1651, leaving his duchy much stronger than he had found it. The recovery of the Upper Palatinate made Bavaria compact; the acquisition of the electoral vote made it influential; and the duchy was able to play a part in European politics which internal strife had rendered impossible for the past four hundred years.
might add to the ducal house, on Bavaria itself its effect during the next two centuries was more dubious. Maximilian's son, Ferdinand Maria
(1651–1679), who was a minor when he succeeded, did much indeed to repair the wounds caused by the Thirty Years' War, encouraging agriculture and industries, and building or restoring numerous churches and monasteries. In 1669, moreover, he again called a meeting of the diet, which had been suspended since 1612.
His good work, however, was largely undone by his son Maximilian II Emanuel
(1679–1726), whose far-reaching ambition set him warring against the Ottoman Empire
and, on the side of France, in the great struggle of the Spanish succession
. He shared in the defeat at the Battle of Blenheim
, near Höchstädt
, on 13 August 1704; his dominions were temporarily partitioned between Austria and the elector palatine by the Treaty of Ilbersheim
, and only restored to him, harried and exhausted, at the peace of Baden in 1714; the first Bavarian peasant insurrection
, known as the Bloody Christmas of Sendling, having been crushed by the Austrian occupiers in 1706.
Untaught by Maximilian II Emmanuel's experience, his son, Charles Albert
(1726–1745), devoted all his energies to increasing the European prestige and power of his house. The death of the emperor Charles VI
proved his opportunity: he disputed the validity of the Pragmatic Sanction
which secured the Habsburg succession to Maria Theresa
, allied himself with France, conquered Upper Austria, was crowned king of Bohemia at Prague
and, in 1742, emperor at Frankfurt. The price he had to pay, however, was the occupation of Bavaria itself by Austrian troops; and, though the invasion of Bohemia in 1744 by Frederick II of Prussia
enabled him to return to Munich, at his death on 20 January 1745 it was left to his successor to make what terms he could for the recovery of his dominions.
Maximilian III Joseph
(1745–1777), by the peace of Füssen
signed on 22 April 1745, obtained the restitution of his dominions in return for a formal acknowledgment of the Pragmatic Sanction. He was a man of enlightenment
, did much to encourage agriculture, industries and the exploitation of the mineral
wealth of the country, founded the Academy of Sciences
at Munich, and abolished the Jesuit censorship of the press. At his death, without issue, on 30 December 1777, the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbachs became extinct, and the succession passed to Charles Theodore
, the elector palatine. After a separation of four and a half centuries, the Palatinate, to which the duchies of Jülich
and Berg had been added, was thus reunited with Bavaria.
(Deux-Ponts), supported by the king of Prussia
, led to the War of Bavarian Succession
. By the peace of Teschen
(13 May 1779) the Innviertel
was ceded to Austria, and the succession secured to Charles of Zweibrücken.
For Bavaria itself Charles Theodore did less than nothing. He felt himself a foreigner among foreigners, and his favourite scheme, the subject of endless intrigues with the Austrian cabinet and the immediate cause of Frederick II
's League of Princes
(Fürstenbund) of 1785, was to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands and the title of king of Burgundy
. For the rest, the enlightened internal policy of his predecessor was abandoned. The funds of the suppressed order of Jesus, which Maximilian Joseph had destined for the reform of the educational system of the country, were used to endow a province of the knights of St John of Jerusalem
, for the purpose of combating the enemies of the faith. The government was inspired by the narrowest clericalism, which culminated in the attempt to withdraw the Bavarian bishops from the jurisdiction of the great German metropolitans and place them directly under that of the pope. On the eve of the Revolution the intellectual and social condition of Bavaria remained that of the Middle Ages.
In 1792 French revolutionary armies overran the Palatinate; in 1795 the French, under Moreau, invaded Bavaria itself, advanced to Munich — where they were received with joy by the long-suppressed Liberals — and laid siege to Ingolstadt
. Charles Theodore
, who had done nothing to prevent wars or to resist the invasion, fled to Saxony, leaving a regency, the members of which signed a convention with Moreau, by which he granted an armistice in return for a heavy contribution (7 September 1796).
Between the French and the Austrians, Bavaria was now in a bad situation. Before the death of Charles Theodore (16 February 1799) the Austrians had again occupied the country, in preparation for renewing the war with France. Maximilian IV Joseph (of Zweibrücken), the new elector, succeeded to a difficult inheritance. Though his own sympathies, and those of his all-powerful minister, Maximilian von Montgelas
, were, if anything, French rather than Austrian, the state of the Bavarian finances, and the fact that the Bavarian troops were scattered and disorganized, placed him helpless in the hands of Austria; on 2 December 1800 the Bavarian arms were involved in the Austrian defeat at Hohenlinden
, and Moreau once more occupied Munich. By the Treaty of Lunéville
(9 February 1801) Bavaria lost the Palatinate and the duchies of Zweibrücken
and Jülich
.
In view of the scarcely disguised ambitions and intrigues of the Austrian court, Montgelas now believed that the interests of Bavaria lay in a frank alliance with the French Republic; he succeeded in overcoming the reluctance of Maximilian Joseph; and, on the 24th of August, a separate treaty of peace and alliance with France was signed at Paris
. By the third article of this the First Consul undertook to see that the compensation promised under the 7th article of the treaty of Lunéville for the territory ceded on the left bank of the Rhine, should be carried out at the expense of the Empire in the manner most agreeable to Bavaria (see de Martens, Recueil, vol. vii. p. 365).
In 1803, accordingly, in the territorial rearrangements
consequent on Napoleon's suppression of the ecclesiastical states, and of many free cities of the Empire, Bavaria received the bishoprics of Würzburg
, Bamberg, Augsburg and Freisingen, part of that of Passau, the territories of twelve abbeys, and seventeen cities and villages, the whole forming a compact territory which more than compensated for the loss of her outlying provinces on the Rhine. Montgelas now aspired to raise Bavaria to the rank of a first-rate power, and he pursued this object during the Napoleonic epoch with consummate skill, allowing fully for the preponderance of France — so long as it lasted — but never permitting Bavaria to sink, like so many of the states of the Confederation of the Rhine
, into a mere French dependency. In the war of 1805, in accordance with a treaty of alliance signed at Würzburg
on 23 September, Bavarian troops, for the first time since the days of Charles VII
, fought side by side with the French, and by the Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December, the Principality of Eichstädt
, the Margravate of Burgau
, the Lordship of Vorarlberg
, the countships of Hohenems
and Königsegg-Rothenfels
, the lordships of Argen
and Tettnang
, and the city of Lindau
with its territory were to be added to Bavaria. On the other hand Würzburg, obtained in 1803, was to be ceded by Bavaria to the elector of Salzburg in exchange for Tirol
. By the 1st article of the treaty the emperor acknowledged the assumption by the elector of the title of king, as Maximilian I. The price which Maximilian had reluctantly to pay for this accession of dignity was the marriage of his daughter Augusta with Eugène de Beauharnais
. On March 15, 1806 he ceded the Duchy of Berg
to Napoleon.
For the internal constitution of Bavaria also the French alliance had noteworthy consequences. Maximilian himself was an "enlightened
" prince of the 18th-century type, whose tolerant principles had already grievously offended his clerical subjects; Montgelas was a firm believer in drastic reform "from above", and, in 1803, had discussed with the rump of the old estates the question of reforms. But the revolutionary changes introduced by the constitution proclaimed on 1 May 1808 were due to the direct influence of Napoleon. A clean sweep was made of the medieval polity surviving in the somnolent local diets and corporations. In place of the old system of privileges and exemptions were set equality before the law, universal liability to taxation, abolition of serfdom
, security of person and property, liberty of conscience and of the press. A representative assembly was created on paper, based on a narrow franchise and with very limited powers, but was never summoned.
In 1809 Bavaria was again engaged in war with Austria on the side of France. The Tyroleans rose up against the Bavarian authority and succeeded three times in defeating Bavarian and French troops trying to retake the country. Austria lost the war of the Fifth Coalition against France, and got even harsher terms in the Treaty of Schönbrunn
in 1809. Often glorified as Tirol's national hero, Andreas Hofer
, the leader of the uprising, was executed in 1810 in Mantua
, having lost a third and final battle against the French and Bavarian forces. By the treaty signed at Paris on 28 February 1810 Bavaria ceded southern Tirol to Italy and some small districts to Württemberg
, receiving as compensation parts of Salzburg, the Innviertel
and Hausruck and the principalities of Bayreuth and Regensburg
. So far the policy of Montgelas had been brilliantly successful; but the star of Napoleon had now reached its zenith, and already the astute opportunist had noted the signs of the coming change.
The events of 1812 followed; in 1813 Bavaria was summoned to join the alliance against Napoleon, the demand being passionately backed by the crown prince Louis and by Marshal Wrede
; on 8 October was signed the treaty of Ried
, by which Bavaria threw in her lot with the Allies. Montgelas announced to the French ambassador that he had been compelled temporarily to bow before the storm, adding "Bavaria has need of France". (For Bavaria's share in the war see Napoleonic Campaigns.)
(1814), Bavaria ceded to Austria the northern Tyrol
and Vorarlberg
; during the Congress of Vienna
it was decided that she was to add to these the greater part of Salzburg
and the Innviertel
and Hausruck, receiving as compensation, besides Würzburg
and Aschaffenburg
, the Palatinate (region) on the left bank of the Rhine and certain districts of Hesse-Darmstadt
and of the former Abbacy of Fulda. But with the collapse of France the old fears and jealousies against Austria revived in full force, and Bavaria only agreed to these cessions (treaty of Munich, 16 April 1816) under the promise that, in the event of the powers ignoring her claim to the Baden
succession in favour of that of the line of the counts of Hochberg
, she should receive also the Palatinate on the right bank of the Rhine. The question was thus left open, the tension between the two powers remained high, and war was only averted by the authority of the Grand Alliance . At the congress of Aix (1818) the question of the Baden succession was settled in favour of the Hochberg line, without the compensation stipulated in the treaty of Munich; and by the treaty of Frankfurt, signed on behalf of the four great powers on 20 July 1819, the territorial issues between Bavaria and Austria were settled, in spite of the protests of the former, in the general sense of the arrangement made at Vienna. A small strip of territory was added, to connect Bavaria with the Palatinate, and Bavarian troops were to garrison the federal fortress of Mainz.
Meanwhile, on 1 February 1817, Montgelas had been dismissed; and Bavaria had entered on a new era of constitutional reform. This implied no breach with the European policy of the fallen minister. In the new German confederation Bavaria had assumed the role of defender of the smaller states against the ambitions of Austria and Prussia, and Montgelas had dreamed of a Bavarian hegemony in South Germany similar to that of Prussia in the north. It was to obtain popular support for this policy and for the Bavarian claims on Baden that the crown prince pressed for a liberal constitution, the reluctance of Montgelas to concede it being the cause of his dismissal.
On 26 May 1818 the constitution was proclaimed. The parliament
was to consist of two houses; the first comprising the great hereditary landowners, government officials and nominees of the crown; the second, elected on a very narrow franchise, comprising representatives of the small land-owners, the towns and the peasants. By additional articles the equality of religions was guaranteed and the rights of Protestants safeguarded, concessions which were denounced at Rome
as a breach of the Concordat
, which had been signed immediately before. The result of the constitutional experiment hardly justified the royal expectations; the parliament was hardly opened (5 February 1819) before the doctrinaire radicalism of some of its members, culminating in the demand that the army should swear allegiance to the constitution, so alarmed the king that he appealed to Austria and Germany, undertaking to carry out any repressive measures they might recommend. Prussia, however, refused to approve of any coup d'état; the parliament, chastened by the consciousness that its life depended on the goodwill of the king, moderated its tone; and Maximilian ruled till his death as a model constitutional monarch. On 13 October 1825, his son Ludwig I
succeeded him.
Ludwig proved an enlightened patron of the arts and sciences, who transferred the University of Landshut
to Munich, which, by his magnificent taste in building, he transformed into one of the most beautiful cities of the continent. The earlier years of his reign were marked by a liberal spirit and the reform, especially, of the financial administration; but the revolutions of 1830
frightened him into reaction, which was accentuated by the opposition of the parliament to his expenditure on building and works of art. In 1837 the Ultramontanes came into power with Karl von Abel
(1788–1859) as prime minister. The Jesuits now gained the upper hand; one by one the liberal provisions of the constitution were modified or annulled; the Protestants were harried and oppressed; and a rigorous censorship forbade any free discussion of internal politics. The collapse of this régime was due, not to popular agitation, but to the resentment of Ludwig at the clerical opposition to the influence of his mistress, Lola Montez
. On the 17th of February 1847, Abel was dismissed for publishing his memorandum against the proposal to naturalize Lola, who was an Irishwoman; and the Protestant Georg Ludwig von Maurer
took his place. The new ministry granted the certificate of naturalisation; but riots, in which Ultramontane professors of the university took part, resulted. The professors were deprived, the parliament dissolved, and, on 27 November, the ministry dismissed. Lola Montez, created Countess Landsfeld, became supreme in the state; and the new minister, Prince Ludwig of Oettingen-Wallerstein (1791–1870), in spite of his efforts to enlist Liberal sympathy by appeals to pan-German patriotism, was powerless to form a stable government. His cabinet was known as the Lolaministerium; in February 1848, stimulated by the news from Paris (Revolution of 1848 in France), riots broke out against the countess; on 11 March the king dismissed Oettingen, and on 20 March, realizing the force of public opinion against him, abdicated in favour of his son, Maximilian II
.
Before his abdication Ludwig had issued, on 6 March 1848, a proclamation promising the zealous co-operation of the Bavarian government in the work of German freedom and unity (see Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
). To the spirit of this Maximilian was faithful, accepting the authority of the central government at Frankfurt, and (19 December) sanctioning the official promulgation of the laws passed by the German parliament. But Prussia was henceforth the enemy, not Austria. In refusing to agree to the offer of the imperial crown to Frederick William IV
, Maximilian had the support of his parliament. In withholding his assent to the new German constitution, by which Austria was excluded from the Confederation
, he ran indeed counter to the sentiment of his people; but by this time the back of the revolution was broken, and in the events which led to the humiliation of Prussia at Olmütz
in 1851, and the restoration of the old diet of the Confederation, Bavaria was safe in casting in her lot with Austria (see History of Germany
).
The guiding spirit in this anti-Prussian policy, which characterised Bavarian statesmanship up to the war of 1866
, was Baron Karl Ludwig von der Pfordten
(1811–1880), who became minister for foreign affairs on 19 April 1849. His idea for the ultimate solution of the question of the balance of power in Germany was the so-called Trias, i.e. a league of the Rhenish states as a counterpoise to the preponderance of Austria and Prussia. In internal affairs his ministry was characterised by a reactionary policy less severe than elsewhere in Germany, which led none-the-less from 1854 onward to a struggle with the parliament, which ended in the dismissal of Pfordten's ministry on 27 March 1859. He was succeeded by Karl Freiherr von Schrenk von Notzing (1806–1884), an official of Liberal tendencies who had been Bavarian representative in the diet of the Confederation. Important reforms were now introduced, including the separation of the judicial and executive powers and the drawing up of a new criminal code. In foreign affairs Schrenk, like his predecessor, aimed at safeguarding the independence of Bavaria, and supported the idea of superseding the actual constitution of the Confederation by a supreme directory, in which Bavaria, as leader of the purely German states, would hold the balance between Prussia and Austria. Bavaria accordingly opposed the Prussian proposals for the reorganisation of the Confederation, and one of the last acts of King Maximilian was to take a conspicuous part in the assembly of princes summoned to Frankfurt in 1863 by the emperor Francis Joseph.
Maximilian was succeeded on 10 March 1864 by his son Ludwig II
, a youth of eighteen. The government was at first carried on by Schrenk and Pfordten in concert. Schrenk soon retired, when the Bavarian government found it necessary, in order to maintain its position in the Prussian Zollverein
, to become a party to the Prussian commercial treaty with France, signed in 1862. In the complicated Schleswig-Holstein question
Bavaria, under Pfordten's guidance, consistently opposed Prussia, and headed the lesser states in their support of Frederick of Augustenburg
against the policy of the two great German powers. Finally, in the war of 1866
, in spite of Bismarck
's efforts to secure her neutrality, Bavaria sided actively with Austria.
, the bonds of Bavaria (as of the other southern states) with the north were strengthened by an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia, as the result of Napoleon's demand for "compensation" in the Palatinate. This was signed at Berlin
on 22 August 1866, on the same day as the signature of the formal treaty of peace between the two countries. The separatist ambitions of Bavaria were thus formally given up; she had no longer "need of France"; and during the Franco-Prussian War
, the Bavarian army marched, under the command of the Prussian crown prince, against Germany's common enemy. It was on the proposal of King Ludwig II
that the imperial crown was offered to King Wilhelm I of Prussia.
This was preceded, on 23 November 1870, by the signature of a treaty between Bavaria and the North German Confederation. By this instrument, though Bavaria became an integral part of the new German empire, she reserved a larger measure of sovereign independence than any of the other constituent states. Thus she retained a separate diplomatic service, military administration, and postal, telegraph and railway systems. The treaty was ratified by the Bavarian chambers on 21 January 1871, though not without considerable opposition on the part of the so-called Patriot Party. Their hostility was increased by the Kulturkampf
, due to the promulgation in 1870 of the dogma of papal infallibility
. Munich University, where Ignaz von Döllinger was professor, became the centre of the opposition to the new dogma, and the Old Catholics were protected by the king and the government. The federal law expelling the Jesuits was proclaimed in Bavaria on 6 September 1871 and was extended to the Redemptorists in 1873. On 31 March 1871, moreover, the bonds with the rest of the empire had been drawn closer by the acceptance of a number of laws of the North German Confederation, of which the most important was the new criminal code, which was finally put into force in Bavaria in 1879. The opposition of the Patriot Party, however, reinforced by the strong Catholic sentiment of the country, continued powerful, and it was only the steady support given by the king to successive Liberal ministries that prevented its finding disastrous expression in the parliament, where it remained in a greater or less majority till 1887, and subsequently, as the Centre Party
, continued to form the most compact party.
Ludwig II, whose passion for building palaces and near-total neglect of his governmental duties were becoming a serious crisis, had been declared insane, and, on 10 June 1886, his uncle, Prince Luitpold
, became regent. Three days later, on 13 June, Ludwig II was found dead in Lake Starnberg
. The question of whether his death was self-imposed, accidental, or the result of malicious conspirators remains unanswered. However, it was reported at the time and today is widely accepted that it was a suicide. Due to the insanity of Ludwig's brother, King Otto I, Prince Luitpold continued as regent.
After 1871 Bavaria shared to the full in the rapid development of Germany; but her particularism, founded on traditional racial and religious antagonism to the Prussians, was by no means dead, though it exhibited itself in no more dangerous form than the prohibition, reissued in 1900, to display any but the Bavarian flag on public buildings on the emperor's birthday; a provision which was subsequently modified so as to allow the Bavarian and imperial flags to be hung side by side.
Following Prince Luitpold's death in 1912, his son, Prince Ludwig, became regent. A year later, Ludwig deposed his cousin, Otto, and proclaimed himself King Ludwig III of Bavaria
. During the First World War
, Ludwig's eldest son, Crown Prince Rupprecht
, commanded the Bavarian army and became one of the leading German commanders on the Western Front.
Republican institutions replaced royal ones in Bavaria during the upheavals of November 1918. Provisional National Council Minister-President Kurt Eisner
declared Bavaria to be a free state
on 7 November 1918. Eisner was assassinated in February 1919 ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short lived Bavarian Socialist Republic (Bayerische Räterepublik or Münchner Räterepublik) being proclaimed 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably the Freikorps
, the Bavarian Socialist Republic fell in May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution () was enacted on 14 August 1919 creating the Free State of Bavaria within the Wiemar Republic.
Munich
became a hotbed of extremism: the 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic
and the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch
involving Erich Ludendorff
and Adolf Hitler
took place in the same city. For most of the Weimar Republic
, though, Bavaria was dominated by the relatively mainstream conservative Bavarian People's Party
. The BVP was a Catholic party that represented the Bavarian tradition of particularist conservatism, through which monarchist and even separatist sentiments were conveyed. An attempt supported by a wide coalition of parties, to establish Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
, as a Staatskommisar with dictatorial powers in 1932 to counter the Nazis failed due to the hesitant Bavarian government under Heinrich Held
.
were declared void. With this controlling power, the NSDAP was declared the only legal party and all other parties in Germany and Bavaria were dissolved. In 1934, the Bavarian parliament was, like all other state parliaments, dissolved too. Shortly after, Bavaria itself was broken up during the reorganisation of the Reich. Instead of the states, Reichsgau
e were established as administrative sub-divisions. Bavaria was split into five regions, the Reichsgaue Schwaben, München-Oberbayern, Bayerische Ostmark, Franken
and Main-Franken.
During the 12 years of Nazi rule, Bavaria was one of Hitlers favorite locations, spending much time in his residence at the Obersalzberg
. The KZ in Dachau
, near Munich, was the first to be established. But Bavaria was also the scene of passive resistance to the regime, the most well known of this being the White Rose
. Nürnberg, Bavaria's second-largest city, became the scene of massive rallies, the Reichsparteitage. Ironically, the last of those in 1939, titled Reichsparteitag des Friedens (Reichsparteitag of peace), was canceled due to the outbreak of the second world war. After the war, carefully chosen for this reason, the city became the location of the war crimes trials, the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.
While Bavaria had approximately 54.000 Jewish people living in its borders at the turn of the 20th century, by 1933 still 41.000 lived in the state. By 1939, this number had shrunk to 16.000, and few of those survived the Nazi rule.
it was for a period under American
occupation, who reestablished the state on 19 September 1945, and during the Cold War it was part of West Germany. In 1946 Bavaria lost the Rhenish Palatinate. The destruction caused by aerial bombing
s during the war in addition to the fact that Bavaria had to take in over two million refugees from the parts of Germany now under Soviet occupation caused major problems for the authorities.
The Bavarian Party was founded shortly after the war. Its goal was to establish an independent Bavarian state. For a time, the idea that Bavaria might become independent again was seriously entertained by the Allied occupation authorities as a way to ensure that Germany would be unable to wage offensive war again, and also by Bavarians themselves in part because they preferred to blame the war and its result on Prussian militarism instead of their own support for the Nazis. A union between Bavaria and Austria was also considered. With the onset of the Cold War
, support for Bavarian independence quickly lost support both within Bavaria and from the Western allies, and the state became a part of West Germany
.
The first post-war state elections were held on 30 June 1946, when 180 delegates were chosen. The main task of those delegates was to draft a new Bavarian constitution, since the day-to-day running of the state still lay with the US authorities at this stage. The new constitution was accepted by a public vote on 1 December 1946, the same day the first post-war state parliament (German: Landtag) was elected.
Since the war, Bavaria has been politically dominated by the Christian Social Union, the main successor of the Bavarian People's Party
and sister party of the Christian Democratic Union, the main center-right party in Germany. The only time the CSU was in opposition was between 1954 and 1957. At this time Bavaria was governed by a four-party-government under the leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
. Bavaria is home to the only separatist party in Germany - the Bavarian Party
. This party would like to have an independent Free State of Bavaria. Since the 1960s Bavaria has seen a dynamic development to one of Europe's leading economic zones, the country is no longer mainly an agricultural region but hosts a variety of high tech industries.
On 19 April 2005 Bavarian-born Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope. Ratzinger, who was born in Marktl am Inn
, had been the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dean of the College of Cardinals prior to his election. After being elected Pope, Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI
. Benedict is the eighth German Pope, and is the second non-Italian Pope since Pope Adrian VI
.
After the CSU lost more than 17% of the popular vote in the Bavarian state elections of 2008
due to the strict smoking ban that it pushed through the state parliament, incumbent Minister-President Günther Beckstein
and Chairman of the CSU, Erwin Huber
, announced their resignations. Horst Seehofer
was quickly proposed as their successor. At a party convention on October 25 he was affirmed as the new Chairman of the CSU, and on October 27 he was elected Minister-President by the Landtag
with votes from the Free Democratic Party
, forming the first coalition
government in Bavaria since 1962.
The citizen initiative process for the total smoking ban (the most strict in Germany and without any loopholes or exceptions) was held on 4 July 2010 and passed by sixty-one percent of eligible voters in Bavaria. The new smoking ban has taken effect on 1 August 2010 and could be the precedence for other German states to adopt the more total smoking ban.
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion in the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
s to its status as an independent kingdom and, finally, as a large and significant Bundesland
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
(state) of the modern Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Early settlements and Roman Raetia
There are numerous palaeolithic finds in BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
.
The earliest known inhabitants that are mentioned in written sources were a people, probably Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s, participating in the widespread La Tène culture
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
, whom the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
subdued just before the opening of the Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
era, founding colonies among them and including their land in the provinces of Raetia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
and Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
. The Roman centre of administration for this area was Castra Regina, now and since the Middle Ages known as Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
.1
For the Roman history of the territory, see Vindelicia
Vindelicia
In the pre-Roman geography of Europe, Vindelicia identifies the country inhabited by the Vindelici, a region bounded on the north by the Danube and the Hadrian's Limes Germanicus, on the east by the Oenus , on the south by Raetia and on the west by the territory of the Helvetii...
and Raetia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
.
Migrations and early medieval period
During the 5th century the Romans in Noricum and Raetia came under increasing pressure from an influx of foreign peoples.One theory of the etymological origins of the name "Bavarian" is that Bai(o)arii was derived from Bai(a)haim (Boiohaemum in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
), which is thought to be equivalent with the land of the antique tribe of the Boii
Boii
The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...
and modern Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
(Reindel 1981).
The Bavarian name was first mentioned historically by the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
in a list of peoples, prepared c. 520. The first document that also describes their location (east of the Swabians) is in the History of the Goths by the historian Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
dating from 551. Then follows a remark by Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian Court, and a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. He was never canonised but was venerated as Saint Venantius Fortunatus during the Middle Ages.-Life:Venantius Fortunatus was born between 530 and 540 A.D....
in his description of his travels from Ravenna to Tours (565-571) in which he had crossed the lands of the Bavarians, referring to the dangers of travel in the region: 'If the road is clear and if the Bavarian does not stop you … then travel across the Alps.'
Archaeological evidence dating from the 5th and 6th centuries points to social and cultural influences from several regions and peoples, such as Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
, Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
, Thuringians, Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, Bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
Slavs
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
and the local Romanised population .2
Recent research (e.g. Wolfram and Pohl 1990) has moved away from searching for specific geographical origins of the Bavarians. It is now thought that the tribal ethnicity was established by the process of ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
, whereby an ethnic identity is formed because political and social pressures make a coherent identity necessary.
Bavaria and the Agilolfings under Frankish overlordship
The Bavarians soon came under the dominion of the Franks, probably without a serious struggle. The Franks regarded this border area as a buffer zone against peoples to the east, such as the Avars and the Slavs, and as a source of manpower for the army. Sometime around 550 they put it under the administration of a duke - possibly Frankish or possibly chosen from amongst the local leading families - who was supposed to act as a regional governor for the Frankish king. The first duke we know of, and likely the first, was Garibald I, a member of the powerful Agilolfing family.6 This was the beginning of a series of Agilolfing dukes that was to last until 788.For a century and a half a succession of dukes resisted the inroads of the Slavs on their eastern frontier, and by the time of Duke Theodo I
Theodo of Bavaria
Theodo also known as Theodo V and Theodo II, was the Duke of Bavaria from 670 or, more probably, 680 to his death.It is with Theodo that the well-sourced history of Bavaria begins...
, who died in 717, had achieved complete independence from the feeble Frankish kings. When Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
became the virtual ruler of the Frankish realm he brought the Bavarians into strict dependence, and deposed two dukes successively for contumacy. Pippin the Short likewise maintaining Frankish authority, and several marriages took place between the family to which he belonged and the Agilolfings, who were united in a similar manner with the kings of the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
. The ease with which the Franks suppressed various risings gives colour to the supposition that family quarrels rather than the revolt of an oppressed people motivated the rebellions.
Bavarian law was committed to writing between the years 739 and 748. Supplementary clauses, added afterwards, bear evidence of Frankish influence. Thus, while the dukedom belongs to the Agilolfing family, the duke must be chosen by the people and his election confirmed by the Frankish king, to whom he owes fealty
Fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...
. The duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
has a fivefold weregild
Weregild
Weregild was a value placed on every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code...
, summons the nobles and clergy for purposes of deliberation, calls out the host, administers justice and regulates finance. Five noble families exist, possibly representing former divisions of the people. Subordinate to the nobles we find the freeborn, and then the freedmen. The law divides the country into gaits or counties, under their counts, assisted by judges responsible for declaring the law.
Christianity
Christianity had lingered in Bavaria from Roman times, but a new era set in when Rupert, bishop of Worms, came to the county at the invitation of Duke Theodo I in 696. He founded several monasteries, as did St. Emmeran, bishop of Poitiers, with the result that before long the bulk of the people professed Christianity and relations commenced between Bavaria and RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The 8th century witnessed indeed a heathen reaction, but the arrival in Bavaria in about 734 of Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...
checked apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
. Boniface organised the Bavarian church and founded or restored bishopric
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s at Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Freising
Freising
Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Freising. Total population 48,500.The city is located north of Munich at the Isar river, near the Munich International Airport...
, Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, and Passau
Passau
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....
.
Tassilo III, who became duke of the Bavarians in 749, recognized the supremacy of the Frankish king Pippin the Short in 757, but soon afterwards refused to furnish a contribution to the war in Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
. Moreover, during the early years of the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, Tassilo gave decisions in ecclesiastical and civil causes in his own name, refused to appear in the assemblies of the Franks, and in general acted as an independent ruler. His control of the Alpine passes, and his position as an ally of the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
and as son-in-law of the Lombard king Desiderius
Desiderius
Desiderius was the last king of the Lombard Kingdom of northern Italy...
formed so serious a menace to the Frankish kingdom that Charlemagne determined to crush him.
The details of this contest remain obscure. Tassilo appears to have done homage in 781, and again in 787, probably owing to the presence of Frankish armies. But further trouble soon arose, and in 788 the Franks summoned the duke to Ingelheim, and sentenced him to death on a charge of treachery. The King, however, pardoned Tassilo who entered a monastery and formally renounced his duchy at Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
in 794.
Gerold, a brother-in-law of Charlemagne, ruled Bavaria till his death in a battle with the Avars in 799, when Frankish counts took over the administration and assimilated the land with the rest of the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
empire. Measures taken by Charlemagne for the intellectual progress and material welfare of his realm improved conditions. The Bavarians offered no resistance to the change which thus abolished their dukedom. Their incorporation with the Frankish dominions, due mainly to the unifying influence of the church, appeared already so complete that Charlemagne did not find it necessary to issue more than two capitularies dealing especially with Bavarian affairs.
The Duchy during the Carolingian period
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
empire. Given at the partition of 817 to the king of the East Franks, Louis the German
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
, Bavaria formed part of the larger territories confirmed to him in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
. Louis made Regensburg the centre of his government and actively developed Bavaria, providing for its security by numerous campaigns against the Slavs. When he divided his possessions in 865, it passed to his eldest son, Carloman, who had already managed its administration, and after his death in 880 it formed part of the extensive territories of Emperor Charles the Fat
Charles the Fat
Charles the Fat was the King of Alemannia from 876, King of Italy from 879, western Emperor from 881, King of East Francia from 882, and King of West Francia from 884. In 887, he was deposed in East Francia, Lotharingia, and possibly Italy, where the records are not clear...
. This incompetent ruler left its defence to Arnulf
Arnulf of Carinthia
Arnulf of Carinthia was the Carolingian King of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from February 22, 896 until his death.-Birth and Illegitimacy:...
, an illegitimate son of Carloman. Due mainly to the support of the Bavarians, Arnulf could take the field against Charles in 887 and secure his own election as German king in the following year. In 899 Bavaria passed to Louis the Child
Louis the Child
Louis the Child , sometimes called Louis IV or Louis III, was the last Carolingian ruler of East Francia....
, during whose reign continuous Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
ravages occurred. Resistance to these inroads became gradually feebler, and tradition has it that on 5 July 907 almost the whole of the Bavarian tribe perished in the Battle of Pressburg
Battle of Brezalauspurc
Battle of Pressburg, or Battle of Bratislava or Battle of Pozsony refers to a battle fought on July 4, 907, during which the Bavarian army was defeated by the Hungarians.-The battle:...
against these formidable enemies.
During the reign of Louis the Child, Luitpold
Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria
Luitpold , perhaps of the Huosi family or related to the Carolingian dynasty by Liutswind, mother of Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia, was the ancestor of the Luitpolding dynasty which ruled Bavaria and Carinthia until the mid-tenth century.In 893, he was appointed margrave in the March of Carinthia...
, Count of Scheyern, who possessed large Bavarian domains, ruled the Mark of Carinthia, created on the southeastern frontier for the defence of Bavaria. He died in the great battle of 907, but his son Arnulf, surnamed the Bad, rallied the remnants of the tribe, drove back the Hungarians, and became duke of the Bavarians in 911, uniting Bavaria and Carinthia under his rule. The German king Conrad I
Conrad I of Germany
Conrad I , called the Younger, was Duke of Franconia from 906 and King of Germany from 911 to 918, the only king of the Conradine dynasty...
unsuccessfully attacked Arnulf when the latter refused to acknowledge his royal supremacy.
Duchy during the Ottonian and Salian periods
In 920 Conrad's successor as German king, Henry the Fowler of the OttonianOttonian
The Ottonian dynasty was a dynasty of Germanic Kings , named after its first emperor but also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin. The family itself is also sometimes known as the Liudolfings, after its earliest known member Liudolf and one of its primary leading-names...
dynasty, recognized Arnulf as duke, confirming his right to appoint bishops, coin money and issue laws.
A similar conflict took place between Arnulf's son and successor Eberhard
Eberhard, Duke of Bavaria
Eberhard was the eldest son and successor of Arnulf the Bad, duke of Bavaria . His dukeship was short, however, for he was banished by King Otto the Great in 938....
and Henry's son Otto I the Great. Eberhard proved less successful than his father, and in 938 fled from Bavaria, which Otto granted (with reduced privileges) to the late duke's uncle, Bertold. Otto also appointed a count palatine
Count palatine
Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...
in the person of Eberhard's brother Arnulf to watch the royal interests.
When Bertold died in 947, Otto conferred the duchy upon his own brother Henry
Henry I, Duke of Bavaria
Henry I was Duke of Bavaria.He was the second son of the German King Henry the Fowler and his wife Matilda. He attempted a revolt against his older brother Otto I in 938 in alliance with Eberhard of Franconia and Giselbert of Lorraine, believing he had a claim on the throne. In 939 he was defeated...
, who had married Judith, a daughter of Duke Arnulf. The Bavarians disliked Henry, who spent his short reign mainly in disputes with his people.
The ravages of the Hungarians ceased after their defeat on the Lechfeld
Battle of Lechfeld
The Battle of Lechfeld , often seen as the defining event for holding off the incursions of the Hungarians into Western Europe, was a decisive victory by Otto I the Great, King of the Germans, over the Hungarian leaders, the harka Bulcsú and the chieftains Lél and Súr...
(955), and the area of the duchy temporarily grew with the addition of certain adjacent districts in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Henry II, Duke of Bavaria
Henry II , called the Wrangler or the Quarrelsome, in German Heinrich der Zänker, was the son of Henry I and Judith of Bavaria.- Biography :...
, surnamed the Quarrelsome, succeeded him, but in 974 he became involved in a conspiracy against King Otto II
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Early years and co-ruler with Otto I:...
. The rising occurred because the king had granted the duchy of Swabia to Henry's enemy, Otto
Otto I, Duke of Bavaria
Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria was the son of Liodolf of Swabia and his wife Ida, and thus a grandson of the Emperor Otto I and his Anglo-Saxon wife Eadgyth...
, a grandson of Emperor Otto the Great, and had given the new Bavarian Eastern March, subsequently known as Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, to Leopold, count of Babenberg
Babenberg
Originally from Bamberg in Franconia, now northern Bavaria, an apparent branch of the Babenbergs or Babenberger went on to rule Austria as counts of the march and dukes from 976–1248, before the rise of the house of Habsburg.-One or two families:...
. The revolt soon failed, but Henry, who on his escape from prison renewed his plots, formally lost his duchy of Bavaria in 976 to Otto, Duke of Swabia. At the same time Carinthia was made a separate duchy, the office of Count Palatine was reestablished, and the Bavarian church became dependent on the king instead of on the duke.
Restored in 985, Henry proved himself a capable ruler by establishing internal order, issuing important laws and taking measures to reform the monasteries. His son and successor, chosen German king as Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
in 1002, gave Bavaria to his brother-in-law Henry
Henry V, Duke of Bavaria
Henry , of the House of Luxembourg, was the count of Luxembourg from 998 and the duke of Bavaria from 1004...
of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, after whose death in 1026 it passed successively to Henry, afterwards Emperor Henry III
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
, and then to another member of the family of Luxembourg, ruling as Duke Henry VII
Henry VII, Duke of Bavaria
Henry VII was the count of Luxembourg from 1026 and duke of Bavaria from 1042 until his death. He was the son of Frederick, count of Moselgau, and possibly Ermentrude of Gleiberg....
. In 1061, Empress Agnes
Agnes de Poitou
Agnes of Poitou, Agnes of Aquitaine or Empress Agnes was Holy Roman Empress and regent of the Holy Roman Empire from 1056 to 1062.-Family:...
, mother of and regent for the German king Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
, entrusted the duchy to Otto of Nordheim
Otto of Nordheim
Otto of Northeim was Duke of Bavaria from 1061 until 1070. He was one of the leaders of the Saxon revolt against Emperor Henry IV....
.
Under the Welfs
In 1070, King Henry IV deposed duke Otto, granting the duchy to Count WelfWelf I, Duke of Bavaria
Welf I was duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death. He was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. In the Welf genealogy he is counted as Welf IV.-Life and reign:...
, a member of an influential Bavarian family with roots in northern Italy.
In consequence of his support of Pope Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII
Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...
in his quarrel with Henry, Welf lost but subsequently regained Bavaria; two of his sons followed him in succession: Welf II
Welf II, Duke of Bavaria
Welf II , or Welfhard, called Welf the Fat, was duke of Bavaria from 1101 until his death. In the Welf genealogy, he is counted as Welf V.-Life and reign:...
from 1101 and Henry IX
Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria
Henry IX , called the Black, a member of the House of Welf, was duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126.-Life and reign:...
from 1120. Both exercised considerable influence among the German princes.
Henry IX's son Henry X
Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
thumb|right|Henry X in a much later engraving.Henry the Proud was the Duke of Bavaria , Duke of Saxony , and Margrave of Tuscany .-Life and reign:...
, called the Proud, succeeded in 1126, and also obtained the Duchy of Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
in 1137. Alarmed at this prince's power, King Conrad III
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
refused to allow two duchies to remain in the same hands, and declared Henry deposed. He bestowed Bavaria upon Leopold IV, Margrave of Austria. When Leopold died in 1141, the king retained the duchy himself; but it continued to be the scene of considerable disorder, and in 1143 he entrusted it to Henry, surnamed Jasomirgott, Margrave of Austria.
The struggle for its possession continued until 1156, when Emperor Frederick I
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
, in his desire to restore peace to Germany, persuaded Henry to give up Bavaria to Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
, duke of Saxony and son of Henry the Proud. In return, Austria was elevated from a margraviate to an independent duchy in the Privilegium Minus
Privilegium Minus
The Privilegium Minus is a document issued by Emperor Frederick I on September 17, 1156. It included the elevation of the Margraviate of Austria to a Duchy, which was given as an inheritable fief to the House of Babenberg. Its recipient was Frederick's paternal uncle Margrave Henry II Jasomirgott...
. It was Henry the Lion who founded Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Geographic fluctuations
During the years following the dissolution of the Carolingian empire the borders of Bavaria changed continually, and for a lengthy period after 955 expanded. To the west the LechLech River
The Lech is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube in length with a drainage basin of .Its source is located in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where the river rises from lake Formarinsee in the Alps at an altitude of...
still divided Bavaria from Swabia, but on three other sides Bavaria took advantage of opportunities for expansion, and the duchy occupied a considerable area north of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. During the later years of the rule of the Welf
Elder House of Welf
The Elder House of Welf was a dynasty of European rulers in the 9th through 11th centuries to 1055. It consisted of two groups, a Burgundian group and a Swabian group. It is disputed whether the two groups formed one dynasty or whether they shared the same name by coincidence only.-Burgundian...
s, however, a contrary tendency operated, and the extent of Bavaria shrank. The immense energies of Duke Henry the Lion focused on his northern duchy of Saxony rather than on his southern duchy of Bavaria, and when the dispute over the Bavarian succession ended in 1156, the district between the Enns
Enns River
The Enns is a southern tributary of the Danube River, joining northward at Enns, Austria. The Enns River spans , in a flat-J-shape. It flows from its source near the towns of Gasthofalm and Flachau, generally eastward through Radstadt, Schladming, and Liezen, then turns north near Hieflau, to flow...
and the Inn
Inn River
The Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube and is approximately 500km long. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina, at 4,049 metres.- Geography :...
became part of Austria.
The increasing importance of former Bavarian territories like the Mark of Styria (erected into a duchy in 1180) and of the county of Tirol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
had diminished both the actual and the relative strength of Bavaria, which now on almost all sides lacked opportunities for expansion. The neighbouring Duchy of Carinthia
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....
, the large territories of the Archbishop of Salzburg, as well as a general tendency to claim more independence on the part of both clerical and lay nobles: all these cramped Bavarian expansionism.
Under the Wittelsbach dynasty
A new era began when, in consequence of Henry the Lion being placed under an imperial ban in 1180, Emperor Frederick I awarded the duchy to OttoOtto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
Otto I , called the Redhead , was Duke of Bavaria from 1180 until his death. He was the first Bavarian ruler from the House of Wittelsbach, a dynasty which reigned until the abdication of King Ludwig III of Bavaria in the German Revolution of 1918.-Biography:Duke Otto I was probably born at...
, a member of the old Bavarian family of Wittelsbach
Wittelsbach
The Wittelsbach family is a European royal family and a German dynasty from Bavaria.Members of the family served as Dukes, Electors and Kings of Bavaria , Counts Palatine of the Rhine , Margraves of Brandenburg , Counts of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland , Elector-Archbishops of Cologne , Dukes of...
, and a descendant of the counts of Scheyern. The Wittelsbach dynasty ruled Bavaria without interruption until 1918. Also the Electoral Palatinate was acquired by the Wittelsbach in 1214.
When Otto of Wittelsbach gained Bavaria at Altenburg in September 1180 the duchy's borders comprised the Böhmerwald
Bohemian Forest
The Bohemian Forest, also known in Czech as Šumava , is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria in Germany...
, the Inn, the Alps and the Lech; and the duke exercised practical power only over his extensive private domains around Wittelsbach
Wittelsbach
The Wittelsbach family is a European royal family and a German dynasty from Bavaria.Members of the family served as Dukes, Electors and Kings of Bavaria , Counts Palatine of the Rhine , Margraves of Brandenburg , Counts of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland , Elector-Archbishops of Cologne , Dukes of...
, Kelheim
Kelheim
Kelheim is a municipality in Bavaria, capital of the district Kelheim. It is situated at the confluence of Altmühl and Danube. As of June 30, 2005, the town had a population of 15,667....
and Straubing
Straubing
Straubing is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held....
.
Otto only enjoyed his rule for three years. His son Louis I succeeded him in 1183, played a leading part in German affairs during the early years of the reign of the emperor Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
, and died (assassinated) at Kelheim in September 1231. His son Otto II
Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
Otto II of Bavaria was the Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine . He was a son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty.- Biography :...
, called the Illustrious, the next duke, found that his loyalty to the Hohenstaufen
Hohenstaufen
The House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings in the High Middle Ages, lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufens also became Kings of Sicily...
emperors saw himself placed under a papal ban and Bavaria placed under an interdict
Interdict (Roman Catholic Church)
In Roman Catholic canon law, an interdict is an ecclesiastical censure that excludes from certain rites of the Church individuals or groups, who nonetheless do not cease to be members of the Church.-Distinctions in canon law:...
. Like his father, Otto II increased the area of his lands by purchases, and he considerably strengthened his hold upon the duchy before he died in November 1253.
Partitions
The first of these divisions occurred in 1255. Louis II
Louis II, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Louis II of Bavaria was Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1253. Born in Heidelberg, he was a son of duke Otto II and Agnes of the Palatinate...
and Henry XIII
Henry XIII, Duke of Bavaria
Henry XIII of Bavaria, member of the Wittelsbach dynasty was Duke of Lower Bavaria. As Duke of Lower Bavaria he is also called Henry I.- Family :...
, the sons of Duke Otto II, who for two years after their father's death had ruled Bavaria jointly, split their inheritance: Louis II obtained the western part of the duchy, afterwards called Upper Bavaria, but also the Electoral Palatinate and Henry secured eastern or Lower Bavaria.
Lower Eastern Bavaria
Henry X of Lower Eastern Bavaria spent most of his time in quarrels with his brother, with Ottakar II of Bohemia and with various ecclesiastics. When he died in February 2000 BC, the land fell to his three sons, Otto IIOtto I, Duke of Bavaria
Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria was the son of Liodolf of Swabia and his wife Ida, and thus a grandson of the Emperor Otto I and his Anglo-Saxon wife Eadgyth...
, Louis III, and Stephen XVIII. The families of these three princes governed Lower Bavaria until 1833, when Henry XL (son of Otto XL) died, followed in 1734 by his cousin Otto V; and as both died without sons the whole of Lower Eastern Bavaria then passed to Henry XVILA. Dying in 1539, Henry left an only son, John II
John II, Duke of Bavaria
Duke John II of Bavaria-Munich , , since 1375 Duke of Bavaria-Munich. He was the third son of Stephen II and Elizabeth of Sicily.-Family:...
, who died childless in the following year, when the Wittelsbach emperor Louis IV0, by securing Lower Eastern Bavaria for himself, united the whole of the duchy under his sway.
Upper Bavaria
In the course of a long reign Louis II, called "the Stern", became the most powerful prince in southern Germany. He served as the guardian of his nephew ConradinConradin
Conrad , called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin , was the Duke of Swabia , King of Jerusalem , and King of Sicily .-Early childhood:Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad...
of Hohenstaufen, and after Conradin's execution in Italy in 1268, Louis and his brother Henry inherited the domains of the Hohenstaufen in Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
and elsewhere. He supported Rudolph, count of Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
, in his efforts to secure the German throne in 1273, married the new king's daughter Mechtild, and aided him in campaigns in Bohemia and elsewhere.
Rudolf I, Duke of Bavaria
Rudolf I of Bavaria , a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine...
and Louis
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Louis IV , called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was the King of Germany from 1314, the King of Italy from 1327 and the Holy Roman Emperor from 1328....
, afterwards the emperor Louis IV, ruled their duchy in common; but as their relations were never harmonious a division of Upper Bavaria occurred in 1310, by which Rudolph received the land east of the Isar
Isar
The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria and Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald, and flows through Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching the Danube near Deggendorf. At 295 km in length, it is the fourth largest river...
together with the town of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and Louis the district between the Isar and the Lech. It was not long, however, before this arrangement led to war between the brothers, with the outcome that in 1317, three years after he had become German king, Louis compelled Rudolph to abdicate, and for twelve years ruled alone over the whole of Upper Bavaria. But in 1329 a series of events induced him to conclude the Treaty of Pavia
Treaty of Pavia (1329)
The Treaty of Pavia which divided the House of Wittelsbach two branches, was signed in Pavia in 1329. Under the accord, Emperor Louis IV granted during his stay in Italy the Palatinate including the Bavarian Upper Palatinate to his brother Duke Rudolph's descendants, Rudolph II, Rupert I and...
with Rudolph's sons, Rudolph and Rupert, to whom he transferred the Palatinate of the Rhine (which the Wittelsbach family had owned since 1214) and also a portion of Bavaria north of the Danube, afterwards called the Upper Palatinate
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of Bavaria.- History :The region took its name first in the early 16th century, because it was by the Treaty of Pavia one of the main portions of the territory of the Wittelsbach Elector...
(Oberpfalz).
At the same time the two lines of the Wittelsbach family decided to exercise the electoral vote alternately, and that in the event of the extinction of either branch of the family, the surviving branch should inherit its possessions.
The consolidation of Bavaria under Louis IV. lasted for seven years, during which the emperor was able to improve the condition of the country. When he died in 1347 he left six sons to share his possessions, who agreed upon a division of Bavaria in 1349. Its history, however, was complicated by its connections with Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, Holland, Hainaut
County of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut was a historical region in the Low Countries with its capital at Mons . In English sources it is often given the archaic spelling Hainault....
and Tirol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
, all of which the emperor had also left to his sons. All the six brothers exercised some authority in Bavaria; but three alone left issue, and of these the eldest, Louis V, Duke of Bavaria
Louis V, Duke of Bavaria
Louis V, Duke of Bavaria, called the Brandenburger was Duke of Bavaria and as Louis I also Margrave of Brandenburg and Count of Tyrol. Louis V was the eldest son of Emperor Louis IV and his first wife Beatrix of Świdnica...
, also margrave of Brandenburg and count of Tyrol, died in 1361; followed to the grave two years later by his only (and childless) son Meinhard
Meinhard III of Gorizia-Tyrol
Meinhard III was Duke of Upper Bavaria and the last Count of Tyrol from the House of Wittelsbach.Meinhard was the son of Duke Louis V of Bavaria with Countess Margaret of Gorizia-Tyrol and as such also the last descendant of Meinhard I, Count of Gorizia .-Biography:Meinhard III was born in Landshut...
. Tyrol then passed to Habsburg. Brandenburg was lost in 1373.
The two remaining brothers, Stephen II
Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Stephen II of Bavaria , after 1347 Duke of Bavaria. He was the second son of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian by his first wife Beatrix of Świdnica and a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty.-Biography:During the reign of Emperor Louis IV his son Stephen served as vogt of Swabia and Alsace...
and Albert I
Albert I, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Albert I or Albrecht KG was a feudal ruler of the counties of Holland, Hainaut, and Zeeland in the Low Countries...
, ruled over Bavaria-Landshut and Bavaria-Straubing respectively, and when Stephen died in 1375 his three sons governed his portion of Bavaria jointly. In 1392, on the extinction of all the lines except those of Stephen and Albert, an important partition took place, which sub-divided the greater part of the duchy amongst Stephen's three sons, Stephen III
Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Stephen III of Bavaria was a Duke of Bavaria since 1375. He was the eldest son of Stephen II and Elizabeth of Sicily.-Family:...
, Frederick
Frederick, Duke of Bavaria
Frederick was Duke of Bavaria from 1375. He was the second son of Stephen II and Elizabeth of Sicily.-Family:His maternal grandparents were Frederick III of Sicily and Eleanor of Anjou...
and John II
John II, Duke of Bavaria
Duke John II of Bavaria-Munich , , since 1375 Duke of Bavaria-Munich. He was the third son of Stephen II and Elizabeth of Sicily.-Family:...
, who founded respectively the lines of Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
, Landshut
Landshut
Landshut is a city in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany, belonging to both Eastern and Southern Bavaria. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also the seat of the...
and Munich.
The main result of the threefold division of 1392 proved a succession of civil wars which led to the temporary eclipse of Bavaria as a force in German politics. Neighbouring states encroached upon its borders, and the nobles ignored the authority of the dukes, who, deprived of the electoral vote, were mainly occupied for fifty years with internal strife.
This condition of affairs, however, had some benefits. The government of the country and the control of the finances passed mainly into the hands of an assembly called the Landtag or Landschaft, organized in 1392. The towns, assuming a certain independence, became strong and wealthy as trade increased, and the citizens of Munich and Regensburg often proved formidable antagonists to the dukes. Thus a period of disorder saw the growth of representative institutions and the establishment of a strong civic spirit.
Bavaria-Straubing
Albert I's duchy of Bavaria-StraubingBavaria-Straubing
Bavaria-Straubing denotes the widely-scattered territorial inheritance in the Wittelsbach house of Bavaria that were governed by independent dukes of Bavaria-Straubing between 1353 and 1432; a map of these marches and outliers of the Holy Roman Empire, vividly demonstrates the fractionalisation of...
passed with Holland and Hainaut on his death in 1404 to his son William II
William II, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing
Duke William II of Bavaria-Straubing KG was also count William VI of Holland, count William IV of Hainaut and count William V of Zeeland. He ruled from 1404 until 1417, when he died of a dog bite. William was a son of Albert I and Margaret of Brieg.-Biography:William, allied with the Hooks, was...
, and in 1417 to his younger son John III
John III, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing
John III the Pitiless, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing , of the House of Wittelsbach, was first bishop of Liège 1389–1418 and then duke of Bavaria-Straubing and count of Holland and Hainaut 1418–1425...
, who resigned the bishopric of Liège
Bishopric of Liège
The Bishopric of Liège or Prince-Bishopric of Liège was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries in present Belgium. It acquired its status as a prince-bishopric between 980 and 985 when Bishop Notger, who had been the bishop of Liege since 972, acquired the status of Prince-Bishop...
to take up his new position. When John died in 1425 this family became extinct, and after a contest between various claimants, the three remaining branches of the Wittelsbach family Ingolstadt, Landshut and Munich partitioned Bavaria-Straubing between themselves. But Holland and Hainaut passed to Burgundy.
Bavaria-Ingolstadt
Stephen III, duke of Bavaria-IngolstadtBavaria-Ingolstadt
Bavaria-Ingolstadt was a duchy which was part of the Holy Roman Empire from 1392 to 1447.-History:After the death of Stephen II in 1375, his sons Stephen III, Frederick, and John II jointly ruled Bavaria-Landshut. After seventeen years, the brothers decided to formally divide their inheritance...
, achieved renown rather as a soldier than as a statesman; and his rule saw struggles with various towns, and with his brother, John of Bavaria-Munich. On his death in 1413 his son Louis VII
Louis VII, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Louis VII of Bavaria was Duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt from 1413 until 1443. He was a son of Stephen III and Taddea Visconti.-Biography:...
, called the Bearded, succeeded. Before his accession, this restless and quarrelsome prince, had played an important part in the affairs of France, where his sister Isabella had married King Charles VI
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
. About 1417 he became involved in a violent quarrel with his cousin, Henry XVI of Bavaria-Landshut
Henry XVI of Bavaria
Henry XVI of Bavaria , , since 1393 Duke of Bavaria-Landshut. He was a son of duke Frederick and his wife Maddalena Visconti, a daughter of Bernabò Visconti.-Life:...
, fell under both the papal and the imperial ban, and in 1439 came under attack from his son, Louis VIII the Lame. This prince, who had married a daughter of Frederick I of Hohenzollern, margrave of Brandenburg, very much disliked the favour shown by his father to an illegitimate son. Aided by Albert Achilles, afterwards margrave of Brandenburg, he took the elder Louis prisoner and compelled him to abdicate in 1443. When Louis the Lame died in 1445 his father came into the power of his implacable enemy, Henry of Bavaria-Landshut, and died in prison in 1447.
Bavaria-Landshut
The duchy of Bavaria-Ingolstadt passed to Henry, who had succeeded his father Frederick as duke of Bavaria-LandshutBavaria-Landshut
-History:The creation of the duchy was the result of the death of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian. In the Treaty of Landsberg 1349, which divided up Louis's empire, his sons Stephen, William, and Albert were to receive jointly Lower Bavaria and the Netherlands. Four years later the inheritance was...
in 1393, and whose long reign comprised almost entirely family feuds. He died in July 1450, and his son, Louis IX
Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria
Louis IX , was Duke of Bavaria-Landshut from 1450. He was a son of Henry XVI the Rich and Margaret of Austria.-Biography:Louis succeeded his father in 1450...
(called the Rich) succeeded. About this time Bavaria began to recover some of its former importance.
Louis IX expelled the Jews from his duchy, increased the security of traders, and improved both the administration of justice and the condition of the finances. In 1472 he founded the university of Ingolstadt
University of Ingolstadt
The University of Ingolstadt was founded in 1472 by Louis the Rich, the Duke of Bavaria at the time, and its first Chancellor was the Bishop of Eichstätt. It consisted of five faculties: humanities, sciences, theology, law and medicine, all of which were contained in the Hoheschule...
, attempted to reform the monasteries, and successfully defeated Albert Achilles of Brandenburg. On the death of Louis IX in January 1479 his son George
George of Bavaria
George of Bavaria referred to as the Rich , was the last Duke of Bavaria-Landshut...
, also called the Rich, succeeded; and when George, a faithful adherent of the German king Maximilian I, died without sons in December 1503, a war broke out for the possession of his duchy.
Bavaria-Munich
Bavaria-Munich
-History:After the death of Stephen II in 1375, his sons Stephen III, Frederick, and John II jointly ruled Bavaria-Landshut. After seventeen years, the brothers decided to formally divide their inheritance. John received Bavaria-Munich, Stephen received Bavaria-Ingolstadt, while Frederick kept...
passed on the death of John II in 1397 to his sons Ernest
Ernest, Duke of Bavaria
Ernest of Bavaria-Munich , , from 1397 Duke of Bavaria-Munich.-Biography:Ernest was a son of John II and ruled the duchy of Bavaria-Munich together with his brother William III....
and William III, but they only obtained possession of their lands after a struggle with Stephen of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. Both brothers then engaged in warfare with the other branches of the family and with the citizens of Munich. William III, a loyal servant of the emperor Sigismund, died in 1435, leaving an only son, Adolf, who died five years later; and Ernest, distinguished for his bodily strength, died in 1438. In 1440 the whole of Bavaria-Munich came to Ernest's son Albert III
Albert III, Duke of Bavaria
Albert III the Pious of Bavaria-Munich , , since 1438 Duke of Bavaria-Munich. He was born to Ernest, Duke of Bavaria and Elisabetta Visconti, daughter of Bernabò Visconti.-Life:Albert was born in Munich....
, who had become estranged from his father owing to his union with the unfortunate Agnes Bernauer
Agnes Bernauer
Agnes Bernauer was the mistress and perhaps also the first wife of Albert, later Albert III, Duke of Bavaria...
. Albert, whose attempts to reform the monasteries earned for him the surname of Pious, almost became the elected king of Bohemia in 1440. He died in 1460, leaving five sons, the two elder of whom, John IV
John IV, Duke of Bavaria
John IV. of Bavaria-Munich , was duke of Bavaria-Munich from 1460 until his death.-Biography:...
and Sigismund
Sigismund of Bavaria
Sigismund of Bavaria was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty. He ruled as Duke of Bavaria-Munich from 1460 to 1467, and then as Duke of Bavaria-Dachau until his death.-Biography:...
, reigned in common until the death of John in 1463. The third brother, Albert, who had been educated for the church, joined his brother in 1465, and when Sigismund abdicated two years later became sole ruler in spite of the claims of his two younger brothers.
Albert IV
Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Albert IV of Bavaria-Munich , , from 1467 Duke of Bavaria-Munich, from 1503 Duke of the reunited Bavaria.-Biography:...
, called the Wise, added the district of Abensberg
Abensberg
Abensberg is a town in the Lower Bavarian district of Kelheim, in Bavaria, Germany, lying around 30 km southwest of Regensburg, 40 km east of Ingolstadt, 50 northwest of Landshut and 100 km north of Munich...
to his possessions, and in 1504 became involved in the Landshut War of Succession
Landshut War of Succession
The Landshut War of Succession resulted from an agreement between the duchies of Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut . The agreement concerned the law of succession when one of the two Dukes should die without a male heir...
which broke out for the possession of Bavaria-Landshut on the death of George the Rich. Albert's rival was George's son-in-law, Rupert, formerly bishop of Freising, and also successor of Philip, count palatine of the Rhine. The emperor Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
, interested as archduke of Austria and count of Tirol, interfered in the dispute. Rupert died in 1504, and the following year an arrangement was made at the Diet of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
by which the emperor and Philip's grandson, Otto Henry, obtained certain outlying districts, while Albert by securing the bulk of George's possessions united Bavaria under his rule. In 1506 Albert decreed that the duchy should pass according to the rules of primogeniture, and endeavoured in other ways also to consolidate Bavaria. He was partially successful in improving the condition of the country; and in 1500 Bavaria formed one of the six circles into which Germany was divided for the maintenance of peace. He died in March 1508, and was succeeded by his son, William IV
William IV, Duke of Bavaria
William IV of Bavaria was Duke of Bavaria from 1508 to 1550, until 1545 together with his younger brother Louis X, Duke of Bavaria....
, whose mother, Kunigunde, was a daughter of the emperor Frederick III.
Renaissance and Counter-Reformation
In spite of the decree of 1506 William IV was compelled in 1516, after a violent quarrel, to grant a share in the government to his brother Louis XLouis X, Duke of Bavaria
Louis X , was Duke of Bavaria , together with his older brother William IV, Duke of Bavaria...
, an arrangement which lasted until the death of Louis in 1545.
William followed the traditional Wittelsbach policy of opposition to the Habsburgs until in 1534 he made a treaty at Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
with Ferdinand
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
, king of Hungary and Bohemia. This link strengthened in 1546, when the emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
obtained the help of the duke during the war of the league of Schmalkalden
Schmalkaldic League
The Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
by promising him in certain eventualities the succession to the Bohemian throne, and the electoral dignity enjoyed by the count palatine of the Rhine. William also did much at a critical period to secure Bavaria for Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. The reformed doctrines had made considerable progress in the duchy when the duke obtained from the pope extensive rights over the bishoprics and monasteries, and took measures to repress the reformers, many of whom were banished; while the Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, whom he invited into the duchy in 1541, made the university of Ingolstadt
University of Ingolstadt
The University of Ingolstadt was founded in 1472 by Louis the Rich, the Duke of Bavaria at the time, and its first Chancellor was the Bishop of Eichstätt. It consisted of five faculties: humanities, sciences, theology, law and medicine, all of which were contained in the Hoheschule...
their headquarters for Germany. William, whose death occurred in March 1550, was succeeded by his son Albert V
Albert V, Duke of Bavaria
Albert V was Duke of Bavaria from 1550 until his death. He was born in Munich to William IV and Marie Jacobaea of Baden.-Early life:Albert was educated at Ingolstadt under good Catholic teachers...
, who had married a daughter of Ferdinand of Habsburg, afterwards the emperor Ferdinand I. Early in his reign Albert made some concessions to the reformers, who were still strong in Bavaria; but about 1563 he changed his attitude, favoured the decrees of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
, and pressed forward the work of the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
. As education passed by degrees into the hands of the Jesuits the progress of Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
was effectually arrested in Bavaria.
Albert V patronised art extensively. Artists of all kinds resorted to his court in Munich, and splendid buildings arose in the city; while Italy and elsewhere contributed to the collection of artistic works. The expenses of a magnificent court led the duke to quarrel with the Landschaft (the nobles), to oppress his subjects, and to leave a great burden of debt when he died in October 1579.
William V, Duke of Bavaria
William V, Duke of Bavaria , called the Pious, was Duke of Bavaria from 1579 to 1597.- Education and early life :...
(called the Pious), had received a Jesuit education and showed keen attachment to Jesuit tenets. He secured the archbishopric of Cologne
Archbishopric of Cologne
The Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne . It was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as prince-elector of...
for his brother Ernest
Ernest of Bavaria
Ernest of Bavaria was Prince-elector-archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne from 1583 to 1612 as successor of the expelled Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. He was also bishop of Münster, Hildesheim, Freising and Liège....
in 1583, and this dignity remained in the possession of the family for nearly 200 years. In 1597 he abdicated in favour of his son Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian I, Duke/Elector of Bavaria , called "the Great", was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War ....
, and retired into a monastery, where he died in 1626.
Thirty Years' War
Maximilian I found the duchy encumbered with debt and filled with disorder, but ten years of his vigorous rule effected a remarkable change. The finances and the judicial system were reorganised, a class of civil servants and a national militia founded, and several small districts were brought under the duke's authority. The result was a unity and order in the duchy which enabled Maximilian to play an important part in the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
; during the earlier years of which he was so successful as to acquire the Upper Palatinate
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of Bavaria.- History :The region took its name first in the early 16th century, because it was by the Treaty of Pavia one of the main portions of the territory of the Wittelsbach Elector...
and the electoral dignity
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
which had been enjoyed since 1356 by the elder branch of the Wittelsbach family. In spite of subsequent reverses, Maximilian retained these gains at the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
in 1648. During the later years of this war Bavaria, especially the northern part, suffered severely. In 1632 the Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
invaded, and when Maximilian violated the treaty of Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
in 1647, the French and the Swedes ravaged the land. After repairing this damage to some extent, the elector died at Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
in September 1651, leaving his duchy much stronger than he had found it. The recovery of the Upper Palatinate made Bavaria compact; the acquisition of the electoral vote made it influential; and the duchy was able to play a part in European politics which internal strife had rendered impossible for the past four hundred years.
Absolutism
Whatever lustre the international position won by Maximilian IMaximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian I, Duke/Elector of Bavaria , called "the Great", was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War ....
might add to the ducal house, on Bavaria itself its effect during the next two centuries was more dubious. Maximilian's son, Ferdinand Maria
Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria
Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 1651 to 1679.-Biography:He was born in Munich...
(1651–1679), who was a minor when he succeeded, did much indeed to repair the wounds caused by the Thirty Years' War, encouraging agriculture and industries, and building or restoring numerous churches and monasteries. In 1669, moreover, he again called a meeting of the diet, which had been suspended since 1612.
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian II , also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last Governor of the Spanish Netherlands and duke of Luxembourg...
(1679–1726), whose far-reaching ambition set him warring against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and, on the side of France, in the great struggle of the Spanish succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
. He shared in the defeat at the Battle of Blenheim
Battle of Blenheim
The Battle of Blenheim , fought on 13 August 1704, was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV of France sought to knock Emperor Leopold out of the war by seizing Vienna, the Habsburg capital, and gain a favourable peace settlement...
, near Höchstädt
Höchstädt an der Donau
Höchstädt an der Donau is a town in the district of Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated near the banks of the River Danube. It consists of the following neighborhoods: Höchstädt an der Donau, Deisenhofen, Oberglauheim, Schwennenbach and Sonderheim....
, on 13 August 1704; his dominions were temporarily partitioned between Austria and the elector palatine by the Treaty of Ilbersheim
Treaty of Ilbersheim
The Treaty of Ilbersheim was signed on November 7, 1704, after the Battle of Blenheim. It had the effect of removing Bavaria from the War of the Spanish Succession. By the terms of the treaty, Bavaria was essentially placed under military occupation by Austria and the Palatinate, and remained so...
, and only restored to him, harried and exhausted, at the peace of Baden in 1714; the first Bavarian peasant insurrection
Bavarian People's Uprising
The Bavarian People's Uprising, or Bavarian Popular Uprising is the name of a revolt in 1705-06 against the Austrian occupation during the War of Spanish Succession . It lasted from early November 1705 to 18 January 1706, approximately 75 days. Henric L...
, known as the Bloody Christmas of Sendling, having been crushed by the Austrian occupiers in 1706.
Untaught by Maximilian II Emmanuel's experience, his son, Charles Albert
Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VII Albert a member of the Wittelsbach family, was Prince-elector of Bavaria from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from 24 January 1742 until his death in 1745...
(1726–1745), devoted all his energies to increasing the European prestige and power of his house. The death of the emperor Charles VI
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
proved his opportunity: he disputed the validity of the Pragmatic Sanction
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713
The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 was an edict issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI to ensure that the throne of the Archduchy of Austria could be inherited by a daughter....
which secured the Habsburg succession to Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
, allied himself with France, conquered Upper Austria, was crowned king of Bohemia at Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and, in 1742, emperor at Frankfurt. The price he had to pay, however, was the occupation of Bavaria itself by Austrian troops; and, though the invasion of Bohemia in 1744 by Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
enabled him to return to Munich, at his death on 20 January 1745 it was left to his successor to make what terms he could for the recovery of his dominions.
Maximilian III Joseph
Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian III Joseph was Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria from 1745 to 1777.-Biography:...
(1745–1777), by the peace of Füssen
Füssen
Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu situated from the Austrian border. It is located on the banks of the Lech river. The River Lech flows into the Forggensee...
signed on 22 April 1745, obtained the restitution of his dominions in return for a formal acknowledgment of the Pragmatic Sanction. He was a man of enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, did much to encourage agriculture, industries and the exploitation of the mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
wealth of the country, founded the Academy of Sciences
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject...
at Munich, and abolished the Jesuit censorship of the press. At his death, without issue, on 30 December 1777, the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbachs became extinct, and the succession passed to Charles Theodore
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria
Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...
, the elector palatine. After a separation of four and a half centuries, the Palatinate, to which the duchies of Jülich
Duchy of Jülich
The Duchy of Jülich comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay left of the Rhine river between the Electorate of Cologne in the east and the Duchy of Limburg in the west. It had territories on both sides of the river Rur, around its capital...
and Berg had been added, was thus reunited with Bavaria.
Palatinate-Bavaria
So great an accession of strength to a neighbouring state, whose ambition she had so recently had just reason to fear, proved intolerable to Austria, which laid claim to a number of lordships —forming one-third of the whole Bavarian inheritance — as lapsed fiefs of the Bohemian, Austrian, and imperial crowns. These were at once occupied by Austrian troops, with the secret consent of Charles Theodore himself, who was without legitimate heirs, and wished to obtain from the emperor the elevation of his natural children to the status of princes of the Empire. The protests of the next heir, Charles II, Duke of ZweibrückenCharles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken
Charles II/III August Christian was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1775 to 1795. He was the son of Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Maria Franziska of Sulzbach...
(Deux-Ponts), supported by the king of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, led to the War of Bavarian Succession
War of Bavarian Succession
The War of the Bavarian Succession was fought between the Habsburg Monarchy and a Saxon–Prussian alliance to prevent the Habsburg acquisition of the Duchy of Bavaria. The war had no battles beyond a few minor skirmishes, but still resulted in significant casualties, as several thousand soldiers...
. By the peace of Teschen
Treaty of Teschen
The Treaty of Teschen was signed on May 13, 1779, in Cieszyn , Austrian Silesia, between Austria and Prussia, which officially ended the War of the Bavarian Succession sparked by the death of Elector Maximilian III Joseph...
(13 May 1779) the Innviertel
Innviertel
The Innviertel is a traditional Austrian region south-east of the Inn river. It forms the western part of the state of Upper Austria and borders the German state of Bavaria...
was ceded to Austria, and the succession secured to Charles of Zweibrücken.
For Bavaria itself Charles Theodore did less than nothing. He felt himself a foreigner among foreigners, and his favourite scheme, the subject of endless intrigues with the Austrian cabinet and the immediate cause of Frederick II
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
's League of Princes
Fürstenbund
The Fürstenbund was a union of German minor princes in the Holy Roman Empire. It was formed in 1785 under the leadership of Frederick II of Prussia, to oppose the ambition of Emperor Joseph II to add Bavaria to the Habsburg domains....
(Fürstenbund) of 1785, was to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands and the title of king of Burgundy
Kingdom of Burgundy
Burgundy is a historic region in Western Europe that has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities - the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century - have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy; a third was very...
. For the rest, the enlightened internal policy of his predecessor was abandoned. The funds of the suppressed order of Jesus, which Maximilian Joseph had destined for the reform of the educational system of the country, were used to endow a province of the knights of St John of Jerusalem
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
, for the purpose of combating the enemies of the faith. The government was inspired by the narrowest clericalism, which culminated in the attempt to withdraw the Bavarian bishops from the jurisdiction of the great German metropolitans and place them directly under that of the pope. On the eve of the Revolution the intellectual and social condition of Bavaria remained that of the Middle Ages.
Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
. Charles Theodore
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria
Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...
, who had done nothing to prevent wars or to resist the invasion, fled to Saxony, leaving a regency, the members of which signed a convention with Moreau, by which he granted an armistice in return for a heavy contribution (7 September 1796).
Between the French and the Austrians, Bavaria was now in a bad situation. Before the death of Charles Theodore (16 February 1799) the Austrians had again occupied the country, in preparation for renewing the war with France. Maximilian IV Joseph (of Zweibrücken), the new elector, succeeded to a difficult inheritance. Though his own sympathies, and those of his all-powerful minister, Maximilian von Montgelas
Maximilian von Montgelas
Maximilian Josef Garnerin, Count von Montgelas was a Bavarian statesman, from a noble family in Savoy. His father John Sigmund Garnerin, Baron Montgelas, entered the military service of Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria, and married the Countess Ursula von Trauner...
, were, if anything, French rather than Austrian, the state of the Bavarian finances, and the fact that the Bavarian troops were scattered and disorganized, placed him helpless in the hands of Austria; on 2 December 1800 the Bavarian arms were involved in the Austrian defeat at Hohenlinden
Battle of Hohenlinden (1800)
The Battle of Hohenlinden was fought on 3 December 1800 during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French army under Jean Victor Marie Moreau won a decisive victory over the Austrians and Bavarians led by Archduke John of Austria. After being forced into a disastrous retreat, the allies were compelled...
, and Moreau once more occupied Munich. By the Treaty of Lunéville
Treaty of Lunéville
The Treaty of Lunéville was signed on 9 February 1801 between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, negotiating both on behalf of his own domains and of the Holy Roman Empire...
(9 February 1801) Bavaria lost the Palatinate and the duchies of Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.- Name :Zweibrücken appears in Latin texts as Geminus Pons and Bipontum, in French texts as Deux-Ponts. The name derives from Middle High German Zweinbrücken...
and Jülich
Duchy of Jülich
The Duchy of Jülich comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay left of the Rhine river between the Electorate of Cologne in the east and the Duchy of Limburg in the west. It had territories on both sides of the river Rur, around its capital...
.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. By the third article of this the First Consul undertook to see that the compensation promised under the 7th article of the treaty of Lunéville for the territory ceded on the left bank of the Rhine, should be carried out at the expense of the Empire in the manner most agreeable to Bavaria (see de Martens, Recueil, vol. vii. p. 365).
In 1803, accordingly, in the territorial rearrangements
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
consequent on Napoleon's suppression of the ecclesiastical states, and of many free cities of the Empire, Bavaria received the bishoprics of Würzburg
Bishopric of Würzburg
The Bishopric of Würzburg was a prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire, located in Lower Franconia, around the city of Würzburg, Germany. Würzburg was a diocese from 743. In the 18th century, its bishop was often also Bishop of Bamberg...
, Bamberg, Augsburg and Freisingen, part of that of Passau, the territories of twelve abbeys, and seventeen cities and villages, the whole forming a compact territory which more than compensated for the loss of her outlying provinces on the Rhine. Montgelas now aspired to raise Bavaria to the rank of a first-rate power, and he pursued this object during the Napoleonic epoch with consummate skill, allowing fully for the preponderance of France — so long as it lasted — but never permitting Bavaria to sink, like so many of the states of the Confederation of the Rhine
Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria's Francis II and Russia's Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the...
, into a mere French dependency. In the war of 1805, in accordance with a treaty of alliance signed at Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
on 23 September, Bavarian troops, for the first time since the days of Charles VII
Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VII Albert a member of the Wittelsbach family, was Prince-elector of Bavaria from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from 24 January 1742 until his death in 1745...
, fought side by side with the French, and by the Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December, the Principality of Eichstädt
Bishopric of Eichstätt
The Bishopric of Eichstätt was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Centered on the town of Eichstätt, it was located in the present-day state of Bavaria, somewhat to the west of Regensburg, to the north of Neuburg an der Donau and Ingolstadt, to the south of Nuremberg, and...
, the Margravate of Burgau
Burgau
Burgau is a town in the district of Günzburg in Swabia, Bavaria. Burgau lies on the river Mindel, and has a population of just under 10,000.- History :The territory around Burgau was originally part of the stem duchy of Swabia...
, the Lordship of Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
, the countships of Hohenems
Hohenems
Hohenems is a town in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg, in the Dornbirn district. It lies in the middle of the Austrian part of the Rhine valley. With a population of 15,200 it is the fifth largest municipality in Vorarlberg...
and Königsegg-Rothenfels
Königsegg-Rothenfels
Königsegg-Rothenfels was a German state in far southwestern Bavaria, Germany, located north of Austria and west of Baden-Württemberg. It was created as a partition of the Barony of Königsegg in 1622, and was raised to a County seven years later...
, the lordships of Argen
Argen
The Argen is a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It flows into Lake Constance between Kressbronn am Bodensee and Langenargen as the third largest tributary to the lake. It is 23.4 km long; if one includes the Upper Argen, the combined length is 51.4 km.- Course :The headwaters of the...
and Tettnang
Tettnang
Tettnang is a town in the Bodensee district in southern Baden-Württemberg in a region of Germany known as Swabia.It lies 7 kilometers from Lake Constance. The region produces significant quantities of hops, an ingredient of beer, and ships them to breweries throughout the world.-History:Tettinang...
, and the city of Lindau
Lindau
Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...
with its territory were to be added to Bavaria. On the other hand Würzburg, obtained in 1803, was to be ceded by Bavaria to the elector of Salzburg in exchange for Tirol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
. By the 1st article of the treaty the emperor acknowledged the assumption by the elector of the title of king, as Maximilian I. The price which Maximilian had reluctantly to pay for this accession of dignity was the marriage of his daughter Augusta with Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and 1st Prince of Eichstätt ad personam was the first child and only son of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la...
. On March 15, 1806 he ceded the Duchy of Berg
Berg (state)
Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.-Ascent:...
to Napoleon.
For the internal constitution of Bavaria also the French alliance had noteworthy consequences. Maximilian himself was an "enlightened
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
" prince of the 18th-century type, whose tolerant principles had already grievously offended his clerical subjects; Montgelas was a firm believer in drastic reform "from above", and, in 1803, had discussed with the rump of the old estates the question of reforms. But the revolutionary changes introduced by the constitution proclaimed on 1 May 1808 were due to the direct influence of Napoleon. A clean sweep was made of the medieval polity surviving in the somnolent local diets and corporations. In place of the old system of privileges and exemptions were set equality before the law, universal liability to taxation, abolition of serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
, security of person and property, liberty of conscience and of the press. A representative assembly was created on paper, based on a narrow franchise and with very limited powers, but was never summoned.
Treaty of Schönbrunn
The Treaty of Schönbrunn , sometimes known as the Treaty of Vienna, was signed between France and Austria at the Schönbrunn Palace of Vienna on 14 October 1809. This treaty ended the Fifth Coalition during the Napoleonic Wars...
in 1809. Often glorified as Tirol's national hero, Andreas Hofer
Andreas Hofer
Andreas Hofer was a Tirolean innkeeper and patriot. He was the leader of a rebellion against Napoleon's forces....
, the leader of the uprising, was executed in 1810 in Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, having lost a third and final battle against the French and Bavarian forces. By the treaty signed at Paris on 28 February 1810 Bavaria ceded southern Tirol to Italy and some small districts to Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, receiving as compensation parts of Salzburg, the Innviertel
Innviertel
The Innviertel is a traditional Austrian region south-east of the Inn river. It forms the western part of the state of Upper Austria and borders the German state of Bavaria...
and Hausruck and the principalities of Bayreuth and Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
. So far the policy of Montgelas had been brilliantly successful; but the star of Napoleon had now reached its zenith, and already the astute opportunist had noted the signs of the coming change.
The events of 1812 followed; in 1813 Bavaria was summoned to join the alliance against Napoleon, the demand being passionately backed by the crown prince Louis and by Marshal Wrede
Karl Philipp von Wrede
Karl Philipp Josef Wrede, Freiherr von Wrede, 1st Fürst von Wrede , Bavarian field-marshal, was born at Heidelberg, the youngest of three children of Ferdinand Josef Wrede , created in 1791 1st Freiherr von Wrede, and wife, married on 21 March 1746, Anna Katharina Jünger , by whom he had two more...
; on 8 October was signed the treaty of Ried
Treaty of Ried
The Treaty of Ried of 8 October 1813 was a treaty that was signed between Bavaria and Austria. By this treaty, Bavaria left the Confederation of the Rhine and agreed to join the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon in exchange for a guarantee of her continued sovereign and independent status. On 14...
, by which Bavaria threw in her lot with the Allies. Montgelas announced to the French ambassador that he had been compelled temporarily to bow before the storm, adding "Bavaria has need of France". (For Bavaria's share in the war see Napoleonic Campaigns.)
Constitution and Revolution
Immediately after the first peace of ParisTreaty of Paris (1814)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...
(1814), Bavaria ceded to Austria the northern Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
and Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
; during the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
it was decided that she was to add to these the greater part of Salzburg
Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
and the Innviertel
Innviertel
The Innviertel is a traditional Austrian region south-east of the Inn river. It forms the western part of the state of Upper Austria and borders the German state of Bavaria...
and Hausruck, receiving as compensation, besides Würzburg
Grand Duchy of Würzburg
The Grand Duchy of Würzburg was a German grand duchy centered on Würzburg existing in the early 19th century.As a consequence of the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, the Bishopric of Würzburg was secularized in 1803 and granted to Bavaria. In the same year Ferdinand III, former Grand Duke of Tuscany, was...
and Aschaffenburg
Principality of Aschaffenburg
The Principality of Aschaffenburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the Confederation of the Rhine from 1803–10. Its capital was Aschaffenburg....
, the Palatinate (region) on the left bank of the Rhine and certain districts of Hesse-Darmstadt
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
and of the former Abbacy of Fulda. But with the collapse of France the old fears and jealousies against Austria revived in full force, and Bavaria only agreed to these cessions (treaty of Munich, 16 April 1816) under the promise that, in the event of the powers ignoring her claim to the Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
succession in favour of that of the line of the counts of Hochberg
Hochberg
Hochberg may refer to* Princely families von Hochberg** Margraves of Baden-Hochberg ** Reichsgrafen of Hochberg-Fürstenstein at castle Fürstenstein near Wałbrzych in Silesia, since 1848 Duke of Pless...
, she should receive also the Palatinate on the right bank of the Rhine. The question was thus left open, the tension between the two powers remained high, and war was only averted by the authority of the Grand Alliance . At the congress of Aix (1818) the question of the Baden succession was settled in favour of the Hochberg line, without the compensation stipulated in the treaty of Munich; and by the treaty of Frankfurt, signed on behalf of the four great powers on 20 July 1819, the territorial issues between Bavaria and Austria were settled, in spite of the protests of the former, in the general sense of the arrangement made at Vienna. A small strip of territory was added, to connect Bavaria with the Palatinate, and Bavarian troops were to garrison the federal fortress of Mainz.
Meanwhile, on 1 February 1817, Montgelas had been dismissed; and Bavaria had entered on a new era of constitutional reform. This implied no breach with the European policy of the fallen minister. In the new German confederation Bavaria had assumed the role of defender of the smaller states against the ambitions of Austria and Prussia, and Montgelas had dreamed of a Bavarian hegemony in South Germany similar to that of Prussia in the north. It was to obtain popular support for this policy and for the Bavarian claims on Baden that the crown prince pressed for a liberal constitution, the reluctance of Montgelas to concede it being the cause of his dismissal.
On 26 May 1818 the constitution was proclaimed. The parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
was to consist of two houses; the first comprising the great hereditary landowners, government officials and nominees of the crown; the second, elected on a very narrow franchise, comprising representatives of the small land-owners, the towns and the peasants. By additional articles the equality of religions was guaranteed and the rights of Protestants safeguarded, concessions which were denounced at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
as a breach of the Concordat
Concordat
A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
, which had been signed immediately before. The result of the constitutional experiment hardly justified the royal expectations; the parliament was hardly opened (5 February 1819) before the doctrinaire radicalism of some of its members, culminating in the demand that the army should swear allegiance to the constitution, so alarmed the king that he appealed to Austria and Germany, undertaking to carry out any repressive measures they might recommend. Prussia, however, refused to approve of any coup d'état; the parliament, chastened by the consciousness that its life depended on the goodwill of the king, moderated its tone; and Maximilian ruled till his death as a model constitutional monarch. On 13 October 1825, his son Ludwig I
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
succeeded him.
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , commonly known as the University of Munich or LMU, is a university in Munich, Germany...
to Munich, which, by his magnificent taste in building, he transformed into one of the most beautiful cities of the continent. The earlier years of his reign were marked by a liberal spirit and the reform, especially, of the financial administration; but the revolutions of 1830
Revolutions of 1830
The 19th century is marked in Europe by a set of civil wars which marks the wake of the European nations and the establishment of nation states.The Revolutions of 1830 were a revolutionary wave in Europe...
frightened him into reaction, which was accentuated by the opposition of the parliament to his expenditure on building and works of art. In 1837 the Ultramontanes came into power with Karl von Abel
Karl von Abel
Karl von Abel was a Bavarian statesman.Born in Wetzlar, Abel was the son of a procurator at the superior Court of Justice...
(1788–1859) as prime minister. The Jesuits now gained the upper hand; one by one the liberal provisions of the constitution were modified or annulled; the Protestants were harried and oppressed; and a rigorous censorship forbade any free discussion of internal politics. The collapse of this régime was due, not to popular agitation, but to the resentment of Ludwig at the clerical opposition to the influence of his mistress, Lola Montez
Lola Montez
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld , better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a "Spanish dancer", courtesan and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Countess of Landsfeld. She used her influence to institute liberal...
. On the 17th of February 1847, Abel was dismissed for publishing his memorandum against the proposal to naturalize Lola, who was an Irishwoman; and the Protestant Georg Ludwig von Maurer
Georg Ludwig von Maurer
Georg Ludwig Maurer, since 1831 Georg Ludwig von Maurer was a German statesman and legal historian.-Biography:Maurer was born at Erpolzheim, near Dürkheim as the son of a Protestant pastor....
took his place. The new ministry granted the certificate of naturalisation; but riots, in which Ultramontane professors of the university took part, resulted. The professors were deprived, the parliament dissolved, and, on 27 November, the ministry dismissed. Lola Montez, created Countess Landsfeld, became supreme in the state; and the new minister, Prince Ludwig of Oettingen-Wallerstein (1791–1870), in spite of his efforts to enlist Liberal sympathy by appeals to pan-German patriotism, was powerless to form a stable government. His cabinet was known as the Lolaministerium; in February 1848, stimulated by the news from Paris (Revolution of 1848 in France), riots broke out against the countess; on 11 March the king dismissed Oettingen, and on 20 March, realizing the force of public opinion against him, abdicated in favour of his son, Maximilian II
Maximilian II of Bavaria
Maximilian II of Bavaria was king of Bavaria from 1848 until 1864. He was son of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.-Crown Prince:...
.
Before his abdication Ludwig had issued, on 6 March 1848, a proclamation promising the zealous co-operation of the Bavarian government in the work of German freedom and unity (see Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
). To the spirit of this Maximilian was faithful, accepting the authority of the central government at Frankfurt, and (19 December) sanctioning the official promulgation of the laws passed by the German parliament. But Prussia was henceforth the enemy, not Austria. In refusing to agree to the offer of the imperial crown to Frederick William IV
Frederick William IV of Prussia
|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...
, Maximilian had the support of his parliament. In withholding his assent to the new German constitution, by which Austria was excluded from the Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
, he ran indeed counter to the sentiment of his people; but by this time the back of the revolution was broken, and in the events which led to the humiliation of Prussia at Olmütz
Punctation of Olmütz
The Punctation of Olmütz , also called the Agreement of Olmütz, was a treaty between Prussia and Austria, dated 29 November 1850, by which Prussia abandoned the Erfurt Union and accepted the revival of the German Confederation under Austrian leadership....
in 1851, and the restoration of the old diet of the Confederation, Bavaria was safe in casting in her lot with Austria (see History of Germany
History of Germany
The concept of Germany as a distinct region in central Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from Gaul , which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the...
).
The guiding spirit in this anti-Prussian policy, which characterised Bavarian statesmanship up to the war of 1866
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
, was Baron Karl Ludwig von der Pfordten
Baron Karl Ludwig von der Pfordten
Ludwig Karl Heinrich Freiherr von der Pfordten was a Saxon and Bavarian attorney and politician.- Biography :...
(1811–1880), who became minister for foreign affairs on 19 April 1849. His idea for the ultimate solution of the question of the balance of power in Germany was the so-called Trias, i.e. a league of the Rhenish states as a counterpoise to the preponderance of Austria and Prussia. In internal affairs his ministry was characterised by a reactionary policy less severe than elsewhere in Germany, which led none-the-less from 1854 onward to a struggle with the parliament, which ended in the dismissal of Pfordten's ministry on 27 March 1859. He was succeeded by Karl Freiherr von Schrenk von Notzing (1806–1884), an official of Liberal tendencies who had been Bavarian representative in the diet of the Confederation. Important reforms were now introduced, including the separation of the judicial and executive powers and the drawing up of a new criminal code. In foreign affairs Schrenk, like his predecessor, aimed at safeguarding the independence of Bavaria, and supported the idea of superseding the actual constitution of the Confederation by a supreme directory, in which Bavaria, as leader of the purely German states, would hold the balance between Prussia and Austria. Bavaria accordingly opposed the Prussian proposals for the reorganisation of the Confederation, and one of the last acts of King Maximilian was to take a conspicuous part in the assembly of princes summoned to Frankfurt in 1863 by the emperor Francis Joseph.
Maximilian was succeeded on 10 March 1864 by his son Ludwig II
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes called the Swan King and der Märchenkönig, the Fairy tale King...
, a youth of eighteen. The government was at first carried on by Schrenk and Pfordten in concert. Schrenk soon retired, when the Bavarian government found it necessary, in order to maintain its position in the Prussian Zollverein
Zollverein
thumb|upright=1.2|The German Zollverein 1834–1919blue = Prussia in 1834 grey= Included region until 1866yellow= Excluded after 1866red = Borders of the German Union of 1828 pink= Relevant others until 1834...
, to become a party to the Prussian commercial treaty with France, signed in 1862. In the complicated Schleswig-Holstein question
Schleswig-Holstein Question
The Schleswig-Holstein Question was a complex of diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century from the relations of two duchies, Schleswig and Holstein , to the Danish crown and to the German Confederation....
Bavaria, under Pfordten's guidance, consistently opposed Prussia, and headed the lesser states in their support of Frederick of Augustenburg
Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
Duke Frederick VIII , succeeded nominally as the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein from 1863 while Prussia actually took overlordship and real administrative power.-Life:...
against the policy of the two great German powers. Finally, in the war of 1866
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
, in spite of Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
's efforts to secure her neutrality, Bavaria sided actively with Austria.
German Empire
The rapid victory of the Prussians and the wise moderation of Bismarck paved the way for a complete revolution in Bavaria's relation to Prussia and the German question. The South German Confederation, contemplated by the 6th article of the Treaty of Prague, never came into being; and, though Prussia, in order not to excite the alarm of France, opposed the suggestion that the southern states should join the North German ConfederationNorth German Confederation
The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...
, the bonds of Bavaria (as of the other southern states) with the north were strengthened by an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia, as the result of Napoleon's demand for "compensation" in the Palatinate. This was signed at Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on 22 August 1866, on the same day as the signature of the formal treaty of peace between the two countries. The separatist ambitions of Bavaria were thus formally given up; she had no longer "need of France"; and during the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, the Bavarian army marched, under the command of the Prussian crown prince, against Germany's common enemy. It was on the proposal of King Ludwig II
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes called the Swan King and der Märchenkönig, the Fairy tale King...
that the imperial crown was offered to King Wilhelm I of Prussia.
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
, due to the promulgation in 1870 of the dogma of papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
. Munich University, where Ignaz von Döllinger was professor, became the centre of the opposition to the new dogma, and the Old Catholics were protected by the king and the government. The federal law expelling the Jesuits was proclaimed in Bavaria on 6 September 1871 and was extended to the Redemptorists in 1873. On 31 March 1871, moreover, the bonds with the rest of the empire had been drawn closer by the acceptance of a number of laws of the North German Confederation, of which the most important was the new criminal code, which was finally put into force in Bavaria in 1879. The opposition of the Patriot Party, however, reinforced by the strong Catholic sentiment of the country, continued powerful, and it was only the steady support given by the king to successive Liberal ministries that prevented its finding disastrous expression in the parliament, where it remained in a greater or less majority till 1887, and subsequently, as the Centre Party
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
, continued to form the most compact party.
Ludwig II, whose passion for building palaces and near-total neglect of his governmental duties were becoming a serious crisis, had been declared insane, and, on 10 June 1886, his uncle, Prince Luitpold
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria , was the de facto ruler of Bavaria from 1886 to 1912, due to the incapacity of his nephews, King Ludwig II and King Otto.-Early life:...
, became regent. Three days later, on 13 June, Ludwig II was found dead in Lake Starnberg
Lake Starnberg
Lake Starnberg , 25 kilometers southwest of Munich in southern Bavaria, is Germany's fifth largest freshwater lake and, due to its large average depth, the second richest in water...
. The question of whether his death was self-imposed, accidental, or the result of malicious conspirators remains unanswered. However, it was reported at the time and today is widely accepted that it was a suicide. Due to the insanity of Ludwig's brother, King Otto I, Prince Luitpold continued as regent.
After 1871 Bavaria shared to the full in the rapid development of Germany; but her particularism, founded on traditional racial and religious antagonism to the Prussians, was by no means dead, though it exhibited itself in no more dangerous form than the prohibition, reissued in 1900, to display any but the Bavarian flag on public buildings on the emperor's birthday; a provision which was subsequently modified so as to allow the Bavarian and imperial flags to be hung side by side.
Following Prince Luitpold's death in 1912, his son, Prince Ludwig, became regent. A year later, Ludwig deposed his cousin, Otto, and proclaimed himself King Ludwig III of Bavaria
Ludwig III of Bavaria
Ludwig III , was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.-Early life:...
. During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Ludwig's eldest son, Crown Prince Rupprecht
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Rupprecht or Rupert, Crown Prince of Bavaria was the last Bavarian Crown Prince.His full title was His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine...
, commanded the Bavarian army and became one of the leading German commanders on the Western Front.
Revolution and Weimar Republic
- Main articles: Bavarian Soviet RepublicBavarian Soviet RepublicThe Bavarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Munich Soviet Republic was, as part of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the short-lived attempt to establish a socialist state in form of a council republic in the Free State of Bavaria. It sought independence from the also recently proclaimed...
and Beer Hall PutschBeer Hall PutschThe Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...
.
Kurt Eisner
Kurt Eisner was a Bavarian politician and journalist. As a German socialist journalist and statesman, he organized the Socialist Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria in November 1918....
declared Bavaria to be a free state
Free state (government)
Free state is a term occasionally used in the official titles of some states.In principle the title asserts and emphasises the freedom of the state in question, but what this actually means varies greatly in different contexts:...
on 7 November 1918. Eisner was assassinated in February 1919 ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short lived Bavarian Socialist Republic (Bayerische Räterepublik or Münchner Räterepublik) being proclaimed 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably the Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
, the Bavarian Socialist Republic fell in May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution () was enacted on 14 August 1919 creating the Free State of Bavaria within the Wiemar Republic.
Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
became a hotbed of extremism: the 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic
Bavarian Soviet Republic
The Bavarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Munich Soviet Republic was, as part of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the short-lived attempt to establish a socialist state in form of a council republic in the Free State of Bavaria. It sought independence from the also recently proclaimed...
and the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...
involving Erich Ludendorff
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a German general, victor of Liège and of the Battle of Tannenberg...
and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
took place in the same city. For most of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, though, Bavaria was dominated by the relatively mainstream conservative Bavarian People's Party
Bavarian People's Party
The Bavarian People's Party was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1919 to pursue a more conservative, more Catholic, more Bavarian particularist course...
. The BVP was a Catholic party that represented the Bavarian tradition of particularist conservatism, through which monarchist and even separatist sentiments were conveyed. An attempt supported by a wide coalition of parties, to establish Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Rupprecht or Rupert, Crown Prince of Bavaria was the last Bavarian Crown Prince.His full title was His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine...
, as a Staatskommisar with dictatorial powers in 1932 to counter the Nazis failed due to the hesitant Bavarian government under Heinrich Held
Heinrich Held
Heinrich Held was a Catholic politician and Minister President of Bavaria. He was forced out of office by the Nazi takeover in Germany in 1933.-Life:...
.
Bavaria during the Nazi period
With the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933, the Bavarian parliament was dissolved without new elections. Instead, the seats were allocated according to the results in the national election of March 1933, giving the Nazis and its coalition partner, the DNVP a narrow two seat majority due to the fact that the seats won by the KPDCommunist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
were declared void. With this controlling power, the NSDAP was declared the only legal party and all other parties in Germany and Bavaria were dissolved. In 1934, the Bavarian parliament was, like all other state parliaments, dissolved too. Shortly after, Bavaria itself was broken up during the reorganisation of the Reich. Instead of the states, Reichsgau
Reichsgau
A Reichsgau was an administrative subdivision created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945...
e were established as administrative sub-divisions. Bavaria was split into five regions, the Reichsgaue Schwaben, München-Oberbayern, Bayerische Ostmark, Franken
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
and Main-Franken.
During the 12 years of Nazi rule, Bavaria was one of Hitlers favorite locations, spending much time in his residence at the Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany, located about southeast of Munich, close to the border with Austria...
. The KZ in Dachau
Dachau
Dachau is a town in Upper Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. It is a major district town—a Große Kreisstadt—of the administrative region of Upper Bavaria, about 20 km north-west of Munich. It is now a popular residential area for people working in Munich with roughly 40,000 inhabitants...
, near Munich, was the first to be established. But Bavaria was also the scene of passive resistance to the regime, the most well known of this being the White Rose
White Rose
The White Rose was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor...
. Nürnberg, Bavaria's second-largest city, became the scene of massive rallies, the Reichsparteitage. Ironically, the last of those in 1939, titled Reichsparteitag des Friedens (Reichsparteitag of peace), was canceled due to the outbreak of the second world war. After the war, carefully chosen for this reason, the city became the location of the war crimes trials, the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.
While Bavaria had approximately 54.000 Jewish people living in its borders at the turn of the 20th century, by 1933 still 41.000 lived in the state. By 1939, this number had shrunk to 16.000, and few of those survived the Nazi rule.
Bavaria as state of the Federal Republic of Germany
Following World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it was for a period under American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
occupation, who reestablished the state on 19 September 1945, and during the Cold War it was part of West Germany. In 1946 Bavaria lost the Rhenish Palatinate. The destruction caused by aerial bombing
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
s during the war in addition to the fact that Bavaria had to take in over two million refugees from the parts of Germany now under Soviet occupation caused major problems for the authorities.
The Bavarian Party was founded shortly after the war. Its goal was to establish an independent Bavarian state. For a time, the idea that Bavaria might become independent again was seriously entertained by the Allied occupation authorities as a way to ensure that Germany would be unable to wage offensive war again, and also by Bavarians themselves in part because they preferred to blame the war and its result on Prussian militarism instead of their own support for the Nazis. A union between Bavaria and Austria was also considered. With the onset of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, support for Bavarian independence quickly lost support both within Bavaria and from the Western allies, and the state became a part of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
.
The first post-war state elections were held on 30 June 1946, when 180 delegates were chosen. The main task of those delegates was to draft a new Bavarian constitution, since the day-to-day running of the state still lay with the US authorities at this stage. The new constitution was accepted by a public vote on 1 December 1946, the same day the first post-war state parliament (German: Landtag) was elected.
Since the war, Bavaria has been politically dominated by the Christian Social Union, the main successor of the Bavarian People's Party
Bavarian People's Party
The Bavarian People's Party was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1919 to pursue a more conservative, more Catholic, more Bavarian particularist course...
and sister party of the Christian Democratic Union, the main center-right party in Germany. The only time the CSU was in opposition was between 1954 and 1957. At this time Bavaria was governed by a four-party-government under the leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
. Bavaria is home to the only separatist party in Germany - the Bavarian Party
Bavaria Party
The Bavaria Party is a separatist political party in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany. It was founded in 1946 and describes itself as patriotic Bavarian, advocating Bavarian independence within the European Union...
. This party would like to have an independent Free State of Bavaria. Since the 1960s Bavaria has seen a dynamic development to one of Europe's leading economic zones, the country is no longer mainly an agricultural region but hosts a variety of high tech industries.
On 19 April 2005 Bavarian-born Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope. Ratzinger, who was born in Marktl am Inn
Marktl am Inn
Marktl, or often unofficially called Marktl am Inn , is a village and historic market municipality in the state of Bavaria, Germany, near the Austrian border, in the Altötting district of Upper Bavaria. The most notable neighbouring town is Altötting...
, had been the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dean of the College of Cardinals prior to his election. After being elected Pope, Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
. Benedict is the eighth German Pope, and is the second non-Italian Pope since Pope Adrian VI
Pope Adrian VI
Pope Adrian VI , born Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens, served as Pope from 9 January 1522 until his death some 18 months later...
.
After the CSU lost more than 17% of the popular vote in the Bavarian state elections of 2008
Bavaria state election, 2008
The 2008 Bavarian state election was held on September 28, 2008. Voters of the German state of Bavaria elected members to the Bavarian Landtag .-Outcome:...
due to the strict smoking ban that it pushed through the state parliament, incumbent Minister-President Günther Beckstein
Günther Beckstein
Günther Beckstein is a Bavarian CSU politician and was Minister-President of Bavaria from 9 October 2007 to 27 October 2008...
and Chairman of the CSU, Erwin Huber
Erwin Huber
Erwin Huber is a German conservative politician. He was leader of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria from 2007 to 2009.-Early life:...
, announced their resignations. Horst Seehofer
Horst Seehofer
Horst Lorenz Seehofer is a German politician . He was Federal Minister for Health and Social Security from 1992 to 1998 and served as Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the cabinet of Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2008...
was quickly proposed as their successor. At a party convention on October 25 he was affirmed as the new Chairman of the CSU, and on October 27 he was elected Minister-President by the Landtag
Landtag of Bavaria
The Landtag of Bavaria is the unicameral legislature of the state of Bavaria in Germany. Between 1946 and 1999 there was an upper house, the Senate of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum....
with votes from the Free Democratic Party
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
, forming the first coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
government in Bavaria since 1962.
The citizen initiative process for the total smoking ban (the most strict in Germany and without any loopholes or exceptions) was held on 4 July 2010 and passed by sixty-one percent of eligible voters in Bavaria. The new smoking ban has taken effect on 1 August 2010 and could be the precedence for other German states to adopt the more total smoking ban.
See also
- List of rulers of Bavaria
- List of Premiers of Bavaria
- Kingdom of BavariaKingdom of BavariaThe Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
External links
- Map of Bavaria 1789
- Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, History of the Bavarian Parliament - (Geschichte des Bayerischen Parliaments 1819 - 2003, in German)