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Kingdoms of Germany - Bavaria (Bavarii)
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The Germanic tribes
seem to have originated in a homeland in southern
Scandinavia
(Sweden and
Norway, with the Jutland
area of northern Denmark,
along with a very narrow strip of Baltic coastline). They had been settled
here for over two thousand years following the
Indo-European
migrations. The Germanic ethnic group began as a division of the western
edge of late proto-Indo-European dialects around 3300 BC, splitting away
from a general westwards migration to head towards the southern coastline
of the Baltic Sea. By the time the Germanic tribes were becoming key
players in the politics of Western
Europe in the
last two centuries BC, the previously dominant
Celts were on the verge
of being conquered and dominated by
Rome. They had already
been pushed out of northern and Central Europe by a mass of Germanic tribes
which were steadily carving out a new homeland.
When the Romano-German
general and emperor, Odoacer, destroyed the
Rugii in AD 487, a new
confederation of Germans formed in their place, perhaps partly from the
Rugian survivors themselves, but perhaps also from migrants filling the
vacuum that had been created. The confederation was the Bavarians
(Latinised as Bavarii or Baiovarii). The territory in which they finally
settled became the land of Bavaria, located in what is now south-east
Germany.
More recent theories postulate that the Celtic
Boii tribe formed part of
this new confederation. It is due to ethnic mixing between Germans and
Celts that the German Bavarii name is actually Celtic in origin. The best
explanation for the first element, 'Baio', is that it is a miswritten or
mispronounced form of 'Boio', which itself may actually have contained an
'h', as 'Bohio'. The second element, 'vari' ('warioz' in conjectural
proto-Celtic), is a Celtic word borrowed into Germanic languages. It means
'men', and is only used as 'dwellers' by forced extension of its meaning.
So the Baiovarii name would translate as 'men of the Boii'. This would imply
that an event in history occurred where a German military elite took over
a part of the Boii tribe, retaining the name, itself not that rare an
occurrence. This implication seems to be borne out by the
Marcomanni takeover
of the Boii in the first century BC. This makes the Bavarii not only
the descendants (in part) of the Boii, but also of the Marcomanni.
Initially a powerful duchy in the Holy Roman
empire, Bavaria became a moderately powerful kingdom under the reforms of
French Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805, and played its part in Central European
politics until the conclusion of the First World War saw the kingdom
abolished and a federal Germany formed, of which it was a constituent
part. Today Bavaria is a strongly Catholic region of Germany, seen
perhaps as a little old fashioned in the eyes of northern Germans, and
sometimes having more in common with its south-eastern neighbour,
Austria.
(Additional information by Edward Dawson.)
c.500
The
Germanic tribe of the
Rugians seem to be the same people as the
Rugii of the first century who
had settled on the southern shore of the Baltic. They had later migrated into
Austria where they founded a
kingdom which was soon subjugated by the
Huns. Throwing in their lot
with the
Ostrogoths
after being defeated in 487 by the
Romano-German general and
emperor, Odoacer, they migrate into
Italy about 493 and soon
became indivisible from the Ostrogoths. The
Bavarii confederation
forms in their place.
Bavarian Confederation
The Bavarian confederation formed in the territory that would
later become Bohemia, immediately
following the exodus of the
Langobards towards
Italy. The
confederation was unusual in that it did not migrate from elsewhere but was
made up from local elements, which included possible
CelticBoii descendants
and Roman settlers,
along with elements of the
GermanicAlemanni,
Buri,
Heruli,
Marcomanni,
Ostrogoths
(following the fall of their own kingdom),
Quadi,
Rugii,
Scirii,
and Thuringians. Within a few
decades the Bavarii also migrated (or expanded) southwards to occupy a larger
territory which later formed Bavaria and parts of
Austria. There, they were subjugated
by the Franks around 555, but may not
have remained fully under Frankish domination, if at all. It was not until the
Carolingian conquest of
788 that independence was definitely lost.
The ancient Celtic name for Bohemia was the
Boiohæmum, which emerged
after the Slavic incursions as Bojoheim, Baiheim, or Beheim. The Bavarian
name was derived from Baioarii, Bajuvarii, and Bajjawarjos, literally
meaning the 'inhabitants of the Boiic land'.
The
Bavarii migrate south and westwards into what will become their traditional
homeland in modern south-east Germany
and also including areas of
Austria. The first three
Theodos are unknown to history aside from their names, and may be
manufactured to fill gaps left by rulers who have been forgotten.
Bavaria's mixed terrain varies from dark forests to alpine
mountains in the far south
512 - 537
Theodo
II
537 - 565
Theodo
III
537 - 567
Theodobald
Co-ruler.
555
The Bavarii are conquered
by the Frankish King Chlothar I,
following perhaps seven years or so of Frankish dominance. A regional
governor is appointed in the form of a duke, although it is not known if
this founder of the Agilolfing dukes is a Frank or a Bavarian. It may be the
case that he initially governs while the reigning Bavarian kings retain some
semblance of power, but possibly not control.
Theodelinda, daughter of Garibald, rules the
Lombard kingdom of
Italy
briefly upon the death of her husband. She is a Nicene Christian, an
adherent of the
Roman Church,
and is very important in terms of increasing the importance
and reach of the Catholic church in Italy over Arian Christianity. Thanks in
large part to her efforts in winning converts the church at Rome is able to
secure its primacy in Italy and can begin to focus its attention on making
fresh converts elsewhere.
590 - 595
Grimwald
I
591
Tassilo is appointed king of the Bavarians by
Frankish King
Childebert II of Austrasia
in order to end a war between Bavarians and Franks which had begun under
Garibald I. The act also reaffirms Frankish control of the Bavarians. The
relationship of Grimwald I to any of these participants is unknown, as is
his fate during and after the appointment of a Bavarian king.
591 - 609
Tassilo I
King of the Bavarians.
609 - 640
Garibald
II
Son. Duke of the Bavarians.
609 - 630
Agilolf
609
The
inclusion of Agilolf is uncertain as he is not shown in all sources. He may
be a replacement for a lost duke. Whether he co-rules or acts as a regent is
not known. Coincidentally, perhaps, there is an Agilulf, king of the
Lombards, with whom
the Bavarians have close relations during this period.
640 - 680
TheodoIV (I)
680 - 702
Theodo V
(II)
Duke of the Bavarians.
Lantpert of Bavaria
Son. Murdered (Saint) Emmeram of Regensburg.
c.700
Married to a daughter of Theodo of Bavaria, Duke Godefred of
Alemannia (Gotfried of
Allemania) is a member of the House of the Agilolfing, Bavaria's governing
family. In a document dated to the year 700 in Cannstatt, and at the request
of a priest named Magulfus, Godefred donates the castle of Biberburg to the
monastery of Saint Gall. His sons, Lanfred and Theodobald, have the support
of Pepin of Herstal,
Frankish mayor of
the palace, and succeed him as dukes of Alemannia (perhaps following a short
delay).
702 - 725
Theodobert
/ Theudbert
Brother. Duke in Salzburg.
702 - 723
Grimwald II /
Grimoald
Brother. Duke in Freising.
702 - 715
Theodobald
Brother. Duke in parts of Bavaria.
702 - 719
Tassilo II
Brother. Duke in Passau.
725 - 737
Hubert / Hugbert
Son of Theodobert. Duke of Bavaria.
737 - 748
Odilo
Son of Gotfried of
Allemania. Defeated by the
Franks.
743 - 744
The
Carolingian mayors
of the Merovingian
palace, Pepin the Short and Carloman, march against the Bavarian Agilolfings
(who refuse to end their support for the Merovingians), before turning
north to attack the
Saxons.
Odilo is allowed to remain as duke.
c.745 - 748
Prince
Borut of neighbouring
Khorushka faces continued attacks from the resurgent
Avars. He appeals to the
powerful Duke Odilo for help, but this is provided only on condition that
Borut accepts Bavarian overlordship and converts to Christianity. He
accepts both conditions, becoming one of the very few princes of Khorushka
to convert to Christianity.
748
Grifo,
the son of Charles Martel, the late
Carolingian
mayor of the palace, by his second wife now escapes from imprisonment in a
monastery, a punishment organised by his half-brother, Pepin III the Short.
Grifo receives support from Duke Odilo of Bavaria, which seems to see him
commanding the
Breton
March for around a year. Upon Odilo's death late in 748, Grifo briefly
seizes command of the Bavarians before being ousted by Pepin. His fight
continues until he is killed in battle in 753.
Under Charlemagne's leadership, the Franks greatly
expanded their borders eastwards, engulfing tribal
states, the Bavarian state and its satellite, Khorushka,
and much of northern Italy, with the Avars now an
eastern neighbour (click or tap on map to view full sized)
Infant son of
Odilo, installed by Pepin of the
Franks.
Theodo
Son. Became a monk.
788 - 889
With
the Carolingians growing
in power, Tassilo is deposed and the Bavarians are subsumed completely within the
kingdom and subsequent empire (along with their vassal, the principality of
Khorushka). This remains the case until that empire finally fragments in
889, although from 843 Bavaria is generally controlled by the
Eastern Franks.
815 - 817
Lothar I
Son of
Frankish Emperor
Louis the Pious. Later king of
Italy.
fl 838
Ernest
Margrave of the Bavarian Nordgau.
838
Gebhard
of Logenahe, count of Nieder-Lahngau in
Hesse, is a 'leading man of
the [Eastern] Franks' and
brother-in-law to Ernest, margrave of the Bavarian Nordgau. He may also be
the son of Odo I, count of
Orléans if he is identical with
Udo the Elder, count of the Lahngau until 826. However, given the dates, he
may instead be Odo's grandson.
840 - 843
Louis
the Pious wills the
Frankish empire
to his sons, but tries to ensure that the eldest gains the biggest share,
in order to avoid the fragmentation of territory that so weakened the
Merovingians.
Lothar receives
Middle Francia
(the Rhine corridor including the kingdom of
Burgundy,
and Italy); Charles the Bald receives
Western Francia
(France and the duchy of
Burgundy); and Louis the German receives
Eastern Francia
(Germany, including
Alemannia, Bavaria,
Khorushka, and
Saxony,
plus regions that are already emerging as
Franconia and
Thuringia).
However, Lothar initially claims overlordship over all three regions and
Louis and Charles have to go to war to convince him to relent. The Treaty
of Verdun, signed in 843, recognises the division of the empire.
King Louis the Pious of the Frankish empire attempted to
leave the empire intact for his eldest son, Lothar, but
the others rebelled at the idea. The treaty of Verdun in
AD 843 confirmed the official division of the empire between
Charlemagne's three surviving grandsons (click or tap on map to
view full sized)
876
The
death of Louis the German, king of
East Francia, results in his
territory being divided between his three sons. This is something that he
had already foreseen, and portions of territory had been appointed to each
of them in 865. Now in a peaceful succession, Carloman inherits Bavaria and
the Ostmark, Louis the Younger gains
Franconia,
Saxony,
and Thuringia, while
Charles the Fat succeeds to Rhaetia and
Alemannia (Swabia).
As the oldest son, Carloman also retains de facto dominance over
the Eastern Franks as a whole.
Carloman suffers a debilitating stroke just two years after gaining
Italy. Unable to rule in anything
but name and having no legitimate offspring, he divides his holdings between his brothers.
Louis the Younger gains Bavaria while Charles the Fat gains Italy. Carloman's illegitimate
son, Arnulf, becomes duke of
Carinthia.
Louis the Younger dies and Charles the Fat, as the last
remaining of the three brothers, inherits his territories of
Bavaria,
Franconia,
Saxony,
and
Thuringia, thereby reuniting
East Francia following its division in 876.
Duchy of Bavaria (Welfs) AD 889 - 1180
In 888, Bavaria emerged as a stem duchy from the fragmentation of the
Frankish empire,
when the Germanic Roman
Emperors gained undisputed command over the Germany section of the
empire.
Judith of Bavaria was the mother of Charles II the Bald of the
Western Franks.
(Additional information from Geschichte Kärntens bis 1335 (Vols 1 &
2), A Jaksch (Klagenfurt, 1928-29), from Geschichte Kärntens (Vols
1 & 2), C Fräss-Ehrfeld (Klagenfurt, 1984-94), from Dynasties of
the World, John E Morby, and from The New Cambridge Medieval History:
Volume 3, c.900-c.1024, Timothy Reuter & Rosamond McKitterick (Eds).)
889 - 907
Liutpold
907 - 937
Arnulf
the Bad
907 - 955
Austria
passes to Hungary,
until the latter is defeated by
Saxon emperor Otto I.
927 - 947
The
region of
Carinthia
(Carantania) comes more or less under the control of Bavaria as the
Carinthian March (a border territory). Following this, a duchy is gradually
established during the tenth century, although it is not formally established
until 976. Count Berthold of the Bavarian Luitpoldings is granted ducal rights
over Carinthia in 927, by King Henry the Fowler of
Germany.
937 - 938
Eberhard
Quarrelled with Otto
the Great and removed.
938 - 947
Berthold
Luitpolding
Brother of Arnulf
of Carinthia. Count Berthold of
Carinthia
(927).
Feeling that his position is threatened by the marriage of his father, Otto
I of Saxony,
to Adelaide, heiress of
Italy, Ludolph of
Swabia joins
forces with his brother-in-law, Conrad the Red, duke of
Lorraine, in revolt.
Ludolph is supported by the Swabians, but Conrad fails to gain the same
support from his own subjects. Otto I and Henry I of Bavaria defeat the
rebellion.
955 - 976
Henry
II the Quarrelsome
Duke of
Carinthia
(955-976). Rebelled and deposed.
c.960
The March of Austria, created
from former Bavarian territory that had been captured from
Hungary in
955, is recognised around this date as a margraviate. It sits on Bavaria's
north-eastern border, immediately above
Carinthia.
962
With the accession of the
Saxon king,
Otto I, the power of the
Germanic Roman empire is
confirmed. Otto is quite vigorous in establishing new counties and border
areas within and without the empire's borders. The county of Ardennes under
Sigfried gains the stronghold of Lucilinburhuc (the later
Luxemburg), and Arnulf I
the Elder is restored in
Flanders, but useful buffers
against the Western
Franks.
Germany in AD 962 may have had its new emperor to govern the
territories shown within the dark black line, but it was still a
patchwork of competing interests and power bases, most notably
in the five great stem duchies, many of which were attempting to
expand their own territories outside the empire, creating the
various march or border regions to the east and south (click
or tap on map to view full sized)
At the same time,
Saxony gains
Hermann Billung as its duke, charged with maintaining the duchy's eastern
borders and expanding them further to the east, alongside the recently-created
North March.
Perhaps as a reaction to this or as the culmination of a process that is
already heading that way, the duchy of
Poland is formed around
the same time.
976
Henry the Quarrelsome, grandson of Henry I of
Germany, rebels against
Holy Roman Emperor Otto
II. As a result, Henry is deprived of his Bavarian title and possessions.
Otto I, duke of
Swabia is created duke of Bavaria in his place, easily done as
Swabia and Bavaria neighbour each other.
Carinthia
is formally separated from Bavaria by Otto II and made a duchy in its
own right - one of many large-scale reorganisations of German lands
which also involves the creation of the stem duchies. The border area
along Carinthia's eastern edge now becomes the new Carinthian March or
Hungarian March until it is re-categorised as the March of
Styria.
Bavaria rules again over the duchy of
Carinthia,
first under Otto I, duke of Bavaria and
Swabia, and then
successively under Henry III and Henry II. Otto seems not to hold the title
of duke of Carinthia himself. Instead Henry III fills the position, although
some modern sources show it as being Otto.
Henry's election as the German emperor is opposed by the Conradine duke of
Swabia, Herman
II. Herman had seen himself as a suitable candidate for the title.
Unsuccessful, Herman sees the duchy of Alsace taken out of his control by
the new emperor.
Count Siegfried I of Spanheim (1010-1065) serves
with distinction under
Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II (the Salian) against Adalberon of Eppenstein, duke of
Carinthia.
He also soon marries one Richgard, daughter of Count Engelbert of the
Sieghardingers of Bavaria. Through this he inherits large tracts of territory
in Carinthia and Tyrol and, in
1045, is appointed margrave of the Hungarian march. His son Engelbert becomes
margrave of Istria
in 1090 and a descendant becomes duke of
Carinthia
in 1122.
1038
Duke Herman IV of
Swabia, still
a minor at the time of his accession, is campaigning in
southern Italy alongside
HRE Conrad II. When
the young duke is struck down by an epidemic, Conrad ignores the rights to
the duchy that are held by Gebhard, son of Herman, and instead transfers it
to his own son, Henry the Black. Gebhard retains the county of Sulzbach,
whilst his younger brother remains Adalbert I, count of Windberg. Henry also
gains
Burgundy.
The
Carinthian province of
Slovenia
becomes a margraviate in its own right. In the following year, Welf III of
Carinthia
dies without having produced an heir. He bequeaths his property to Weingarten
Abbey in Altdorf, where his mother is abbess. She in turn passes it to Welf,
soon to be Duke Welf I of Bavaria. This does not include the fief of Carinthia,
however, which is assigned to Conrad of Zulpichgau along with the margraviate
of Verona.
1055 - 1061
Henry VIII
1061 - 1070
Otto II
Son of Count Bernhard of Northeim.
1070 - 1073
Duke
Otto II, otherwise known as Otto of Northeim, is intent on extending the
duchy. This brings him into conflict with
HRE Henry IV who
covets the same lands on his southern border. A dubious charge of plotting
to assassinate the emperor is levelled against him by the
Hessian Count Giso II
and Adalbert of Schauenburg, probably with the emperor's full knowledge.
Otto is deposed as duke of Bavaria, deprived of his
Saxon lands,
and pronounced an outlaw. At Pentecost in 1071 he submits to Henry who has
him arrested until July 1072. Then he is released and his personal domains
returned to him - but not his extensive fiefs. In 1073 his followers murder
Count Giso and Adalbert.
Son of Henry the Proud. Duke Henry III (V) of
Saxony.
1164
Despite
Pomerania
already being Christianised, and increasingly Germanised, bishops and dukes from the
Holy Roman empire
continue to mount expeditions into Pomerania. The Battle of Verchen in 1164
makes Pomerania a vassal of Henry the Lion.
Henry's second marriage was to Matilda, daughter of Henry
II of England, but his eventual conflict with Holy Roman
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa cost him his lands and titles
1180
Henry
Welf comes into conflict with the
HRE, Frederick
Barbarossa. Frederick dispossesses Henry of his lands and passes Bavaria
to the Wittelsbachs while
Saxony
is divided. The County Palatine of Saxony is given to Louis III, landgrave
of Thuringia (he
promptly passes it onto his brother, the future Landgrave Herman I, in 1881).
Following standard German practice, territory is often sub-divided between
brothers, with one always being dominant, and the Bavarians and Saxons were
no different. Subsidiary branches are not shown here (but are included in
the counting of names, so there will appear to be gaps here).
With the death of John Parricide, any claim to the former
Swabian duchy
dies with him. Large areas of its territory have already gone to the established county of
Württemberg
and the margraviate of Baden.
Territory formerly belonging to the
Alemanni people also later forms parts of
Austria (Vorarlberg),
France
(Alsace) and
Switzerland, as well as the Bavarian Swabia region of
Bavaria.
1314 - 1322
When
Louis IV is elected Holy Roman Emperor
in 1314, a minority faction elects Frederick the Fair of
Habsburg
as emperor. Louis defeats Frederick in 1322, but the
Pope refuses to recognise or crown him, so
Louis has himself crowned emperor by representatives of the
Roman people.
The vigorous king of Bavaria and HRE Louis IV also became king
of Italy in 1327 despite many objections and opposition figures,
with his strength of will and character being proof of his
desire and eligibility to rule
1328
Following the refusal of Pope
John XXII to recognise him as
Holy Roman Emperor,
Louis IV invades Italy
and sets up Nicholas V as the first anti-pope of the Great Schism.
1347
Louis
is killed in a hunting accident whilst successfully resisting the
Pope's
named replacement for the title of
Holy Roman Emperor.
1347 - 1375
Stephen II
1363 - 1369
Archduke Rudolph IV of
Austria
agrees with the widowed Margaret Maultash, countess of Gorizia-Tyrol, that upon
the death of her only son, Meinhard III, he will inherit the county of
Tyrol. In the end, Meinhard
predeceases his mother and she remains in full command of the county until
her own death in 1369, not least because her brother-in-law, Duke Stephen II,
invades and holds the county.
1375 - 1397
John II
1397 - 1438
Ernest
1438 - 1460
Albert III
1645 - 1508
Albert IV the Wise
1508 - 1550
William IV
1545
The
duchy is reunited when the last subsidiary branch dies out, putting an end
to the weakening divisions of territory.
1550 - 1579
Albert V
1579 - 1597
William V the Pious
Died 1626.
1597 - 1651
Maximilian I
Elector (1623).
1651 - 1679
Ferdinand Maria
1654
Queen Christina of
Sweden causes a scandal when she converts to Catholicism and abdicates the
throne. She retires to Rome,
while Karl Gustav, son of John Casimir, the Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg
is elected as her successor. Aside from King Christoper in the mid-fifteenth
century, Karl is the first of the Bavarian Wittelsbach kings of Sweden.
1679 - 1726
Maximilian II Emmanuel
1688
Maximilian's
forces form part of the Imperial Army which captures Belgrade from the
Ottomans.
The
War of the Austrian Succession is a wide-ranging conflict that
encompasses the North American King George's War, two Silesian
Wars, the War of Jenkins' Ear, and involves most of the crowned
heads of Europe in deciding the question of whether Maria Theresa can
succeed as archduke of
Austria
and, perhaps even more importantly, as
Holy Roman Emperor.
Austria is supported by
Britain,
the Netherlands,
the Savoyard kingdom of
Sardinia, and
Saxony
(after an early switchover), but opposed by an opportunistic
Prussia and
France, who had
raised the question in the first place to disrupt Habsburg control of
Central Europe, backed up by Bavaria and
Sweden (briefly).
Spain joins the war
in an unsuccessful attempt to restore possessions lost to Austria in
1715.
The War of the Austrian Succession saw Europe go to war to
decide whether Maria Theresa would secure the throne left
to her by her father, but several other issues were also decided
as a wide range of wars were involved in the overall conflict
The War of Jenkins' Ear pitches Britain against
Spain between 1739-1748. The Russo-Swedish War, or Hats'
Russian War, is the Swedish attempt to regain territory lost to
Russia in
1741-1743. King George's War is fought between Britain and France in
the French Colonies
in 1744-1748. The First Carnatic War of 1746-1748 involves the
struggle for dominance in
India
by France and Britain. Henry Pelham, leader of the English government in
Parliament,
is successful in ending the war, achieving peace with France and trade
with Spain through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Austria is ultimately
successful, losing only Silesia to Prussia.
1745 - 1777
Maximilian
III Joseph
1777
The
line of Bavarian Wittelsbachs dies out with Maximilian. The title passes
to the Wittelsbach Electors of the Palatinate.
Duchy of Bavaria (Palatinate Wittelsbachs) AD 1777 - 1805
This branch of the Wittelsbachs had served as counts and prince electors
of the Palatinate since 1329. When the main family line died out in Bavaria
in 1777, the title of duke of Bavaria passed to the Palatinate Wittelsbachs.
1777 - 1799
Charles
IV Theodore
Elector of the
Palatinate.
1778 - 1779
The
War of the Bavarian Succession.
1799 - 1805
Maximilian
IV Joseph
Elector.
1805
Bavaria
is raised to a kingdom by Napoleon Bonaparte of the
French First
Empire. Maximilian's daughter marries Eugene de Beauharnais, Napoleon's
stepson.
Kingdom of Bavaria AD 1805 - 1918
The French Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte did much to clear up the confusing and archaic mass of
tiny states in the German territories, forming stronger states with larger
territories. One of the strongest was that of the newly formed kingdom of
Bavaria, which was raised from a duchy by Napoleon after his defeat of the
Third Coalition in the same year. It also gained the
Austrian
province of the Tyrol
- but only until Napoleon abdicated in 1814.
(Additional information from History of the Rebellion of 1745-6,
Robert Chambers (W & R Chambers, 1869), and from External Link:
Royal Stuart Society.)
1805 - 1825
Maximilian
I Joseph
Former elector of
the duchy of Bavaria.
1806
A core of the medieval duchy of
Franconia
survives under the command of the bishopric of Würzburg. The bishopric also
claims the title of duke. This now changes as the bishopric is secularised
and its territory is handed to the kingdom of Bavaria, which contains
noticeably different dialects and customs from this central German region.
1810
Following a further
Austrian
defeat in 1809, at the Battle of Wagram, Bavaria agrees to grant the Tyrol
to Italy, while
Istria, Dalmatia and
Ragusa are incorporated into the new
Illyrian
Provinces.
1814
Bavaria
gains territory as a result of the Congress of Vienna.
Following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte 1814, the Congress
of Vienna took on board much of his vital restructuring of the
German principalities, with the result that a map of the new
Confederation of German States in 1815-1817 looked very
different to maps of the previous century (click or tap on map to
view full sized)
1825 - 1848
Ludwig I
Died 1868.
1832
Under
the terms of the Convention of London, Prince Otto, son of Ludwig, ascends the newly-created throne of
Greece while still a minor,
carrying the title 'King of the Hellenes'. He initially rules under the
guidance of a three-man regency council, but they prove unpopular and are
dismissed. Otto then rules as an absolute monarch.
The kingdom is
forcibly included into the German empire by
Prussia
and effectively becomes a sub-kingdom.
1886 - 1913
Otto
Aided by Luitpold,
regent (1886-1912), and then Ludwig III.
1913 - 1918
Ludwig III
Deposed.
1913
The
new king is married to Maria Theresia of Austria-Este, daughter of Maria
Beatrice of Savoy,
granddaughter of Victor Emanuel I of the kingdom of
Sardinia and Savoy,
and from 1875 the Jacobite Stuart claimant to the
English
and Scottish
thrones.
1914
The German
empire moves swiftly to support its ally,
Austria-Hungary,
in a long-anticipated Great War (later more readily known as the First
World War, or World War I). At the start it is successful against the
Russian invasion
of Prussia, routing their army at the Battle of Tannenberg, and in the
west its armies reach the northern outskirts of Paris (occupying
Luxembourg
along the way) before they are stopped by the armies of
Britain
and France, together
with the small Belgian army.
1918
All German monarchies are abolished upon the defeat of the
German empire
in the First World War. Bavaria is recreated as a constituent part
of the new federal
Germany
and its future fortunes would be tied to this new political creation.
Hereditary Kings of Bavaria AD 1918 - Present Day
The head of the Wittelsbachs remained the titular successor to the kings of
Bavaria, although they were reduced in rank to dukes. The last king, Ludwig
III had married Maria Theresia of Austria-Este, granddaughter of Francis V
of ModenaDuke Rupprecht and his successors were, in turn, also the senior
member of the House of Stuart, and were considered by modern Jacobites to be
the rightful ruler of
England,
Scotland, and
Ireland.
The dukes did not, and still do not, make any claim to the English throne,
but the technical claim still exists. The hereditary dukes also continue to
add 'duke in
Franconia and
Swabia' to their titles.
Germany adopts the democratic 'Weimar constitution' following the abolition
of the
German
empire. This new Germany consists of the former German kingdoms and duchies,
all of which have now been abolished, including
Baden,
Bavaria,
Hesse,
Lippe,
Saxony
and
Württemberg.
1921 - 1955
Rupprecht
Born 1869. Crown Prince of Bavaria.
1933 - 1945
The Third Reich ('third empire' of
Germany,
which claims the first
(Holy Roman) and
second (German)
empires as its forebears in order to attain a level of legitimacy) is
established under Adolf Hitler's dictatorial Nazi rule, sweeping away the
Weimar republic. The Nazi invasion of
Poland on 1 September
1939 is the trigger for the Second World War. With both
France and
Great Britain pledged to support Poland, both countries have no option but
to declare war on 3 September. Hitler subsequently commits suicide in his bunker
on 30 April 1945 as Soviet
Russian forces overrun
Berlin. Nazi Germany surrenders unconditionally on 7 May to the Allies at
General Eisenhower's HQ at Rheims in France.
1955 - 1996
Albrecht
Grandson of Ludwig III. Born 1905. Duke of Bavaria.
1989 - 1990
With the weakening of the
Soviet Union and
increased calls for reform, the Berlin Wall is pulled down by the people
of both halves of the divided city, the border guards taking no action to
stop them. The following year, the two
Germanies are
reunited on 3 October.
1996 - Present
Franz
Born 14 July 1933. Duke of Bavaria.
2005
The
conservative Bavarian Cardinal John Ratzinger is elected
Pope on 19 April.
