house of Wittelsbach
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What was the House of Wittelsbach?
The House of Wittelsbach was a German noble family that ruled Bavaria and the Rhenish Palatinate until the 20th century. In 1180, Otto VI was invested as duke of Bavaria, and from that time until 1918, the Wittelsbachs ruled Bavaria. They extended their authority outside Bavaria in 1214 when Otto II obtained the Palatinate of the Rhine through marriage. Louis IV, a descendant, became duke of Bavaria in 1294 and Holy Roman emperor in 1328. The Bavarian dukes also became electors, beginning in 1623. Maximilian I's descendants were kings of Bavaria until Louis III was overthrown in a socialist revolution in 1918.
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Where did the House of Wittelsbach rule in Germany?
The House of Wittelsbach was a German noble family that ruled Bavaria from 1180 to 1918. They also governed the Rhenish Palatinate until the 20th century. In 1214, they expanded their authority outside Bavaria when Otto II acquired the Palatinate of the Rhine through marriage. In 1329, Louis IV divided the Wittelsbach lands, granting the Palatinate of the Rhine and the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria to his brother's sons. The Bavarian dukes also became electors, beginning in 1623.
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When did the House of Wittelsbach begin their rule?
The House of Wittelsbach began its rule in 1180 when Otto VI was invested as Otto I, Duke of Bavaria, serving under the German King Frederick I. From that time until 1918, Bavaria was under Wittelsbach rule. In 1183, Otto's son Louis I succeeded him and founded the Bavarian principality. The Wittelsbach dynasty ended in 1918 when Kurt Eisner, an Independent Socialist, deposed the dynasty and proclaimed Bavaria a republic.
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Which famous Bavaria kings belonged to the Wittelsbach family?
Several notable Bavarian kings from the House of Wittelsbach include:
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Maximilian I: The last Wittelsbach prince-elector of Bavaria (1799–1806) who became the first king of Bavaria (1806–1825). He allied with Napoleon, which gained him a monarch’s crown and enabled him to turn the scattered, poorly administered Bavarian holdings into a consolidated modern state.
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Louis III: The last king of Bavaria, who was overthrown in a socialist revolution in 1918.
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Luitpold: Served as prince regent of Bavaria from 1886 to 1912. His reign is regarded as a golden age for Bavaria, and Munich flourished as a cultural center.
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How did the House of Wittelsbach influence German politics and culture?
The house of Wittelsbach significantly shaped German politics and culture as a German noble family that ruled Bavaria and the Rhenish Palatinate until 1918. Otto I became the Duke of Bavaria in 1180, marking the beginning of Wittelsbach rule in the region, which lasted until 1918. In 1214, the family extended their authority outside Bavaria when Otto II obtained the Palatinate of the Rhine through marriage.
Figures like Louis IV, who became Holy Roman Emperor in 1328, and Rupert, a German king who reigned from 1400 to 1410, highlight the family's influence within the Holy Roman Empire. Later, Bavarian dukes also became electors in 1623. Charles Albert was Holy Roman Emperor from 1742.
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What caused the end of the Wittelsbach dynasty's rule in Germany?
The Wittelsbach dynasty's rule in Germany ended due to the Bavarian revolution led by Kurt Eisner, an Independent Socialist, on November 7–8, 1918. This revolution deposed the Wittelsbach dynasty, who had ruled Bavaria since 1180. King Louis III fled, marking the end of their reign. Eisner then proclaimed Bavaria a republic.
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house of Wittelsbach, German noble family that provided rulers of Bavaria and of the Rhenish Palatinate until the 20th century. The name was taken from the castle of Wittelsbach, which formerly stood near Aichach on the Paar in Bavaria. In 1124, Otto V, count of Scheyern (died 1155), removed the residence of his family to Wittelsbach and called himself by this name. His son, Otto VI, after serving the German king Frederick I, was invested duke of Bavaria, as Otto I in 1180. From that date until 1918, Bavaria was ruled by the Wittelsbachs.
The first step toward extending their authority outside Bavaria was made in 1214, when Otto II, through marriage, obtained the Palatinate of the Rhine. A descendant, Louis, became duke of Bavaria in 1294 and Holy Roman emperor, as Louis IV, in 1328. In 1329, by the Treaty of Pavia, Louis IV made the first important division of the Wittelsbach lands by granting the Palatinate of the Rhine and the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria to his brother’s sons, Rudolf II (died 1353) and Rupert I. Rupert, who from 1353 to 1390 was sole ruler, was granted the title of elector of the Palatinate of the Rhine in 1356.
Meanwhile, the descendants of the emperor Louis IV retained the rest of Bavaria but made several divisions of their territory, the most important of which was in 1392, when the branches of Ingolstadt, Munich, and Landshut were founded. Three generations later, however, after much contention, ducal Bavaria was reunited by Albert IV (died 1508), who introduced the rule of primogeniture.
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The Wittelsbachs of the Palatinate provided a German king, Rupert, who reigned from 1400 to 1410, but their lands continued to be subdivided among themselves, creating a profusion of branches of the family. A Wittelsbach of one of the Palatinate branches became king of Sweden as Charles X in 1654; Charles XI and Charles XII continued this line of the Wittelsbach dynasty in the Swedish kingdom until 1718.
The Bavarian dukes had also become electors, beginning in 1623. The Bavarian elector Charles Albert (died 1745) was Holy Roman emperor, as Charles VII, from 1742. With his son Maximilian III Joseph the Bavarian line of Wittelsbachs died out in 1777. The elector Palatine, Charles Theodore, also a Wittelsbach, then succeeded to Bavaria, by virtue of a dynastic treaty of 1724. On his death (1799) the Palatinate and Bavaria were reunited under Duke Maximilian IV Joseph of Zweibrücken, who in 1806 became king of Bavaria as Maximilian I.
Maximilian I’s descendants were kings of Bavaria until Louis III was overthrown in a socialist revolution in 1918. Louis III’s son, Prince Rupert (died 1955), a potential pretender to the British crown through his female descent from the Stuarts, led Bavarian monarchist opinion against Hitler.
Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (a grandson of King Maximilian I), his son Louis Ferdinand, and his grandson Ferdinand all married Spanish infantas (1856, 1883, and 1906). Their branch had a contingent interest in the succession to the Spanish crown.
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