354 



BAVARIA. 



Bavaria, empire by Charles I., he reserved only the lands of 

 y - ' Luneburg, Brunswick, and Nordheim. 



Otto, the eldest son of the house of Wittelsbach, 

 and lineally descended from duke Arnold, obtained 

 the duchy of Bavaria, which was now separated from 

 the Tyrol. His son and successor Louis was crea- 

 ted Count Palatine of the Rhine by king Frederic II., 

 and the possession of that palatinate descended to Otto 

 the son of Louis. Louis the Severe, and Henry, the 

 sons of Otto, divided between them their paternal 

 domains. Louis kept possession of the palatinate of 

 the Rhine and Upper Bavaria; the remaining terri- 

 tories fell to the share of Henry. A new division 

 was made by Louis and Rhodolphus, the sons of 

 Louis the Severe. Rhodolphus was the founder of 

 the house of the Electorate Palatine ; and Louis of 

 that of the Electorate of Bavaria, which continued 

 to reign till a very recent period. Louis being elect- 

 ed emperor, made a treaty with his nephews, the suc- 

 cessors of Rhodolphus, by which he formally ceded 

 to them the palatinate of the Rhine, with the Upper 

 Palatinate, which then for the first time received that 

 name. The sons of Etien having made a division of 

 Bavaria in the year 1392, formed the branches of In- 

 golstadt, Landshut, and Munich, the first of which 

 branches was extinguished in 1447, and the second in 

 1503. Maximilian I. being invested with the elec- 

 toral dignity in 1623, and with the title of Upper 

 Palatine in 1628, obtained the confirmation of both 

 by the treaty of Westphalia. His grandson Maxi- 

 milian II. was put under the ban of the empire, but 

 recovered possession of his dominions in 1 7 1 4. Charles 

 Albert, the son and successor of Maximilian II., be- 

 ing raised to the imperial throne in 1742, waged an 

 unsuccessful war against Austria. His son Maximi- 

 lian Joseph died without issue in 1777, and thus the 

 branch of the electoral house of Bavaria became ex- 

 tinct ; the eighth electorate, created in favour of the 

 Counts Palatine of the Rhine, was suppressed, and 

 these counts resumed their ancient rank in the elec- 

 toral college, with all the prerogatives which are at- 

 tached to it. 



Immediately after the death of Maximilian Joseph, 

 the Elector Palatine took possession of Bavaria, and 

 the house of Austria seized upon part of the electo- 

 rate. Against this usurpation the king of Prussia 

 made a formal appeal, and hostile preparations were 

 immediately set on foot by both powers. The em- 

 peror levied three powerful armies, the first of which, 

 consisting of 80,000 men, he proposed to send into 

 Bohemia under the command of the archduke Maxi- 

 milian, and general Nadasti; the second was to be 

 commanded by the emperor in person, and by gene- 

 rals Lasci, Haddik, and Laudon in Silesia ; and a 

 third was to be entrusted to the command of duke 

 Albert, and general Strowitz. The imperial army 

 had already advanced towards the frontiers of Bohe- 

 mia, when the will of the late elector of Bavaria was 

 opened at Ratisbon. It constituted the elector Pa- 

 latine universal heir, and comprehended in the inhe- 

 ritance the allodial estates of the late duke Clement, 

 with the burden of maintaining constantly in Bavaria 

 an army of 12,000 men, agreeably to the treaties of 

 1763, J 771 , and 1 774. While the elector Palatine, who 



7 



had acceded to the usurpation of the emperor, was Bavaria. 

 yet hesitating what part he should now take, the * ~ v ' 

 king of Prussia took the field, passed the frontiers 

 of Bohemia, and encamped within view of the impe- 

 rial army. Some skirmishes ensued, and all Europe 

 was looking forward with anxiety to the event of a 

 general engagement, when the two sovereigns, willing 

 to spare the blood of their troops, entered into a ne- 

 gociation. Next year the house of Austria declared 

 itself willing to renounce part of its pretensions, and 

 to sign an accommodation ; Prussia was satisfied, and 

 all thoughts of war were for the time relinquished. 

 The future history of Bavaria will come more pro- 

 perly under that of Germany, with which it is closely, 

 and indeed inseparably, interwoven. We may only 

 observe, that the jealousy which has long subsisted 

 between the houses of Bavaria and Austria induced 

 the former to remain neuter in the late war between 

 Germany and France. This circumstance naturally 

 conciliated to Bavaria the favour of the French ; and 

 when Austria peremptorily demanded an army from 

 the elector, Bonaparte took him under his protection, 

 adopted him as an ally, and at length conferred upon 

 him the dignity of royalty. 



The elector of Bavaria held the fifth rank in the Titles and 

 electoral college, and the second among the secular privileges 

 electors. As duke of Bavaria, he ranked first in the of tlle eie<> 

 college of the princes of the empire, and had the pri- tor ' 

 vilege of first delivering his opinion. The house of 

 Bavaria had likewise been from a very remote period 

 in the hereditary possession of the office of arch- 

 seneschal of the empire. By the act of division pass- 

 ed between Louis, duke of Bavaria, and his nephews, 

 in the year 1329, it was agreed that the dignity of 

 arch-seneschal should be common to the houses of 

 Bavaria and Palatine, but that the right of voting in 

 the electoral college should belong to them alternate- 

 ly. The Palatine house being privately invested by 

 the golden bull with the dignity of elector, afterwards 

 appropriated to itself the office of arch-seneschal. 

 But when the elector Palatine Frederic was put un- 

 der the ban of the empire in 1 623, both of these dig- 

 nities reverted to the ckike of Bavaria. The first was 

 confirmed to him by the treaty of Westphalia, but 

 the latter was not mentioned, and was enjoyed by the 

 elector Palatine from 1706 to 1714. The vicariate 

 of the empire on the Rhine, in Swabia and Franco- 

 nia, being connected with the office of arch-seneschal, 

 occasioned a very warm contest between the two elec- 

 tors. At first it was agreed that the vicariate should 

 be exercised by both houses at once ; but it was af- 

 terwards resolved that they should enjoy it alternate- 

 ly, and this resolution was approved of by the college 

 of electors, and confirmed by the emperor in 1752. 



The elector Palatine succeeded to all the rights and Govero- 

 dignities of the former electors of Bavaria, and left ment. 

 the laws and government of the country nearly in the 

 same state in which he found them. The states of 

 Bavaria are composed of three orders, prelates, no- 

 bility, and people. In the assembly of the states, the 

 nobility have one halt of the suffrages, the other half 

 is divided between the clergy and people : thus, when 

 there are four prelates and four deputies from the 

 towns, there are eight noblemen. The duchy is di- 



