Bavarian Circle Bayerischer Reichskreis
Imperial circle of theHoly Roman Empire
1500–1806
The Bavarian Circle as at the beginning of the 16th century within theHoly Roman Empire
Capital	Regensburg
Historical era	Early modern period
• Established	1500
• Disestablished	1806
Today part of	Austria ∟Salzburg ∟Tirol ∟Upper Austria Germany ∟Bavaria Slovenia

TheBavarian Circle (German:Bayerischer Reichskreis) was animperial circle of theHoly Roman Empire. The most significant state by far in the circle was theDuchy of Bavaria (raised to anElectorate by EmperorFerdinand II in 1623) with theUpper Palatinate territories.^[1] Other Imperial Estates like thePrince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, thePrince-Bishoprics ofFreising,Passau andRegensburg as well as theimperial city ofRegensburg, seat of theImperial Diet from 1663, had a secondary importance. The elector of Bavaria and the archbishop of Salzburg acted as the circle's directors.^[2][3]

The circle was made up of the following states:

Name	Type of entity	Established	Comments
Bavaria	Duchy	907	Established in 907, held by theHouse of Wittelsbach from 1180,Bavaria-Munich andBavaria-Landshut reunited in 1506, annexed the Upper Palatinate from theElectoral Palatinate in 1628 along with theelectoral dignity, inherited as a whole by the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1777; 2nd seat to theReichstag
Berchtesgaden	Prince-Provostry	1111	Established in 1111,Reichsfreiheit granted byFrederick I Barbarossa in 1156, 61st seat to the Reichstag
Breitenegg	Lordship	1624	Granted toJohann Tserclaes de Tilly by ElectorMaximilian I of Bavaria in 1624, Imperial county from 1654, sold to Bavaria in 1792.
Ehrenfels	Lordship	1465	Territory aroundBeratzhausen,Reichsfreiheit granted byFrederick III of Habsburg in 1465, acquired byPalatinate-Neuburg in 1567.
Freising	Prince-Bishopric	724	Established by SaintCorbinian in 724, Prince-Bishopric from 1294, 31th seat to theReichstag
Haag	County	1245	Reichsfreiheit granted byFrederick II of Hohenstaufen in 1245, Imperial county from 1509, held by the Dukes of Bavaria from 1567.
Hohenwaldeck	Lordship	1476	Former Freising territory,Reichsfreiheit granted by Frederick III of Habsburg in 1476, county from 1637, to Bavaria in 1734
Leuchtenberg [de]	Landgraviate	1146	Principality from 1433, inherited by the House of Wittelsbach in 1646, to Bavaria in 1712, 72nd seat to the Reichstag.
Lobkowitz	Principality	1562	Störnstein was a fief of theBohemian Crown raised to county and granted to theHouse of Lobkowicz byEmperor Ferdinand I in 1562, gainedReichsfreiheit in 1641 with the 83th seat to theReichstag.
Niedermünster in Regensburg	Prince-Abbacy	788	Established about 788,Reichsfreiheit granted byHenry II in 1002, 15th Prelatess of the Rhine.
Obermünster in Regensburg	Prince-Abbacy	876	Established before 876,Reichsfreiheit granted byLouis IV of Wittelsbach in 1315, 16th Prelatess of the Rhine.
Ortenburg	County	1120	Established about 1120,Reichsfreiheit confirmed in 1479 by Frederick III of Habsburg, 24th County of Wetterau
Palatinate-Neuburg	Duchy	1505	Wittelsbach territory established in 1505 after theLandshut War of Succession, inherited thePalatinate in 1685, line extinct in 1742, inherited byPalatinate-Sulzbach with 10th vote to the Reichstag
Palatinate-Sulzbach	Duchy	1656	Subdivision of Palatinate-Neuburg from 1656, heir of Palatinate-Neuburg and Electoral Palatinate in 1742, both united with Bavaria in 1777.
Passau	Prince-Bishopric	739	Established in 739 bySaint Boniface,Reichsfreiheit granted byOtto III in 999.
Regensburg	Prince-Bishopric	739	Established in 739 by Saint Boniface, Imperial immediacy from the 13th century, 33th seat to theReichstag
Regensburg	Imperial City	1245	Since 1245, 1st Swabian City
Salzburg	Prince-Archbishopric	696	Bishopric established in 696 by SaintRupert,archbishopric from 798, prince-archbishopric from 1213 with the 5th seat to the Reichstag. Secularised and transferred to theAustrian Circle in 1803
St Emmeram in Regensburg	Prince-Abbacy	739	Established in 739, held by the Bishops of Regensburg until 975,Reichsfreiheit granted byAdolph of Nassau in 1295, 9th Prelate of the Rhine.
Sulzbürg-Pyrbaum	Lordship	1353	Held by the House of Wolfstein,Reichsfreiheit confirmed in 1353, county from 1673, fell to Bavaria in 1740.

• Imperial Circles in the 16th Century – Historical Maps of Germany

• States and territories established in 1500
• States and territories disestablished in 1806
• Bavarian Circle
• Circles of the Holy Roman Empire
• History of Bavaria
• 1500s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
• 1500 establishments in Europe

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing German-language text