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TheDuchy of Bavaria (German:Herzogtum Bayern) was a frontier region in the southeastern part of theMerovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled byBavarian tribes and ruled bydukes (duces) underFrankish overlordship. A new duchy was created from this area during the decline of theCarolingian Empire in the late ninth century. It became one of thestem duchies of theEast Frankish realm, which evolved as theKingdom of Germany and theHoly Roman Empire.
During internal struggles in theOttonian dynasty, the Bavarian territory was considerably diminished by the separation of the newly establishedDuchy of Carinthia in 976. Between 1070 and 1180, theHoly Roman Emperors were again strongly opposed by Bavaria, especially by theducalHouse of Welf. In the final conflict between the Welf andHohenstaufen dynasties, DukeHenry the Lion was banned and deprived of his Bavarian andSaxon fiefs by EmperorFrederick Barbarossa. Frederick passed Bavaria over to theHouse of Wittelsbach, which held it until 1918. The Bavarian dukes were raised toprince-electors during theThirty Years' War in 1623, and tokings byNapoleon in 1806. The duchy chaired the bench of the secular princes to theReichstag of the Empire.
The medieval Bavarian stem duchy covered present-daySoutheastern Germany and most parts ofAustria along theDanube river, up to theHungarian border which then ran along theLeitha tributary in the east. It included theAltbayern regions of the modern state ofBavaria, with the lands of theNordgau march (the laterUpper Palatinate), but without itsSwabian andFranconian regions. The separation of the Duchy of Carinthia in 976 entailed the loss of largeEast Alpine territories covering the present-day Austrian states ofCarinthia andStyria as well as the adjacentCarniolan region in today'sSlovenia. The easternMarch of Austria —roughly corresponding to the present state ofLower Austria— was likewise elevated to aduchy in its own right by 1156.
Over the centuries, several further seceded territories in the territory of the former stem duchy, such as theCounty of Tyrol or theArchbishopric of Salzburg, gainedImperial immediacy. From 1500, a number of theseImperial states were members of theBavarian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire.
The origins of the older Bavarian duchy can be traced to the year 551/555. In hisGetica, the chroniclerJordanes writes: "That area of theSwabians has theBavarii in the east, theFranks in the west ..."
Until the end of the first duchy, all rulers descended from the family of theAgilolfings. The Bavarians then colonized the area from theMarch of the Nordgau along theNaab river (later called theUpper Palatinate) up to theEnns in the east and southward across theBrenner Pass to the UpperAdige in present-daySouth Tyrol. The first documented duke wasGaribald I, a scion of the FrankishAgilolfings, who ruled from 555 onward as a largely independentMerovingian vassal.
On the eastern border, changes occurred with the departure of the West GermanicLombard tribes from thePannonian basin to northernItaly in 568 and the succession of theAvars, as well as with the settlement of West SlavicCzechs on the adjacent territory beyond theBohemian Forest at about the same time. At around 743, the Bavarian dukeOdilo vassalised theSlavic princes ofCarantania (roughly corresponding with the laterMarch of Carinthia), who had asked him for protection against the invading Avars. The residence of the largely independent Agilolfing dukes was thenRegensburg, the formerRomanCastra Regina, on theDanube river.
DuringChristianization, BishopCorbinian laid the foundations for the laterDiocese of Freising before 724;Saint Kilian in the 7th century had been a missionary of theFranconian territory in the north, then ruled by theDukes of Thuringia, whereBoniface founded theDiocese of Würzburg in 742. In the adjacentAlamannic (Swabian) lands west of theLech river,Augsburg was a bishop's seat. When Boniface established theDiocese of Passau in 739, he could already build on localEarly Christian traditions. In the south, SaintRupert had founded in 696 theDiocese of Salzburg, probably after he had baptized DukeTheodo of Bavaria at his court in Regensburg, becoming the "Apostle of Bavaria". In 798,Pope Leo III created the Bavarianecclesiastical province withSalzburg asmetropolitan seat andRegensburg, Passau, Freising, andSäben (later Brixen) as suffragan dioceses.
With the rise of theFrankish Empire under theCarolingian dynasty, the autonomy of the Bavarian dukes, previously enjoyed under the Merovingians, was reduced and subsequently terminated. In 716, the Carolingians had incorporated the Franconian lands in the north, formerly held by theDukes of Thuringia, whereby the bishops of Würzburg gained a dominant position. In the west, the Carolingian mayor of the palaceCarloman had suppressed the last Alamannic revolt at the 746Blood court at Cannstatt. The last tribal stem duchy to be incorporated was Bavaria in 788, after DukeTassilo III had tried in vain to maintain his independence through an alliance with theLombards. The conquest of theLombard Kingdom byCharlemagne entailed the fall of Tassilo, who was deposed in 788. From that point, Bavaria was administered by Frankishprefects, first of whom wasGerold, who governed Bavaria from 788 to 799.[1]
By establishing direct rule over Bavaria, the Franks provoked the neighbouringAvars. At that time, the eastern Bavarian border, towards the Avars, was situated on theriver Enns. Already in 788, the Avars made an incursion into Bavaria, but Franko-Bavarian forces repelled them, and then launched a counterattack towards neighbouring Avarian regions, situated along theriver Danube, east of the Enns. The two sides clashed near theriver Ybbs, on the Ybbs Field (German:Ybbsfeld), where the Avars suffered a significant defeat (788).[2][3]
In order to secure Bavaria's eastern borders, and resolve other political and administrative questions,Charlemagne came to Bavaria in person, during the autumn of the same year (788). InRegensburg, he held a council and regulated issues regarding the Bavarian frontier counties (marches),[4] thus preparing the basis for future actions in the east. In 790, the Avars tried to negotiate a peace settlement with the Franks, but no agreement was reached.[5]
Bavaria then became the main base for the Frankish campaign against the Avars, which was initiated in 791. A large Frankish army, personally led byCharlemagne, crossed from Bavaria in to the Avarian territory beyond theriver Enns, and started to advance along theriver Danube, divided in two columns, but found no active resistance, and soon reached the region ofVienna Woods, at the very gates of thePannonian Plain. No decisive battles were fought, since the Avars had fled before the advancing Frankish army.[6]
Frankish acquisition of new eastern regions, particularly those between theriver Enns and theVienna Woods, represented a significant gain for the security of Bavaria. At first, that territory was placed under the jurisdiction of the Bavarian prefectGerold (d. 799),[7] and subsequently organized as a frontier unit, that became known as the (Bavarian)Eastern March (Latin:marcha orientalis). It provided safety for Bavaria's eastern borders, securing as well the main communication between Frankish possessions in Bavaria and Pannonia.[8]
In his 817,Ordinatio Imperii, Charlemagne's son and successor EmperorLouis the Pious tried to maintain the unity of theCarolingian Empire: while imperial authority upon his death was to pass to his eldest sonLothair I, the younger brothers were to receive subordinate realms. From 825,Louis the German styled himself "King of Bavaria" in the territory that was to become the centre of his power. When the brothers divided the Empire by the 843Treaty of Verdun, Bavaria became part ofEast Francia under KingLouis the German, who upon his death bequested the Bavarian royal title to his eldest sonCarloman in 876. Carloman's natural sonArnulf of Carinthia, raised in the former Carantanian lands, secured possession of theMarch of Carinthia upon his father's death in 880, and became King of East Francia, in 887. Carinthia and Bavaria were the bases of his power, with Regensburg as the seat of his government.
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 toLouis the Child, during whose reign continuousHungarian 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 theBattle 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 ofCarinthia, created on the southeastern frontier for the defence of Bavaria. He died in the great battle of 907, but his sonArnulf, whose last name was the Bad, rallied the remnants of the tribe in alliance with the Hungarians and became duke of the Bavarians in 911, uniting Bavaria and Carinthia under his rule. The German kingConrad I unsuccessfully attacked Arnulf when the latter refused to acknowledge his royal supremacy.
The Carolingian reign in East Francia ended in 911, when Arnulf's son, KingLouis the Child, died without heirs. The discontinuation of the central authority led to a new strengthening of the Germanstem duchies. At the same time, East Francia was exposed to the rising threat fromHungarian invasions, especially in the BavarianMarch of Austria (marchia orientalis) beyond the Enns river. In 907 the army ofLuitpold, Margrave of Bavaria suffered a crushing defeat at theBattle of Pressburg. Luitpold himself was killed in action and his sonArnulf the Bad assumed the ducal title, becoming the first Duke of Bavaria from theLuitpolding dynasty. However, the Austrian march remained occupied by the Hungarians and the Pannonian lands were irrecoverably lost.
Nevertheless, the self-confidence of the Bavarian dukes was an ongoing matter of dispute in the newly establishedKingdom of Germany: Duke Arnulf's sonEberhard was deposed by KingOtto I of Germany in 938; he was succeeded by his younger brotherBerthold. In 948, King Otto finally disempowered the Luitpoldings and installed his younger brotherHenry I as Bavarian duke. The late Duke Berthold's minor heir,Henry III, was fobbed off with the office of a BavarianCount palatine. The last attempt of the Luitpoldings to regain power by joining the rebellion of King Otto's son DukeLiudolf of Swabia was crushed in 954.
In 952, Duke Henry I also received the ItalianMarch of Verona, which Otto I had seized from KingBerengar II of Italy. He still had to deal with the Hungarian threat, which was not eliminated until King Otto's victory at the 955Battle of Lechfeld. The Magyars retreated behind theLeitha andMorava rivers, facilitating a second wave of GermanOstsiedlung into the areas of today'sLower Austria,Istria andCarniola. Although ruled by theOttonian descendants of Henry I, acadet branch of theSaxon royal dynasty, the conflict of the Bavarian dukes with the German (from 962:Imperial) court continued: in 976, EmperorOtto II deposed his rebellious cousin DukeHenry II of Bavaria and established theDuchy of Carinthia on former Bavarian territory granted to the former Luitpolding Count palatineHenry III, who also becameMargrave of Verona. Though Henry II reconciled with Emperor Otto's widowTheophanu in 985 and regained his duchy, the power of the Bavarian dukes was further diminished by the rise of the FranconianHouse of Babenberg, ruling as Margraves of Austria (Ostarrichi), who became increasingly independent.
The last Ottonian duke,Henry IV of Bavaria, was electedKing of the Romans in 1002 as Henry II. At different times, the duchy was ruled by the German kings in personal union, by dependent dukes, or even by the emperor's sons, a tradition maintained by Henry'sSalian successors. This period saw the rise of many aristocratic families, such as theCounts of Andechs and theHouse of Wittelsbach. In 1061, the dowager empressAgnes of Poitouenfeoffed the Saxon countOtto of Nordheim with the Duchy. Nevertheless, her son KingHenry IV seized the duchy on fallacious grounds, which ultimately led to theSaxon Rebellion of 1073. Henry entrusted Bavaria toWelf, a scion of the Veronese margravialHouse of Este and progenitor of theWelf dynasty, which intermittently ruled the duchy for the next 110 years.
Only with the establishment of Welf rule as dukes from 1070 by Henry IV was there a re-emergence of the Bavarian dukes. This period is characterized by theInvestiture Controversy between Emperor and Pope, which strengthened Welf rule through siding with the pope's position.
AfterHenry V, the last of the Salian emperors, died in 1125,Lothair III of the House ofSupplinburg was elected to the throne; the Bavarian dukeHenry the Proud had married Lothair's daughterGertrude, and was thus promised her inheritance. When conflict arose withanti-kingConrad III, nephew of Henry V and member of theSwabianHouse of Hohenstaufen, the Bavarian duke threw his support behind Lothair, further increasing his social capital and increasing his chances of election as King of Germany as well asDuke of Saxony in the aftermath of Lothair's death. However, Conrad III was successfully elected as King of Germany in 1138; fearing Henry's power, Conrad denied Henry his investiture with theDuchy of Saxony, claiming that it was unlawful for a duke to hold two duchies.[9] This, compounded with his bitterness for being denied the throne, prompted Henry to refuse to swear his oath of allegiance to Conrad. As a consequence, he was dispossessed of all of his territories, and Bavaria was given to hisBabenberg half-brotherLeopold IV, Margrave of Austria in 1139.
TheDuchy of Swabia consisted largely of countryside during the reign of the Staufer king, whileFranconia became the center of Staufer power, having been invested with the titledux Francorum orientalium, in 1115 by Henry V. This lasted until 1168, when theBishop of Würzburg acquired thediocese of Bamberg and thus became theDuke of Franconia. The HohenstaufenFrederick I Barbarossa attempted reconciliation with the Welfs[10] and, in 1156, gave back the Duchy of Bavaria to the WelfHenry the Lion; however, the East Mark remained in Babenberg hands, and it was thus elevated to theDuchy of Austria as compensation for the loss of Bavaria.[11] The elevation of theMarcha Orientalis under the Babenbergs to a Dukedom established it as the nucleus of the later state ofAustria (Ostarrichi).
Henry the Lion founded numerous cities, including Munich in 1158. Through his strong position as ruler of the two duchies of Saxony and Bavaria, he came into conflict with Frederick I Barbarossa. With the banishment of Henry the Lion and the separation of theMarch of Styria from Bavaria—raised to theDuchy of Styria in 1180 underMargrave Ottokar IV—the younger tribal duchy came to an end.
From 1180 to 1918, theWittelsbachs were the rulers of Bavaria, as dukes, later as electors and kings. When Count Palatine Otto VI. of Wittelsbach becameOtto I, Duke of Bavaria in 1180, the Wittelsbach treasury was rather low. In the following years it was significantly augmented by purchase, marriage, and inheritance. Newly acquired land was no longer given as a fief, but managed by servants. Also, powerful families, such as the counts of Andechs, died out during this period. Otto's son Ludwig I of Wittelsbach was enfeoffed in 1214 with theCounty Palatine of the Rhine.
Since there was no preference for succession of the firstborn in the Wittelsbach dynasty, in contrast to many governments of this time, there was in 1255 a division of the land into Upper Bavaria with the Palatinate and the Nordgau (headquartered in Munich) and Lower Bavaria (with seats inLandshut and Burghausen). There is still today a distinction made between upper and lower Bavaria (cf.Regierungsbezirke).
Despite renewed division after a short time of reunification, Bavaria gained new heights of power withLouis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who became the first Wittelsbach emperor in 1328. The newly gained areas ofBrandenburg (1323),Tyrol (1342), the Dutch provincesHolland,Zeeland andFriesland and theHainaut (1345) were, however, lost under his successors. In 1369, Tyrol fell through the Treaty of Schärding to the Habsburgs. The Luxemburgish rider followed in 1373 and the Dutch counties fell toBurgundy in 1436. In the 1329Treaty of Pavia, Emperor Louis divided ownership in a Palatine region, with the Rhine Palatinate, and a later so-called Upper Palatinate. Thus, the electoral dignity for the line was passed onwards to the Palatinate. With the recognition of the limits of domination by the Bavarian Duke in the year 1275,Salzburg of Bavaria went into their final phase. When the Salzburg Archbishop issued its own country regulations in 1328, Salzburg become a largely independent state within the Holy Roman Empire.
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In the 14th and 15th centuries, upper and lower Bavaria were repeatedly subdivided. Four Duchies existed after the division of 1392:Bavaria-Straubing,Bavaria-Landshut,Bavaria-Ingolstadt andBavaria-Munich. These dukes often waged war against each other. DukeAlbrecht IV of Bavaria-Munich united Bavaria in 1503 throughwar andprimogeniture. However, the originally Bavarian officesKufstein,Kitzbühel andRattenberg in Tirol were lost in 1504.
In spite of the decree of 1506, Albert's oldest sonWilliam IV was compelled to grant a share in the government in 1516 to his brotherLouis X, 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 atLinz withFerdinand I, the king ofHungary and Bohemia. This link strengthened in 1546, when the emperorCharles V obtained the help of the duke during the war of theleague of Schmalkalden by promising him in certain eventualities the succession to the Bohemian throne, and the electoral dignity enjoyed by thecount palatine of the Rhine. William also did much at a critical period to secure Bavaria forCatholicism. The reformed doctrines had made considerable progress in the duchy when the duke obtained extensive rights over the bishoprics and monasteries from the pope. He then took measures to repress the reformers, many of whom were banished; while theJesuits, whom he invited into the duchy in 1541, made theJesuit College of Ingolstadt, their headquarters in Germany. William died in March 1550 and was succeeded by his sonAlbert V, who had married a daughter of 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 theCouncil of Trent, and pressed forward the work of theCounter-Reformation. As education passed by degrees into the hands of the Jesuits, the progress ofProtestantism was effectually arrested in Bavaria.
The succeeding duke, Albert's son,William V, had received a Jesuit education and showed keen attachment to Jesuit tenets. He secured theArchbishopric of Cologne for his brotherErnest in 1583, and this dignity remained in the possession of the family for more than 200 years. In 1597 he abdicated in favour of his sonMaximilian I.
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 theThirty Years' War; during the earlier years of which he was so successful as to acquire theUpper Palatinate and theelectoral dignity which had been enjoyed since 1356 by the elder branch of the Wittelsbach family. TheElectorate of Bavaria then consisted of most of the modern regions ofUpper Bavaria,Lower Bavaria, and theUpper Palatinate.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bavaria".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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