Maximilian I was duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of
Bavaria from 1799 to 1805, king of Bavaria from 1806 to 1825. He was a
member of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, a
branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Biography
= Early life= Maximilian, the son of the count
palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Maria
Francisca of Sulzbach, was born at Schwetzingen – between Heidelberg and
Mannheim. He was carefully educated under the
supervision of his uncle, Duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken, became Count of
Rappoltstein in 1776 and took service in 1777 as a colonel in the French army and
rose rapidly to the rank of major-general. From 1782 to 1789 he was
stationed at Strasbourg. During his time at the University Klemens von
Metternich, the future Austrian chancellor was for some time
accommodated by Prince Maximilian. By the outbreak of the French Revolution
Maximilian exchanged the French for the Austrian service, taking part in the
opening campaigns of the revolutionary wars.
= Duke of Zweibrücken and Elector of Bavaria and the Palatinate=
On 1 April 1795 he succeeded his brother, Charles II, as duke of
Zweibrücken, however, his duchy was entirely occupied by the French. On 16
February 1799 Maximilian Joseph became Elector of Bavaria and Count Palatine of
the Rhine, the Arch-Steward of the Empire, and Duke of Berg on the
extinction of the Palatinate-Sulzbach line with the death of the elector
Charles Theodore. The sympathy with France and with French
ideas of enlightenment which characterized his reign was at once
manifested. In the newly organized ministry Count Max Josef von Montgelas,
who, after falling into disfavour with Charles Theodore, had acted for a time
as Maximilian Joseph's private secretary, was the most potent
influence, an influence wholly "enlightened" and French. Agriculture
and commerce were fostered, the laws were ameliorated, a new criminal code
drawn up, taxes and imposts equalized without regard to traditional
privileges, while a number of religious houses were suppressed and their
revenues used for educational and other useful purposes. He closed the
University of Ingolstadt in May 1800 and moved it to Landshut.
In foreign politics Maximilian Joseph's attitude was from the German point of
view less commendable. With the growing sentiment of German nationality he had
from first to last no sympathy, and his attitude throughout was dictated by
wholly dynastic, or at least Bavarian, considerations. Until 1813 he was the
most faithful of Napoleon's German allies, the relation being cemented by
the marriage of his eldest daughter to Eugène de Beauharnais. His reward came
with the Treaty of Pressburg, by the terms of which he was to receive the
royal title and important territorial acquisitions in Swabia and Franconia to
round off his kingdom. He assumed the title of king on 1 January 1806. On 15
March he ceded the Duchy of Berg to Napoleon's brother-in-law Joachim Murat.
= King of Bavaria= The new king of Bavaria was the most
important of the princes belonging to the Confederation of the Rhine, and
remained Napoleon's ally until the eve of the Battle of Leipzig, when by the
Treaty of Ried he made the guarantee of the integrity of his kingdom the price
of his joining the Allies. On 14 October, Bavaria made a formal
declaration of war against Napoleonic France. The treaty was passionately
backed by Crown Prince Ludwig and by Marshal von Wrede.
By the first Treaty of Paris, however, he ceded Tyrol to Austria in exchange
for the former Grand Duchy of Würzburg. At the Congress of Vienna, which he
attended in person, Maximilian had to make further concessions to Austria,
ceding Salzburg and the quarters of the Inn and Hausruckviertel in return for
the western part of the old Palatinate. The king fought hard to maintain the
contiguity of the Bavarian territories as guaranteed at Ried but the most he
could obtain was an assurance from Metternich in the matter of the Baden
succession, in which he was also doomed to be disappointed.
At Vienna and afterwards Maximilian sturdily opposed any reconstitution of
Germany which should endanger the independence of Bavaria, and it was his
insistence on the principle of full sovereignty being left to the German
reigning princes that largely contributed to the loose and weak
organization of the new German Confederation. The Federal Act of the
Vienna Congress was proclaimed in Bavaria, not as a law but as an
international treaty. It was partly to secure popular support in his resistance
to any interference of the federal diet in the internal affairs of Bavaria,
partly to give unity to his somewhat heterogeneous territories, that
Maximilian on 26 May 1818 granted a liberal constitution to his people.
Montgelas, who had opposed this concession, had fallen in the previous
year, and Maximilian had also reversed his ecclesiastical policy, signing on 24
October 1817 a concordat with Rome by which the powers of the clergy, largely
curtailed under Montgelas's administration, were restored. The new
parliament proved to be more independent than he had anticipated and in 1819
Maximilian resorted to appealing to the powers against his own creation; but his
Bavarian "particularism" and his genuine popular sympathies prevented him from
allowing the Carlsbad Decrees to be strictly enforced within his dominions.
The suspects arrested by order of the Mainz Commission he was accustomed to
examine himself, with the result that in many cases the whole proceedings were
quashed, and in not a few the accused dismissed with a present of money.
Maximilian died at Nymphenburg Palace, near Munich, on 13 October 1825 and was
succeeded by his son Ludwig I. Maximilian is buried in the crypt of the
Theatinerkirche in Munich. Cultural legacy
Under the reign of Maximilian Joseph the Bavarian Secularization led to the
nationalisation of cultural assets of the Church. The Protestants were
emancipated. In 1808 he founded the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.
The city of Munich was extended by the first systematic expansion with the new
Brienner Strasse as core. In 1810 Max Joseph ordered construction of the
National Theatre Munich in French neo-classic style. The monument
Max-Joseph Denkmal before the National Theatre was created in the middle of the
square Max-Joseph-Platz as a memorial for King Maximilian Joseph by Christian
Daniel Rauch and carried out by Johann Baptist Stiglmaier. It was only revealed
in 1835 since the king had rejected to be eternalized in sitting position.
In 1801 he led the rescue operation when a glassmaker's workshop collapsed,
saving the life of Joseph von Fraunhofer, a 14-year-old orphan
apprentice. Max Joseph donated books and directed the glassmaker to give
Fraunhofer time to study. Fraunhofer went on to become one of the most famous
optical scientists and artisans in history, inventing the spectroscope and
spectroscopy, making Bavaria noted for fine optics, and joining the nobility
before his death at age 39. He was elected a Royal Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1802. Private life and family
Maximilian married twice and had children by both marriages:
His first wife was Auguste of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Prince
Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt. They were married on 30 September 1785 in
Darmstadt. They had five children: Prince Ludwig, married Therese of
Saxe-Hildburghausen. Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika,,
married Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg.
Princess Amalie Marie Auguste, died in infancy.
Princess Caroline Augusta, married William I of Württemberg, and then
Francis II of Austria. Prince Karl Theodor Maximilian.
Maximilian's second wife was Karoline of Baden, daughter of Margrave Karl Ludwig
of Baden. They were married on 9 March 1797 in Karlsruhe. They had eight
children: Stillborn son
Prince Maximilian Joseph Karl Friedrich, died in infancy.
Princess Elisabeth Ludovika, married Frederick William IV of Prussia.
Princess Amalie Auguste, married John I of Saxony.
Princess Sophie Friederike Dorothee, married Archduke Franz Karl of Austria,
mother of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico.
Princess Marie Anne Leopoldine, married Frederick Augustus II of Saxony.
Princess Ludovika Wilhelmine, married Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria.
Princess Maximiliana, died in infancy. Styles
27 May 1756 - 1 April 1795: His Serene Highness Prince Maximillian Joseph of
Bavaria 1 April 1795 - 16 February 1799: His
Highness The Duke of Zweibrücken 16 February 1799 - 1 January 1806: His
Highness The Duke of Zweibrücken, Elector of Bavaria, Duke of Berg,
Elector Palatine 1 January 1806 - 13 October 1825: His
Majesty The King of Bavaria Ancestry
King Maximilian I Joseph's relation to Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria
Francis I, Duke of Lorraine ∞ Christina of Denmark
1517–1545 | 1522–1590
+------------------+-------------------+ | |
Charles III, Duke of Lorraine Renata of Lorraine ∞ William V of
Bavaria 1543–1608
1544–1602 | 1548–1626 |
----------+----------------------------+ | |
| | | |
Maria Anna of Bavaria Magdalene of Bavaria
| | 1574–1616 1587–1628
| | | |
Elizabeth of Lorraine ∞ Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria ∞ Maria Anna of
Austria | 1574–1635 1573–1651
1610–1655 | ---------------------------------------+
Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine 1615–1690
Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine 1661–1742
Elizabeth Augusta Sophie, Pfalzgräfin von Neuburg
1693–1728 Maria Francisca Sulzbach
1724–1794 Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria
1756–1825 See also
List of rulers of Bavaria History of Bavaria
Bibliography Palmer, Alan. Metternich: Councillor of
Europe. London: Orion. ISBN 978-1-85799-868-9.
References This article incorporates text from a
publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. Encyclopædia
Britannica. Cambridge University Press.