King of Bavaria

“ Bavaria had with great loyalty supported Prussia through the war and performed very valuable services, and now he proposed to reward their friendship by compelling them to accept terms by which the independence of the King and the very existence of the State would be endangered. The last request which the King of Bavaria had sent to the Crown Prince as he left Munich to take command of the Bavarian army was that nothing might be done to interfere with Bavarian independence. Of course Bismarck refused to listen to these suggestions ”

“ The title of the sovereign is king of Bavaria, that of his presumptive heir is crown-prince of Bavaria, and during the minority or incapacity of the sovereign a regency is declared, which is vested in the nearest male agnate capable of ascending the throne. Such a regency began on the 10th of June 1886, at first for King Louis II., and after the 14th of the same month for King Otto I., in the person of the prince regent Luitpold. The executive power resides in the king and the responsibility for the government of the kingdom in his ministers. ”

“ Bavaria now lay exposed to the conqueror; and, for the first time, the tide of war, which had hitherto only beat against its frontier, now flowed over its long spared and fertile fields. Before, however, the king proceeded to the conquest of these provinces, he delivered the town of Augsburg from the yoke of Bavaria ”

“ The proclamation of the Empire was to take place at Versailles on the 18th of January, 1871. Three days before this date the future emperor summoned the court chaplain to him. He spoke of Ludwig II.’s idealism, and added: “Whatever his abilities may be, he must at any rate be very highly considered.” Bismarck at an entertainment rose to his feet, and made the following speech:—“I drink to the health of his Majesty the King of Bavaria, and to the prosperity of his dynasty, which has extended through a thousand years! ”

“ 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. ”

“ This war of the Bavarian succession is unfortunate, and no one knows whether the German empire will derive any important advantage from our sustaining by force of arms a little duchy. It is a question whether it would not be better to abolish the little principalities, in order to strengthen the greater German powers. The king will support Bavaria, because he envies Austria its possession, and, as he has decided upon war, it becomes his crown prince to yield to his decision without murmuring. Therefore, Wilhelmine, I will today witness to you the oath of fidelity. ”

“ Of all the prominent personages who, through their official position or individual power, or both combined, occupy at present the eye of the public, probably not one is more unjustly criticised or more generally misunderstood than Ludwig II., king of Bavaria. ”

“ CHAPTER XXIII King Ludwig and Queen Marie
A picture very often to be seen in Bavaria is one representing Maximilian II. and his family in the garden at Hohenschwangau. The Queen is sitting with Prince Otto on her lap, and the King, standing beside her, has laid his hand on the Crown Prince’s head. He is in the full prime of his manhood; his wife is radiant with happiness and beauty.
The lapse of a few years had transformed this family life in the Bavarian royal castle. The bright and happy Queen had become a widow, the proud mother a Mater Dolorosa. ”

“ On the 19th of January Hohenlohe declared in the Chamber that a state of the second rank, like Bavaria, could only exist as allied to another kingdom, and that that kingdom could only be Prussia, under whose leadership the people of Bavaria must be prepared to fight in the event of war. ”

“ MAXIMILIAN I. (Maximilian Joseph) (1756–1825) , king of Bavaria, was the son of the count palatine Frederick of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, and was born on the 27th of May 1756. He was carefully educated under the supervision of his uncle, Duke Christian IV. of Zweibrücken, 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 Strassburg, but at the outbreak of the revolution he exchanged the French for the Austrian service, taking part in the opening campaigns of the revolutionary wars. ”

“ Inactive, powerless, Ludwig was witness from his capital of the defeat of his faithful soldiers. His people were a vanquished people, and himself a vanquished King. Austria concluded peace with Prussia in Nikolsburg without paying any regard to the fate of her ally. Bavaria now also concluded peace. She did not lose any province, had only to renounce a strip of country hardly worth mentioning; but she was compelled to pay thirty millions of guldens for the expenses of the war. The Bavarian troops went each in their own direction. ”

“ The homage of the people made a deep impression on Ludwig. “Shall I go to the window once again?” he asked, after showing himself many times, as the shouts outside became louder and warmer. He was received with ovations in the evening, when he appeared at the performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre. The shouts of hurrah for the King continued to ring. Day after day, till far into the night, the crowds surged backwards and forwards. One cannot know how the dice may fall,” said the Bavarian Minister of War. “But this I can already say for certain: the army will come out of the battle with honour!” ”

“ Pull it from the vaults of the Munich Hofburg, Bülow, and place it on Luitpold's head, and if he persists in his silly refusal, on Ludwig's."
"Majesty knows these gentlemen's objections: 'There can be no real king in Bavaria, they say, until the constitutional incumbent is dead,'" spoke the Chancellor gravely.
"Then kill Otto," cried the War Lord. "What, miss our place in the sun for a madman! Not if I know Wilhelm, Imperator Rex. ”

“ I expect of all the officials of Bavaria, above all from the gallant Bavarian officers and the soldiers of Bavaria, that they will, in remembrance of the solemn oath with which they swore loyalty to me, remain faithful to me and stand by me in this heavy hour.
“Every loyal citizen is called upon to brand Prince Luitpold and the former Ministry as traitors. ”

“ In the Revolution the reactionary or Ultramontane party of Bavaria saw their chance, however, and gained the King’s ear. They dwelt on the natural alliance of throne and altar, and the identity of liberalism in religion with liberalism in politics. Only in a religious people, they argued, could a king place his trust. Secure of royal protection and encouragement, friars, nuns, and ecclesiastics of all kinds came flocking into Bavaria. Monasteries, convents, and church schools threatened to become as numerous as they are now in England. ”

“ The Crown Prince of Bavaria is much respected, and has the reputation of being gifted with his father’s talents, with judgment superadded. The appearance of the King is droll enough; tall, with long legs and arms, he walks furiously fast, talks earnestly and loud, and gesticulates violently ”

“ Bavaria was, next to Austria, the most powerful state of the empire, and it had become the stronghold of the Roman faith in Germany. Now, the army of this League, under its chief, Maximilian of Bavaria, offered its services to the Emperor against the disunited and wavering Bohemians. A portion of the Bohemian army was defeated at the battle of White Mountain, just outside of Prague. Frederick, the newly elected Bohemian King, saw his troops come fleeing back to the town, and their panic seems to have seized him also. ”

“ On the evening of Whitmonday the body of Ludwig II. was conveyed to Munich.
The hearse, which was drawn by four horses and was accompanied by his servants and by priests, arrived at the capital at half-past three in the morning. Great numbers of country people followed his coffin weeping. Nobody believed he had been mad, but that an innocent man had been persecuted. In the hearts of all there lived the memory of the beloved King, who had promised so much, whose peculiarities they had condoned, and who, despite all, had continued to be the pride of the Bavarians. ”

“ Its defence was left by this incompetent emperor to Arnulf, an illegitimate son of Carloman, and it was mainly owing to the support of the Bavarians that Arnulf was able to take the field against Charles in 887, and to secure his own election as German king in the following year. Bavaria, which was the centre of the East Frankish kingdom, passed in 899 to Louis the Child, during whose reign it was constantly ravaged by the Hungarians. ”

“ The news, which was quickly spread, filled the capital with dismay and lamentations. Immense crowds of people penetrated into the courtyard of the Palace, and gazed up at their ruler’s windows.
Snow and rain fell heavily. The wind howled, but no one seemed to notice it. No longer was it possible to expect news which might bring consolation. All were thinking the same thought: “Our good King is dying!” The sorrow over the whole country was indescribable. ”

“ CHAPTER XXV Ludwig II. in Daily Life
When Bavaria in 1880 celebrated the seven hundredth anniversary of the House of Wittelsbach, the King declined to have any festivities. He issued a proclamation from his highlands in which he declared that he felt himself one with his people, and at the same time expressed the wish that a charitable institution might be founded in honour of the day. ”

“ The dependence of Bavaria upon the Frankish crown had always been of the slightest kind, consisting of little more than a verbal recognition of the supremacy of the Frankish king, and the sending of a contingent to serve in the Frankish army, while, in all the details of ordinary administration, the will of the Agilolfing duke seems to have been practically supreme. Moreover, close ties of affinity and common interests had long united the ducal house of Bavaria and the regal house of Lombard Italy. ”

“ But the immediate enemy of the Habsburgs was not a Luxemburg but a Wittelsbach. Without making any definite partition, Albert’s five remaining sons spent their time in governing their lands until 1314, when one of them, Frederick called the Fair, forsook this comparatively uneventful occupation and was chosen by a minority of the electors German king in succession to Henry VII. At the same time the Wittelsbach duke of Bavaria, Louis, known to history as the emperor Louis the Bavarian, was also chosen. ”

“ Bavaria has not forgotten King Ludwig, and the traits of geniality and kindness, by [274] which he won all, are still spoken of with love. In those parts where he mostly resided the remembrance of the “romanticist on the throne” dwells fresh and warm in the hearts of the people. ”

“ He is the present bearer of the title of King of Bavaria. ↑
[Contents]
CHAPTER II Fundamental Traits of Ludwig’s Character
Ludwig’s tutor, the Count de Larosée, has expressed his conception of his pupil’s character in the following words: “The Crown Prince is intelligent and highly gifted. He is already possessed of abilities which far exceed the ordinary. His imagination is so vivid, that I have seldom seen its equal in so young a man; but he is hasty and exceedingly quick-tempered. ”

“ Friedrich Wilhelm IV. of Prussia was Queen Marie of Bavaria’s first cousin, the son of her sister. There was in Ludwig’s tastes and turn of mind much that resembled this Prussian King, who in contrast to the greater number of the Hohenzollerns took a greater interest in science and art than in the profession of arms. ”

“ There is not a Province in the Empire where Provisions are cheaper, and in the mean time there's a vast Home-Consumption; for besides that the Bavarians love good Eating and Drinking, the Country is very populous; and 'tis computed that the Inhabitants of Munich alone are above 40,000.
Of all the Sovereigns in Europe, next to the King of France, the Elector of Bavaria has the finest Pleasure-Houses, for which he may thank the Elector his Father who had a wonderful good Fancy and Judgment. ”

“ CHAPTER XVIII The Bavarian Troops Return to Munich—King Ludwig and the Crown Prince of Germany
The war was ended; the peace concluded. A great German Empire had been re-established. Germany had been given an Emperor—and that Emperor was the King of Prussia.
With the last-named fact the essence of the new Empire is characterised: Prussia was the paramount country. ”

“ He strenuously opposed the unionist plans of the Frankfort parliament, refused to recognize the imperial constitution devised by it, and assisted Austria in restoring the federal diet and in carrying out the federal execution in Hesse and Holstein. Although, however, from 1850 onwards his government tended in the direction of absolutism, he refused to become the tool of the clerical reaction, and even incurred the bitter criticism of the Ultramontanes by inviting a number of celebrated men of learning and science (e.g. Liebig and Sybel) to Munich, regardless of their religious views. ”

“ By the peace of Teschen (May 13th, 1779) the Inn quarter was ceded to Austria, and the succession secured to Charles of Zweibrücken. For Bavaria itself Charles Theodore did less than nothing. He felt himself a foreigner among foreigners, and his favourite scheme, the subject of endless intrigues with the Austrian cabinet and the immediate cause of Frederick II.’s League of Princes (Fürstenbund) of 1785, was to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands and the title of king of Burgundy. For the rest, the enlightened internal policy of his predecessor was abandoned. ”