BAVARIA, formerly a duchy and electorate, but now a kingdom of Germany. Bavaria has experienced a great variety of changes within the last twenty years. She received a considerable accession of territory at the settling of the German indemnities in 1802, consisting of the bishoprics of Freysingen, Bamberg, Augsburg, and Kempten, ten abbeys, fifteen imperial towns, and some other small districts, which were given as an equivalent for the palatinate of the Rhine, the duchies of Juliers, and Deux Ponts, and other possessions in the Netherlands. He assumed at the same time the title of duke of Franconia. The duke having still adhered to the French, Bonaparte raised him
in 1806 to the kingly dignity, and on this occasion, and afterwards at the peace in 1809, enlarged his dominions at the expence of Austria. When the fortune of the war changed in 1813, Bavaria, like others of the small powers, endeavoured to secure the advantages he had gained by entering into terms with the stronger party; and at the peace of Paris in 1814 he was allowed to keep the greater part of his new acquisitions, restoring to Austria Salzburg and Bertholsgaden, with the parts of the Tirol and of the Hansruck formerly ceded to him. He obtained then also the greater part of what was formerly denominated the palatinate of the Rhine, with the grand duchy of Wurzburg. The whole kingdom of Bavaria at present embraces an area of 30,000 square English miles, and had a population of 3,560,000 in 1818. The revenue of Bavaria in the same year was estimated at 1,900,000l. sterling; and the contingent of troops which it is bound to furnish to the German confederation is 35,600. About one-fourth or one-fifth of the inhabitants are Lutherans, the rest Catholics, with a small number of Calvinists and Jews. The Catholics were formerly distinguished by their bigotry and intolerance; but a great reformation has taken place in this and many other points since the present king ascended the throne. The greatest proportion of the numerous monasteries have been suppressed, and a part of the funds employed in endowing schools and academies. To crown these advantages, the king gave the nation a representative constitution in 1818; and Bavaria, which was lately the stronghold of ignorance and superstition, now bids fair to outstrip all her neighbours in the career of improvement. Munich is the capital. The country is fertile, but mountainous, and has mines of salt, coal, iron, and lead. Its vegetable productions are extremely various, and include chestnuts, Indian corn, and vines. Vast numbers of cattle are raised in the southern parts, and in the north there are considerable manufactures.
The house of Bavaria is universally allowed to be one of the most ancient in Germany. The counts of Scheyren, whose castle at present is a cloister, gave them the name. At that place are shown the tombs of more than 26 lords of Scheyren. The emperor Otho I. established as counts-palatine of Bavaria and landgraves of Scheyren, Arnolph and Herman, sons of Arnolph brother to the duke of Berchtold of Carinthia, marquis of the county upon the Ens. After the death of Berchtold, the same emperor, instead of giving Bavaria to his son, gave it to Duke Henry his brother, who had married Judith sister to Arnolph and Herman. This Duke Henry of Bavaria had by his marriage Henry Hezillon, who was succeeded by his son Henry, afterwards chosen emperor by the name of Henry II. This emperor having no children by Saint Conegond his wife, Bavaria passed again to the family of Franconia, and afterwards to that of Suabia under Henry IV. who possessed it till the year 1071, when this last emperor gave that county to Count Wolf, or Guelph, of Ravensburg in Suabia. To this Guelph, who died in the island of Cyprus, succeeded Guelph II. and to him his brother Duke Henry IX. who was succeeded by his son Henry the Proud. This last had married the only daughter of the emperor Lotharius, and after the death of his father-in-law became also duke of Saxony; but refusing to deliver up the imperial ornaments of his father-in-law to the emperor Conrad III. duke of Suabia,
bia, or to acknowledge him for emperor, he was put to the ban of the empire, and lost his states. After the death of Henry, Conrad made his brother Leopold marquis of Austria and duke of Bavaria; who, dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother Henry XI. whom the emperor Frederick I. made duke of Austria, joining together the two counties above and below the Ens, and declaring them free and independent of the government of Bavaria. The same emperor gave Bavaria thus dismembered, with Saxony, to Henry the Lion, son of Henry the Proud. But Henry the Lion afterwards losing the favour of this emperor, was put to the ban of the empire: and lost all his possessions except Brunswick and Lunenburg, which still remain to his descendants. In 1180, the duchy of Bavaria was given by the emperor to Otho the landgrave of Witzelsbach, count-palatine of the house of Bavaria. In the time of this Otho, the castle of Scheyren was changed into a monastery, in which the duke was buried. From him are descended the two great families that remain to this day in Germany; viz. the count-palatine of the Rhine, and the electors, now kings of Bavaria. Prince Eugene Beauharnois, stepson to Bonaparte, is married to a princess of this family. See BAVARIA, SUPPLEMENT.