A country in southern Germany, in former times a marquisate and duchy, afterwards an electorate, and, since 1806, a kingdom of considerable extent. It is situated between the forty-seventh and fifty-first degrees of N. Lat. and is of an oblong form; its greatest extent being from N. to S. Its breadth is different in different parts, but we may form a tolerably correct idea of the whole by supposing a rectangular tract of country, of 200 miles in length by 140 in breadth. Such a tract would contain a surface equal to the Bavarian territory, exclusive of the distant province on the Rhine; including that province, however, the extent of the kingdom is nearly 30,000 square miles, or somewhat greater than that of Scotland.
The name in German, Baiern, is derived, like its old Latin name Boiairia, from Boii, the name of a people of Celtic origin, who were the inhabitants of this country in the reign of Augustus. It then formed part of the Rhaetae Vindelicia and Noricum of the Romans. After the fall of the Roman power, the natives were governed by military chieftains of their own till the era of Charlemagne, who succeeded in subjugating this as well as most other parts of Germany. After his death, Bavaria was governed by one of his grandsons, whose successors bore the title of Margrave, or Lord of the Marches. In the year 920 the ruling margrave was raised to the rank of duke, which continued the title of his successors for no less than seven centuries. During this long period Bavaria was connected with Germany, nationally by language, and politically as a frontier province, but in civilization was almost as backward as Austria, and greatly behind Saxony, Franconia, and the banks of the Rhine. At last, in 1620, a formidable insurrection taking place in Bohemia against Austria, the reigning Duke of Bavaria sided with the latter, and having rendered great service to her cause, received an important accession of territory, and was appointed one of the nine electors of the empire. His successors continued faithful members of the Germanic body and allies of Austria until the ambitious projects of Louis XIV. of France led, in the year 1702, to a close connection between that monarch and the elector; the object of which was to threaten and even attack Austria, so as to prevent her from co-operating efficiently with England and Holland in their great contest with France. This hostile attitude of Bavaria, joined to the insurrectionary movements in Hungary, bore so hard on the emperor as to induce the Duke of Marlborough, in the spring of 1704, to march his army above 300 miles from the banks of the Maese to those of the Danube and Iser. Bavaria was now invaded, and the elector put under the ban of the empire; but he remained firm to his alliance with Louis, and a French army under Marshal Tallard advanced from the Rhine to his relief. It was over this army, joined to a strong Bavarian force, that Marlborough and Prince Eugene obtained the signal victory of Blenheim, on the 13th August 1704. The result was decisive of the fate of the electorate; the French fled to the Rhine; the elector fled with them, and Bavaria was governed by commissioners appointed by the emperor. This state of things lasted ten years; the elector and his remaining military force serving in the French armies, until the peace of Utrecht, or more properly that of Baden, in 1714, reinstated him in his dominions.
The son and successor of this elector, untaught by the disasters of his father, was induced to renew his connection with France; and, in 1740, on the death of the Emperor of Germany, he ventured to come forward as a candidate for the imperial crown. In this he succeeded so far as to be named to that high dignity by a majority of the electors, and to overrun a considerable part of the Austrian territory; but his triumph was of short duration, for the armies of Maria Theresa, aided by English subsidies, came forward in superior numbers, and not only repulsed the Bavarians, but obtained, in 1744, possession of the electorate. The elector died soon after, and his son recovered his dominions only by renouncing the ambitious pretensions of his father.
Bavaria now remained tranquil above thirty years, until 1778, when, by the death of the reigning elector, the younger line of the house of Wittelsbach, the line which had long ruled in Bavaria, became extinct. The next heir was the Elector Palatine, the representative of the elder line of the family of Wittelsbach; but Austria unexpectedly laid claim to the succession, and took military possession of part of the country. This called into the field, on the side of Bavaria, Frederic II. of Prussia, then advanced in years. The armies on each side were formidable and well commanded; they made many threatening marches and counter-marches; but happily no bloodshed took place; and at last Austria desisted from her pretensions, on obtaining from Bavaria the cession of the frontier district called the Innviertel, or Quarter of the Inn.
Bavaria again remained at peace for many years, until the great contest between Germany and France began in 1793, when she was obliged to furnish her contingent as a member of the empire. During three years her territory was untouched, the operations being carried on in the Netherlands and on the Rhine; but in the summer of 1796, a powerful French army under Moreau advancing and occupying her capital, the consequence was a separate treaty with France, and the withdrawal of her contingent from the army of the empire. The next war between France and Austria, begun in 1799, was comparatively short; but ending disastrously for the latter, the influence of France in the empire was greatly strengthened, so that, in 1805, when the Austrians, subsidized by England, once more took up arms, Bavaria was the firm ally of France, and for the first time found advantage in the connection. In the short space of three months, the victories of Ulm and Austerlitz enabled Buonaparte to prescribe the conditions of peace, and to confer on his electoral ally the title of king, along with very considerable additions of territory.
These substantial acquisitions rendered Bavaria the willing assistant of France in the invasion of Prussia in the subsequent autumn. The battle of Jena took place, and a further increase of territory to Bavaria followed at the peace of Tilsit. The consequence was, that in 1809, when the absence in Spain of a great part of the French military force encouraged Austria again to try the hazard of war, the Bavarian troops were wholly at the disposal of Buonaparte, and formed a main part of the great army with which he defeated the Austrians at Eckmuhl and Wagram. The peace that ensued gave a further aggrandizement to Bavaria; but a few years more showed how dearly it was purchased, when many thousands of her best troops perished in the disastrous retreat from Russia. This sacrifice of lives, and the horror of Buonaparte's tyranny, excited in Bavaria, as in the rest of Germany, an ardent wish to throw off his yoke. Nor was opportunity long wanting. In the following year (1813) the allied sovereigns advanced into Saxony, and gave assurance to the king of Bavaria, that, in the event of his co-operating vigorously with them against France, he should be maintained in all his late acquisitions. The king received these assurances with satisfaction, but could not in prudence join the allies for some months; at the end of which the retreat of the French from Dresden, and the probability of their falling back to the Rhine, induced him to make an open declaration of hostility against his former allies, and to march an army to Hanau, on the Maine, the line of their expected retreat. At Hanau, accordingly, in the latter days of October, several obstinate conflicts took place between the Bavarians and the French; and although the latter forced their way, it was with considerable loss. From that time forward Bavaria took a decided part against Buonaparte, and was confirmed in her extended territory by the definitive treaties of 1814 and 1815. She ceded to Austria her ancient possession of the Tyrol, but received equivalents in Franconia and the vicinity of the Rhine.
The duchy of Bavaria, or the country which was subject to the dukes during the middle ages, and before they were raised to the rank of electors, was the southern half of the present kingdom, and lay almost all to the south of the Danube. This is the Bavaria of our old maps, nearly square in its form, extending about 100 miles from the Danube to the Tyrol, and somewhat more from Swabia on the west to Austria on the east. To this limited territory an important addition was made after 1620, at the expense of the Elector Palatine, who having taken an active part in the great insurrection in Bohemia against Austria, forfeited both his title and his dominions to the Duke of Bavaria. His dominions consisted of what was called the Upper Palatinate, a province of full 3000 square miles, situated to the north of the Danube. This country, joined to the duchy of Bavaria, constituted during a century and a half (from 1623 to 1778) the dominions of the elector; their territorial extent being about 15,000 square miles; and their population, in the beginning of that period, less than 1,000,000, but towards its close about 1,500,000.
In 1778 the succession of the Rhenish branch of the reigning family added to the former territory of Bavaria the palatinate of the Rhine, a district of no great extent, but fertile and populous. By this time the nation, hitherto illiterate and backward, became fit for improved institutions, and was fortunate in the character of two successive rulers. She was thus increasing gradually her productive industry and political weight; when, in 1806, her progress received a sudden impulse from political causes. Buonaparte had long laboured to weaken the ascendancy of the greater over the lesser states of the empire; and in 1806 the overthrow, first of Austria, and afterwards of Prussia, enabled him to make a very large addition to the territory of his German allies, above all of Bavaria. This was obtained chiefly in Franconia, a country which, being contiguous to Bavaria, and similar to it in soil and climate, is, in general, more advanced both in agriculture and manufactures. The valuable districts of the Lower Maine and the Rezat, with part of those of the Upper Maine and Upper Danube, were all obtained on this occasion; not to mention the Tyrol, which was afterwards restored to Austria.
**Present Divisions of the Kingdom, with their Areas and Populations in December 1852.**
| Old Circles | New Circles | Area in English square miles | Families | Males | Females | Total | |-------------|-------------|-----------------------------|----------|-------|--------|------| | Iser | Up. Bavaria | 6,995 | 168,059 | 369,409| 365,422 | 734,831| | Lower Danube| Lower Bavaria| 4,124 | 114,347 | 270,082| 279,514 | 549,596| | Rhine | Palatinate | 2,243 | 126,812 | 305,388| 309,878 | 611,476| | Regen | Up. Palatinate| 3,700 | 107,241 | 223,951| 244,528 | 468,719| | Upper Maine | Up. Franconia| 2,030 | 122,506 | 242,215| 257,494 | 492,797| | Rezat | Mia | 2,919 | 117,039 | 257,243| 276,987 | 531,860| | Lower Maine | Low. Franconia| 3,233 | 117,614 | 293,138| 302,610 | 595,748| | Upper Danube| Swabia | 3,087 | 109,169 | 274,556| 291,127 | 565,783| | **Total** | | 29,560 | 996,347 | 2,234,092| 2,235,360| 4,559,152|
The dense population of the circles of the Rezat and Lower Maine clearly shows the value of the territory acquired in Franconia; while the comparative thinness of inhabitants in the departments of the Regen and Iser proves the inferior soil of the Upper Palatinate, and of the southern or mountainous part of Bavaria. Similar conclusions are suggested by the following sketch of the respective proportions of the soil which lie waste or are in a state of cultivation. It must, however, be considered as only an approximation to the different proportions of land in the kingdom.
| Proportions of 100. | |-------------------| | **Circles** | **In Tillage and Pasture** | **Forest Land** | **Waste** | | Rezat | .70 | 22 | 8 | | Upper Maine | .60 | 23 | 11 | | Lower Maine | .58 | 32 | 10 | | Rhine | .57 | 36 | 7 | | Lower Danube | .50 | 22 | 21 | | Upper Danube | .50 | 25 | 25 | | Regen | .47 | 30 | 23 | | Iser | .35 | 31 | 34 | | **Average of the kingdom** | .53 | 29 | 18 |
The extent of forest land in Bavaria is double that of the forest land of France, and more than six times that of the land under wood in Great Britain. This is owing to various causes; the great extent of hilly and mountainous country, the insufficient population, and the necessity of keeping a given extent of ground in wood for a supply of fuel. There are, besides, many spots and even districts in the forest lands which are under cultivation for flax, corn, and potatoes. The forests are partly public, partly private property. The gross annual value of the former amounts to nearly L350,000, but from the heavy expense attending their management, the net value to the state amounts to little more than half that sum.
The frontier of Bavaria on the north-east, towards Bohemia, consists of a long range of mountains; and there are also very extensive chains in the neighbouring part of Franconia. These, however, seldom exceed the height of 3000 or 4000 feet; but the ridges in a very different part of the kingdom,—those namely on the south, which separate it from the Tyrol,—partake of all the grandeur of the Alps, several of them being from 9000 to 10,000 feet in height; an elevation approaching to that of Etna, and more than double that of the highest mountains in Scotland.
There are numerous lakes in Bavaria, particularly in the Lakes and mountainous parts. In the low country there are several extensive tracts of marshy ground, as in all half-cultivated countries. Of the rivers of Bavaria the most remarkable is the Danube, which, on entering the frontier from Swabia, is of sufficient size to be navigable, and afterwards traverses the whole breadth of the kingdom, making with its windings a course of 200 miles. In this long space it becomes increased by the successive junction of the Iller, the Lech, the Iser, and the Inn, all flowing northward from the Alps. On the north or Franconian side, the Danube receives the Nab, the Altmühl, and several smaller streams. Though a considerable river even in this early part of its course, it is not large enough to make the erection of bridges a work of so great labour as after the influx of the Inn; so that there are no less than sixteen bridges across the Danube in the course of its passage through Bavaria.
The Inn takes its rise in Switzerland, flows through the Tyrol, and being early swelled by the mountain streams to the right and left of its course, is navigable before it enters the Bavarian territory. It then holds a north and northeast course, and receives the Salsa, a large river flowing from Upper Austria; after which their united waters, between 200 and 300 yards in breadth, fall into the Danube. The Iser or Isar has its source in the Tyrolese Alps, flows in a curved direction nearly north-east, passes Munich, becomes navigable, and, after receiving several tributary streams, falls into the Danube half-way between Ratisbon and Passau. The Lech has a similar course, but of less length. In the northern part of the kingdom the Maine is the only river of consequence, either for size or for extent of navigation. It traverses Franconia with a very winding course, and greatly facilitates the trade of that province.
The climate of Bavaria is in general healthy, although the degree of heat, in this as in the neighbouring country of Austria, is very different according to local differences in the elevation of the soil; hence the cold of Upper Bavaria in the vicinity of the Tyrol, and the warmth of the plains adjoining the Danube and the Maine. On the whole, the temperature of Bavaria is considerably colder than that of England in the winter months, and considerably hotter during the summer and autumn.
The extent of forest land in every province of Bavaria is such as to supply a great quantity of wood for sale; but the transport of it is in many parts difficult, from the badness of the roads, and on account of the distance from navigable rivers. The forests are chiefly on the hills and mountains; and the level country, as well Lower Bavaria extending northwards to the Danube, as the western and middle parts of Franconia, is very productive in wheat, barley, rye, oats; also in hemp, flax, hops, madder, and, in warm situations, in vines. The last are raised chiefly in the vicinity of the lake of Constance, and on the banks of the Maine in the lower part of its course. On the whole, the best cultivated districts are those in which the descent of streams from the high grounds gives facilities to irrigation. Such is the case in the valley of the Danube and in part of the plains of Franconia; but in most other parts of the kingdom a great part of the arable land still remains uncultivated. The quantity of potatoes raised annually in the kingdom has been much increased in the last and present age, particularly in the northern provinces. The Spessart, an extensive tract of forest land in Franconia, formerly neglected, is now rendered very productive in this respect. That much remains to be done before justice is rendered to the soil, is evident, since, with a climate fully as good as ours, and a soil inferior only in the mountainous parts, the average population of Bavaria is not one-third that of England. The government has caused a few of the marshes to be drained; but these are merely incipient operations, and but an inconsiderable part of what ought before this time to have been performed.
The proportion of land under pasture appears to be nearly the same in one circle or province as another. According to the most recent return, the number of horses in the kingdom in 1840 was 349,688; cattle, 2,625,294; sheep, 1,889,888; swine, 842,851; and goats, 107,236. Little attention has as yet been given to the improvement of the breed of horses or oxen; but in sheep considerable progress has been made in adopting that improved treatment which has added so largely to the value of the wool of Saxony.
The quantity of salt prepared annually in Bavaria is very considerable. The gross produce in each of the three years from 1844 to 1847 amounted severally to 5,033,122, 5,127,057, and 5,287,369 florins; and the net produce to 2,481,276, 2,468,954, and 2,439,543 florins. It is obtained partly from brine springs in the circle of the Iser, partly from salt mines at Halle and other parts; which, like most undertakings of magnitude on the Continent, are, and must, from want of capital on the part of individuals, be wrought on account of the government.
In so mountainous a country the quantity of iron ore is naturally very large. The mines are numerous, but they are on a small scale compared with those of this country. The number of forges at work in 1847 was 169, with 3238 workmen. These mines are found in various parts of the kingdom; in the mountains of Franconia, as well as in those of the south of the kingdom. The coal mines are in like manner numerous, but of small extent compared with ours; the yearly produce of the mines in the Bavarian dominions being only from 60,000 to 70,000 tons. Of quicksilver there are several mines, chiefly in the province of the Rhine. Small quantities of copper, manganese, cobalt, and mercury, are obtained in Rhenish Bavaria. There are numerous quarries of excellent marble, alabaster, gypsum, and building stones; and the porcelain clay is among the finest in Europe.
The population of Bavaria is principally agricultural. Of the 959,099 families and 4,370,977 inhabitants in the kingdom in 1840, 605,698 families and 2,869,702 persons belonged to the agricultural population; the remainder representing the commercial, industrial, and mining portion of the inhabitants.
Manufactures are as yet very backward, even in articles such as hardware, for which the raw material is supplied on the spot. Woollen, linens, and in some towns cottons, are made, but of a quality much coarser than the corresponding manufactures of England, or even of the Netherlands. There are a number of mills in Franconia for making paper, in consequence of two very distinct causes, the frequency of water-falls and the cheapness of linen rags. The extent of the forests, and the command of water-power, have led to the erection of many saw-mills; there being no less than 3366 in the kingdom in 1847. Of glass also the quantity annually made is considerable. As to liquor, the climate of Bavaria being in many parts too cold for the grape, beer is the general drink, and the breweries are very numerous. There are upwards of 5000 breweries in the kingdom, employing about 12,000 workmen. They are not, as in England, confined to the large towns; in a country where the means of carriage by water are so limited, they are necessarily established in almost every district. The other principal articles of manufacture are leather, tobacco, and earthenware.
The exports from Bavaria are such as may be expected in a country chiefly agricultural: they consist of salt, timber, cattle, pigs, corn, and madder. The imports consist of sugar, tobacco, cottons, silks, with some woollens, and linen of the finest qualities. The yearly value of the exports is about two millions sterling; that of the imports nearly the same. The government, desirous of removing whatever is pernicious in established usages, abolished, in 1827, the privileges of guilds and corporations; but it must do a great deal more before trade can be raised to a flourishing condition.
The high roads in Bavaria extend in all over 5500 miles. Roads, &c. In 1850 there were about 290 miles of railway in operation. The principal line is that extending from Kaufbeuren to Nöll, and thence to Leipzig, traversing nearly the entire length of the kingdom from south to north, and passing in its course through Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Bamberg. A branch of this line proceeds from Augsburg to Munich, and another from Nuremberg to Fürth. The principal canal of Bavaria is the Ludwigs canal recently completed, and which is likely to become one of the most important in Europe. It connects the Rhine with the Danube, and extends from Bamberg on the Regnitz to Dietfurt on the Altmühl.
The increase of the population of Bavaria has been regularly and even rapidly progressive since the beginning of the present century. The following table shows its population in 1818, 1827, and 1846; that of 1849 has already been given. The births during the year 1843–4 were 76,110 males, and 71,256 females (exclusive of 4300 still-born); marriages, 29,490; deaths, 125,382. The immigrants dur- BAVARIA.
Bavaria. ing that period amounted to 972, and the emigrants to 5854, of whom 4104 were to America.
Increasing population.
| Upper Bavaria | 585,467 | | Lower Bavaria | 450,985 | | Palatinate | 445,168 | | Upper Palatinate | 403,481 | | Upper Franconia | 394,954 | | Middle Franconia | 437,838 | | Lower Franconia | 501,212 | | Swabia | 487,951 |
The following gives the principal towns of the several circles, with their populations in 1846:
| Town | Pop. in 1846 | Order of importance | |---------------|-------------|---------------------| | Munich | 94,839 | 1 | | Ingolstadt | 10,285 | 13 | | Passau | 11,475 | 10 | | Landshut | 10,354 | 12 | | Straubing | 9,698 | 16 | | Ratibon | 23,948 | 5 | | Amberg | 10,225 | 14 | | Bamberg | 21,074 | 6 | | Baireuth | 17,358 | 7 | | Hof | 8,728 | 17 | | Nuremberg | 59,460 | 2 | | Fürth | 15,842 | 8 | | Ansbach | 12,254 | 9 | | Erlangen | 10,770 | 11 | | Eichstätt | 7,587 | 20 | | Schwabach | 7,125 | 21 | | Rottenburg | 6,140 | 25 | | Dinkelsbühl | 5,653 | 26 | | Würzburg | 28,147 | 4 | | Aschaffenburg | 9,815 | 15 | | Schweinfurt | 7,660 | 19 | | Augsburg | 38,206 | 3 | | Kempten | 8,205 | 18 | | Memmingen | 6,821 | 22 | | Neuburg | 6,680 | 23 | | Nordlingen | 6,523 | 24 | | Lindau | 4,470 | 27 | | Kaufbeuren | 4,234 | 28 |
Spire, the chief town of the palatinate, has a population of about 19,000.
The palatinate or circle of the Rhine is wholly detached from the rest of the kingdom, being nearly 100 miles to the westward, and having the Rhine on the east, Rhenish Prussia and Hesse-Darmstadt on the north, Rhenish Prussia and Hesse-Homburg on the west, and France on the south. This province is an oblong of nearly 55 miles by 40; its extent is 2243 square miles, and its population (see the foregoing table) more dense than that of any other part of the kingdom. Its surface is very uneven, for the Vosges Mountains extend over a part of its territory. In these there are extensive pastures, and, in some places, mines of iron, coal, and quicksilver. In the low grounds the products are wheat, oats, barley, and, in the warmer situations, vines. This province, equal in extent to two of our middle-sized counties, is divided into twelve districts and thirty-one cantons; of which the chief towns are Spire, Landau, Deux Ponts, and Kaiserslautern. After the great successes of the French in 1794 and 1795, this district, formerly the palatinate of the Rhine, became, along with the whole country to the left of the Rhine, subject to France, and so remained for nearly twenty years, until the overthrow of Buonaparte in 1814. At that memorable juncture it was assigned by the congress of Vienna to Austria, and made over by the latter to Bavaria in the subsequent exchanges.
It may be proper to explain here what was meant by the former Circle of Bavaria, although, like the other circles of the empire, it has now ceased to have a political existence. It comprised the territories of the elector of Bavaria, as well as of a number of contiguous petty states, whose respective princes were members of the Germanic body. In addition to Bavaria Proper and the Upper Palatinate, the circle comprised the archbishopric of Salzburg and a number of lesser principalities, which are now mediatised or blended with their greater neighbours; but it contained no part of Franconia, which was a circle by itself. The extent of the circle of Bavaria was about 17,000 square miles, and its capital was Ratibon. That city was also the residence of the dukes of Bavaria until the fourteenth century, when the acquisition of the upper country towards the Tyrol induced them to fix their residence at Munich.
According to the budget for the financial period from 1849 to 1855, the net annual revenue was fixed at 33,649,799 florins, or L.2,944,357, and the expenditure at 33,675,960 florins, or L.2,957,872. Thenationaldebtin1851 amounted to 136,995,620 florins, or L.11,987,117.
Revenue and expenditure.
| Receipts | Florins. | |----------|---------| | Direct Taxes | 4,623,586 | | Land tax | 592,011 | | Rent charge tax | 262,662 | | Industry tax | 818,237 | | Capital tax | 550,000 | | Income tax | 750,000 | | Contribution to Widows and Orphans' Fund | 51,883 | | Coin tax of the Palatinate | 100,000 | | Indirect Taxes | 7,748,379 | | Customs | 5,364,648 | | Excise | 5,500,000 | | Stamps | 1,020,622 | | Miscellaneous taxes | 2,700,000 | | Royalties and State Establishments | 14,535,270 | | Salt pits and mines | 2,400,000 | | Post-office | 417,482 | | Railways | 800,000 | | Sundries | 37,438 | | Domains | 3,654,920 | | Special duties | 7,462,884 | | Other receipts | 53,173 | | Total | 33,649,799 |
Disclosures.
| Item | Florins. | |------|---------| | Public debt | 9,966,000 | | Civil list | 2,933,408 | | Council of state | 93,424 | | Parliamentary expenses | 400,000 | | Royal household and foreign affairs | 213,421 | | Justice | 1,305,390 | | Home department | 1,075,000 | | Provincial administration | 1,565,992 | | Finances | 774,678 | | Trade and public works | 94,777 | | Education | 736,765 | | Catholic religion | 1,186,681 | | Protestant religion | 353,631 | | Health | 206,202 | | Charities | 187,565 | | Police | 729,031 | | Industry, &c. | 171,434 | | Roads, bridges, &c. | 1,743,983 | | Sandry expenses | 106,353 | | Contributions to the provincial funds | 5,424,595 | | Army | 8,542,000 | | Agriculture | 350,000 | | Pensions to Widows and Orphans | 571,150 | | Total | 33,675,960 | The military force of Bavaria is raised, as in most of the other German states, by conscription, each conscript being subject to four years' service. The nobility and clergy are exempted, and generally also students and persons indispensable to the maintenance of their families. Besides the permanent army, there is a reserve destined to reinforce it; and in the event of war, the militia, composed of all the males between nineteen and sixty, except the nobility and clergy, may also be called out in aid of the army, but only in the interior. The infantry consists of sixteen regiments of 3080 men each, with six battalions of chasseurs having each 907 men, making a force of 54,722 men. The cavalry is composed of two regiments of cuirassiers, and six regiments of light horse, in all 9784. The artillery corps consist of 8150; the sappers, miners, and pontoniers of 1039; and the gendarmerie of 2289 men. The entire force of Bavaria therefore numbers about 76,000 men, but of these a large proportion is generally absent on furlough. It furnishes to the Germanic confederation a contingent of 35,600 men.
The military school at Munich has a high reputation. Arms and ammunition are manufactured in different towns in the kingdom.
Christianity appears to have been introduced into Bavaria in the sixth century. The proportion of the different religions in 1840 was as follows:
| Religious Group | Number | |-----------------|--------| | Roman Catholics | 3,060,694 | | Lutherans | 1,181,216 | | Calvinists | 2,717 | | Jews | 59,288 | | Moravians, Anabaptists, and lesser sects | 4,836 |
4,308,751
The exercise of religious worship in Bavaria is altogether free. The Protestants have the same civil rights as the Catholics, and the sovereign may be either Catholic or Protestant. Civil immunities have not yet been extended to Anabaptists, Moravians, or Jews. The latter, as in other countries, follow neither agricultural nor mechanical employments; they are all traffickers in one way or other, the most respectable being merchants, the inferior class brokers and jobbers. Of the Roman Catholic church the heads are two archbishops and six bishops; among the Protestants the highest authority is the general consistory of Munich.
Bavaria was formerly as backward in regard to education as Austria, or any part of the south of Germany; but in the course of the last and present age considerable efforts have been made to lessen the prevailing ignorance. At Munich there are scientific and literary academies, as well as a university, a lyceum, a gymnasium, and other public schools. The university has a very numerous attendance of students, being 1406 in 1846; and there are two provincial universities on a small scale, one Catholic at Wurzburg, the other Protestant at Erlangen in Franconia. In the kingdom at large there are nine lyceums, twenty-six gymnasia, about sixty progymnasia, besides nine normal, twenty-six trade, three polytechnic, and about 5400 common schools, at which it is computed that about half a million of children or young people of both sexes receive instruction in reading and writing. These certainly form a great contrast to the indifference and neglect of former times; and the government continues to evince much solicitude for the diffusion of instruction. Trade schools here, as in other parts of Germany, have been established for the purpose of affording to mechanics more suitable education than they could otherwise obtain, including mathematics, mechanics, drawing, chemistry, architecture, &c. These schools are supported by the commune, aided when necessary by the province; and commissioners are annually sent by government to examine and report upon them to the minister of trade. The course extends over three years, from the age of twelve to fifteen; after which pupils may enter one of the three polytechnic schools, where a still higher course of instruction is imparted, also extending over three years; but engineers have a special fourth year's course. A building school was established at Munich in 1823, and is chiefly intended for carpenters and masons, who are there instructed in architecture, drawing, geometry, stone-cutting, modelling ornaments, &c.
The national character of the Bavarians resembles that of the Austrians; being generally marked by fidelity and loyalty. In matters of religion they are credulous, and even superstitious. In short, the will of their superiors is received by the lower orders implicitly as a law in political as in ecclesiastical affairs. A great deal was said fifty years ago about the masonic and other secret societies said to have been formed in this country at the time of the French revolution, and to have aimed at combining their efforts with similar societies in Prussia for the overthrow of the established governments. Such assertions, if not absolutely false, must have rested on a very slender foundation, no people being less inclined than the Bavarians to join in revolutionary projects, or less capable of conceiving that any advantage could possibly result from them.
The government of Bavaria in the early ages of the German empire did not descend from father to son; it involved an important military trust, and was conferred by the emperor on princes of different families until the thirteenth century. Towards the close of that century Louis, of the house of Wittelsbach, Duke of Lower Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine, left two sons, Rodolph and Louis, between whom, according to the usage of the age, the father's dominions were shared, the elder receiving the palatinate of the Rhine, the latter the duchy of Bavaria. Small as the Rhenish palatinate was, its comparative civilization made it the more valuable of the two; and its head had the important privileges of an elector of the empire. From the two princes just mentioned descended the rulers of these respective states during five centuries and more; until, in 1778, on the failure of the Bavarian line, Charles Theodore, Count of the Palatinate, obtained the succession, and removed to Munich, since which time the two countries have been governed as one state. Charles Theodore ruled Bavaria above twenty years. He evinced much anxiety for the improvement of his new subjects, but, like his contemporary the Emperor Joseph II. of Austria, he made no sufficient allowance for their deficiency of culture, and their unfitness to comprehend the advantage of many of his proposed changes. He died in 1799, and was succeeded by Maximilian I., a prince of equal philanthropy and greater prudence, who governed Bavaria twenty-six years. He was succeeded in 1825 by his son Louis, who specially distinguished himself by his zeal for the promotion of the fine arts. Finding himself unequal to the emergency of the times, he abdicated in March 1848, in favour of his son Maximilian II., the present king.
Bavaria, like other German states, has long had its states or parliament, composed of nobility and prelates. Its present form of government is founded partly on long-established usage, partly on a constitutional act of great length, passed in May 1818. The country is there declared an integral part of the Germanic confederation, and the monarchy hereditary, with a legislative body of two houses, the upper and lower. The title of the sovereign is simply king of Bavaria; that of his presumptive heir is crown prince of Bavaria. The executive power is vested altogether in the king, whose person is declared inviolable; the responsibility rests with the ministers, whose functions are nearly the same as those of ministers in England or France; and they have respectively offices for foreign affairs, for the home department, for the treasury, the army, and the administration of justice. The upper house of the Bavarian parliament comprises the princes of the blood-royal, the two archi- BAVIUS and MEYUS, two despicable poets whose enmity to Virgil and Horace has immortalized their names. *Qui Bavium non edit amit tua carmina, Maxi.* (Virg. *Ec*. iii. 90. See also Horace, *Epod*. s.)