Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria

Biography

Maximilian Joseph was born at Schwetzingen in 1756, a younger son of the Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, and was brought up under the care of his uncle, Duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken. He became Count of Rappoltstein in 1776 and in 1777 entered the French royal army, rising to major general and serving at Strasbourg from 1782 to 1789. At the Revolution he moved to Austrian service.

In 1795 he succeeded his brother as Duke of Zweibrücken, then occupied by France, and in February 1799, on the death of Elector Charles Theodore, inherited Bavaria and the Palatinate. With his minister Count Montgelas he reformed taxes, laws and administration, rebuilt the army, dissolved many monasteries and moved the university from Ingolstadt to Landshut.

He was Napoleon's most loyal German ally until 1813. The Peace of Pressburg brought him the royal title, which he took on 1 January 1806, and large gains in Swabia and Franconia, and Bavaria became the leading state of the Confederation of the Rhine. On the eve of Leipzig he changed sides by the Treaty of Ried in October 1813. At the Congress of Vienna, which he attended in person, he gave up Tyrol and Salzburg for lands in the Palatinate and resisted any strong German federation.

After Montgelas fell from power in 1817 he signed a concordat with Rome, and in 1818 he granted Bavaria a liberal constitution. He founded the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and built the National Theatre there. Popular for his easy manner with his subjects, he died at Nymphenburg in October 1825 and was succeeded by his son Ludwig I.