'Ludwig I' (or 'Louis I', which is the French form of his name, his
godfather was
Louis XVI of France) (
Strasbourg,
August 25 1786 –
February 29,
1868 in
Nice) was king of
Bavaria from
1825 until the
1848 revolutions in the German states.
Crown Prince
He was the son of
King Maximilian I and
Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt. In October
1810, he married
Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (
1792-
1854), the daughter of
Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The wedding was the occasion of the first ever
Oktoberfest.
Ludwig strongly rejected the alliance of his father with
Napoleon I of France but in spite of his anti-French politics the crown prince had to join the emperor's wars with allied Bavarian troups. In
1817 Ludwig was involved in the fall of Prime Minister
Count Max Josef von Montgelas. He succeeded his father on the throne in
1825.
Reign
Ludwig patronised the arts as principal of many neoclassical buildings, especially in
Munich, and as fanatic collector. Among others he ordered to erect were the
Walhalla temple, the
Ludwigstrasse, the
Glyptothek, the
Old and the
New Pinakothek.
One of his most famous conceptions was the celebrated "Schönheitengalerie" (Gallery of Beauties), in charge of the painter
Joseph Stieler, which contained portraits of several beautiful women who principally came from the high middle class.
Ludwig ordered to reerect several monasteries in Bavaria which had been closed during the
German Mediatisation. He moved the
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität from
Landshut to
Munich in
1826.
Ludwig also encouraged Bavaria's industrialization. He initiated the Ludwig channel between the River Main and the Danube. In
1835 the first German railway was constructed in his domain, between the cities of
Fürth and
Nuremberg.
Ludwig's plan to reunite also the eastern part of the Palatinate with Bavaria could not be realized. The
Electoral Palatinate, a former dominion of the Wittelsbach, had been split up in 1815, the eastern bank of the Rhine with
Mannheim and
Heidelberg was given to
Baden, only the western bank was granted to Bavaria. Here Ludwig founded the city of
Ludwigshafen as a Bavarian rival to Mannheim.
Ludwig supported the
Greek fight of independence: His second son
Otto was elected king of Greece in
1832.
After the
July Revolution in France
1830, his previous liberal policy became more and more repressive. The
Hambacher Fest in 1832 showed the discontent of the population suffered from high taxes and censorship.
Ludwig had several love affairs and became one of the lovers of
Lady Jane Digby, an aristocratic
English adventuress. Ludwig also became tainted with scandals associated with another of his mistresses,
Lola Montez.
During the
revolutions of 1848 he
abdicated on
March 20,
1848 in favour of his son,
Maximilian.
Also after his resignation Ludwig remained an important sponsor for the arts. He was buried in
St. Boniface's Abbey, Munich.
| Arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1835: | |
Children
He was the father of:
★
Maximilian II of Bavaria (
1811-
1864)
★ Mathilde, who married
Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (
1813-
1862)
★
Otto (
1815-
1867), who became king of
Greece in
1832.
★ Theodelinde, Princess of Bavaria (
1816-
1817)
★
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria (
1821-
1912)
★ Adelgunde (
1823-
1914), who married
Francis V, Duke of Modena.
★ Hildegarde (
1825-
1864), who married
Archduke Albert of Austria (1817-1895), Duke of Teschen.
★
Alexandra (
1826-
1875)
★ Adalbert (
1828-
1875)
Ancestry
See also
★
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
External links
★
The king's portrait
★
George Washington's German "Cousin" {Baron Jakob von Washington-an advisor to King Ludwig I}
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