|
|
|
|
|
|
Ludwig I (or Louis I, which is the French form of his name, his godfather was Louis XVI of France) (August 25, 1786 in Strasbourg – February 29, 1868 in Nice) was king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.
Crown PrinceHe was the son of King Maximilian I and Augusta Wilhelmine 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 studied in Landshut where he was taught by Johann Michael Sailer and in Göttingen. 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 troops. 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. ReignLudwig's rule was strongly affected by his enthusiasm for the arts and women and his overreaching royal assertiveness. As enthusiast also for the German Middle Ages Ludwig ordered to reerect several monasteries in Bavaria which had been closed during the German Mediatisation. He reorganized the administrative regions of Bavaria in 1837 and re-introduced the old names Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia, Upper Palatinate and Palatinate. He changed his royal titles to Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, Duke in Swabia and Count Palatinate of the Rhine. His successors kept these titles. 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 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 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. In 1837, the Roman Catholic supported clerical movement, the Ultramontanes, came to power in the Bavarian parliament and began a campaign of reform to the constitution, which removed civil rights that had earlier been granted to Protestants, as well as enforcing censorship and forbidding the free discussion of internal politics. This regime was short-lived due to the demand by the Ultramontanes of the naturalization of Ludwig I's Irish mistress Lola Montez, which was resented by Ludwig and the Ultramontanes were pushed out. Ludwig had several love affairs and became one of the lovers of Lady Jane Digby, an aristocratic English adventuress. Ludwig became tainted with scandals associated with another of his mistresses, Lola Montez. It seems likely that his relationship with her contributed greatly to the fall from grace of the previously popular king. During the revolutions of 1848 he abdicated on March 20, 1848 in favour of his son, Maximilian. He was buried in St. Boniface's Abbey, Munich.
Cultural legacyAs admirer of ancient Greece and the Italian renaissance 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. Also after his abdication, Ludwig remained an important sponsor for the arts. He moved the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität from Landshut to Munich in 1826. 
IssueBy Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (8 July 1792 – 26 October 1854; married on 12 October 1810 in Theresienwiese, Munich) Ancestry
See alsoExternal links
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
