Otto, the eldest son of the house of Wittelsbach, and lineally descended from duke Arnold, obtained the duchy of Bavaria, which was now separated from the Tyrol. His son and successor Louis was crea ted Count Palatine of the Rhine by king Frederic II., and the possession of that palatinate descended to Otto the son of Louis. Louis the Severe, and Henry, the sons of Otto, divided between them their paternal domains. Louis kept possession of the palatinate of the Rhine and Upper Bavaria; the remaining terri tories fell to the share of Henry. A new division was made by Louis and Rhodolphus, the sons of Louis the Severe. Rhodolphus was the founder of the house of the Electorate Palatine • and Louis of that of the Electorate of Bavaria, which continued to reign till a very recent period. Louis being elect ed emperor, made a treaty with his nephews, the suc cessors of Rhodolphus, by which he formally ceded to them the palatinate of the Rhine, with the Upper Palatinate, which then for the first time received that name. The sons of Etien having made a division of Bavaria in the year 1392, formed the branches of In golstadt, Landshut, and Munich, the first of which branches was extinguished in 1447, and the second in 1503. Maximilian I. being invested with the elec toral dignity in 1623, and with the title of Upper Palatine in 1628, obtained the confirmation of both by the treaty of Westphalia. His grandson Maxi milian II. was put under the ban of the empire, but recovered possession of his dominions in 1714. Charles Albert, the son and successor of Maximilian II., be ing raised to the imperial throne in 1742, waged an unsuccessful war against Austria. His son Maximi lian Joseph died without issue in 1777, and thus the branch of the electoral house of Bavaria became ex tinct ; the eighth electorate, created in favour of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine, was suppressed, and these counts resumed their ancient rank in the elec toral college, with all the prerogatives which are at tached to it.
Immediately after the death of Maximilian Joseph, the Elector Palatine took possession of Bavaria, and the house of Austria seized upon part of the electo rate. Against this usurpation the king of Prussia made a formal appeal, and hostile preparations were immediately set on foot by both powers. The em peror levied three powerful armies, the first of which, consisting of 80,000 men, he proposed to send into Bohemia under the command of the archduke Maxi milian, and general Nadasti; the second was to be commanded by the emperor in person, and by gene rals Lasci, Haddik, and Laudon in Silesia ; and a third was to be entrusted to the command of duke Albert, and general Strowitz. The imperial army had already advanced towards the frontiers of Bohe mia, when the will of the late elector of Bavaria was opened at Ratisbon. It constituted the elector Pa latine universal heir, and comprehended in the inhe ritance the allodial estates of the late duke Clement, with the burden of maintaining constantly in Bavaria an army of 12,000 men, agreeably to the treaties of 1763,1771, and 1774. While the elector Palatine, who had acceded to the usurpation of the emperor, was yet what part he should now take, the ' king of Prussia took the field, passed the frontiers of Bohemia, and encamped within view of the impe rial army. Some skirmishes ensued, and all Europe was looking forward with anxiety to the event of a general engagement, when the two sovereigns, willing to spare the blood of their troops, entered into a ne gociation. Next year the house of Austria declared
itself willing to renounce part of its pretensions, and to sign an accommodation ; Prussia was satisfied, and all thoughts of war were for the time relinquished. The future history of Bavaria will come more pro perly under that of Germany, with which it is closely, and indeed inseparably, interwoven. We may only observe, that the jealousy which has long subsisted between the houses of Bavaria and Austria induced the former to remain neuter in the late war between Germany and France. This circumstance naturally conciliated to Bavaria the favour of the French; and when Austria peremptorily demanded an army from the elector, Bonaparte took him under hisprotection, adopted him as an ally, and at length conierred upon him the dignity of royalty.
The elector of Bavaria held the fifth rank in the ' electoral college, and the second among the secular electors. As duke of Bavaria, he ranked first in the ' college of the princes of the empire, and had the pri vilege of first delivering his opinion. The house of Bavaria had likewise been from a very remote period in the hereditary possession of the office of arch seneschal of the empire. By the act of division pass-, ed between Louis, duke of Bavaria, and his nephews, in the year 1329, it was agreed that the dignity of arch-seneschal should be common to the houses of Bavaria and Palatine, but that the right of voting in the electoral college should belong to them alternate ly. The Palatine house being privately invested by the golden bull with the dignity of elector, afterwards appropriated to itself the office of arch seneschal. But when the elector Palatine Frederic was put un der the ban of the empire in 1623, both of these dig nities reverted to the duke of Bavaria. The first was confirmed to him by the treaty of Westphalia, but the latter was not mentioned, and was enjoyed by the elector Palatine from 1706 to 1714. The vicariate of the empire on the Rhine, in Swabia and Franco nia, being connected with the of arch.seneschal, occasioned a very warm contest between the two elec tors. At first it was agreed that the vicariate should be exercised by both houses at once ; but it was af terwards resolved that they should enjoy it alternate ly, and this resolution was approved of by the college of electors, and confirmed by the emperor in 1752.
The elector Palatine succeeded to all the rights and , dignities of the former electors of Bavaria, and left the laws and government of the country nearly in the same state in which lie found them. The states of Bavaria are composed of three orders, prelates, no bility, and people. In the assembly of the states, the nobility have one half of the suffrages, the other half is divided between the clergy and people : thus, when there are four prelates and four deputies from the towns, there are eight noblemen. The duchy is di vided into four generalities or governments ; viz. the ' governments of Munich, Straubing, Landshut, and Burghausen. Each government sends two noblemen, a prelate, and a deputy for the towns to the assembly of the states. In every generality a prelate is charged with the collection of the taxes paid by the clergy, and two noblemen receive due by the nobility ; the magistrates of towns receive the contribution of individuals. The hereditary officers of the elector are, the governor of the hereditary countries, the steward, marshal, cup-bearer, and huntsman.