WITTELSBACH, FAMIGLIA. — Noble German family descended from the margrave Luitpold, a relative of the Emperor Arnulf, which came into possession of the castle of W. in 1115.
In 1180 OTTONE of W. became duke of Bavaria, and his son LUDOVICO I became count palatine of the Rhine in 1214. In 1294 the family divided into two lines, the Palatine and the Bavarian. By the Golden Bull of Charles IV in 1356, the Palatine line obtained the dignity of prince-elector, which it retained until 1623, when it was deprived of it in favor of the other, Bavarian line, because of its adherence to Protestantism. A branch of the Palatine line, that of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, reigned in Sweden from 1654 to 1718 under CARLO X, CARLO XI and CARLO XII. The Bavarian line, from ALBERTO V (1528–79) onward, constituted one of the most steadfast supports of Catholicism in Germany. The dukes of Bavaria, prince-electors from 1623 (although in 1648 the electoral dignity was likewise restored to the Palatine line), acquired a very strong political position in Germany, stood at the head of the Catholic League during the Thirty Years’ War, and extended their influence into various parts of the Empire, particularly into the electorate
of Cologne, where they held the archiepiscopal dignity without interruption, from 27 June 1583, with ERNESTO, until CLEMENTE AUGUSTO, who died on 6 Jan. 1761. At the same time, the dukes of Bavaria made no secret of their rivalry toward the Habsburgs and, during the War of the Austrian Succession, under CARLO VII, obtained the imperial throne, albeit for a very short time. When the Bavarian line died out in 1777, it was succeeded in Bavaria by that of Palatinate-Sulzbach, with CARLO TEODORO, and subsequently, in 1799, by the other line of Zweibrücken. The prince-elector MASSIMILIANO IV received the royal dignity from Napoleon in 1806, which he retained even after the fall of the Emperor. In the struggle for German hegemony between Prussia and Austria, the kings of Bavaria maintained an attitude favorable to the latter, but eventually joined the German Empire. In Nov. 1918 LUIGI III was forced to abdicate following the revolution that broke out in Munich.