Ludwig I Karl August Wittelsbach King of Bavaria [Oktoberfest]

 

 

 

 Ludwig I, born as Ludwig Karl August (* August 25, 1786 in Strasbourg, † February 29, 1868 in Nice), was King of the Kingdom of Bavaria from the House of Wittelsbach. He succeeded his father Maximilian I on the Bavarian throne after his death in 1825 and abdicated in the revolutionary year of 1848 after his affair with Lola Montez in favor of his son Maximilian II. His marriage in 1810 to Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen established the Oktoberfest. During his reign, Bavaria turned to Greece and numerous art collections and classical buildings were set up. The first railway line in Germany from Nuremberg to Fürth, opened in December 1835, bears his name. Like other German rulers, Ludwig I reacted to the liberation movements of the Hambach Festival in 1832 in his kingdom with repression and tightened press censorship.

In 1846 the Irish dancer Lola Montez came to Munich and, soon after being granted an audience, became the king's mistress. She received a luxurious villa on Barer Strasse in Munich, a title of nobility (Countess von Landsfeld) and financial support from Ludwig. He was only able to obtain naturalization after the resignation of his minister, Karl von Abel. Queen Therese reacted tensely to her relationship with the "Spaniard" and embarrassed diplomats by staying away from her husband in the theater and at the table where the public could see her.[12] She strictly rejected the awarding of the Theresa Order to her mistress. The king was annoyed by the queen's "coldness and speechlessness", which also included the new ministers[13].[14] Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and his wife Elisabeth, Ludwig's half-sister, who found his behavior "appalling",[14] refrained from a planned trip to Bavaria in order not to have to meet the king. Montez, visited almost daily by the king, enrolled in an approved fraternity. When riots broke out at the university because of her, the king ordered the university to be closed immediately on February 9, 1848. This led to protests, as a result of which Ludwig had the university reopened on February 10 and had Montez expelled. On February 11, the dancer left the city. Nevertheless, the arsenal was stormed on March 4, 1848, the crowd armed themselves with the military equipment stored there and marched towards the Residenz. In addition to the absolutist behavior of the love-drunk monarch, price increases aroused additional resentment. Prince Karl, as the king's brother and field marshal of the Bavarian army, ensured peace by his appearance and it was peacefully dissolved after free beer had been served. As a result, his family and conservative circles opposed Ludwig. The ministers sympathized with the people. On March 6, King Ludwig had to sign the so-called March Proclamation (which his Minister Oettingen-Wallerstein literally dictated to him in response to the unrest and demonstrations) with significant concessions. In this proclamation he announced that he would immediately convene the Estates Assembly and initiate reforms, and on the same day the army was sworn to the constitution. Ludwig appointed the mayor of Regensburg, Gottlieb von Thon-Dittmer, as administrator of the Ministry of the Interior with the task of forming a March Ministry and implementing the royal concessions contained in the proclamation in cooperation with the state parliament. In Nuremberg and elsewhere, citizens rallied to celebrate the reform announcement with jubilation, and the crisis seemed resolved as public opinion backed its monarch after the March 6 concessions. Therefore, Ludwig I did not fall as a result of the revolution like Prince Metternich or Louis Philippe in France. On March 16, 1848, renewed unrest followed, because Montez had returned to Munich after his exile. Ludwig had to have the police search for her on March 17, which was the worst humiliation for him.[15] On March 20, 1848, Ludwig I voluntarily abdicated in favor of his first-born son Maximilian II. Not wanting to appear as if he was being forced to resign, he wrote a few weeks later: "I could no longer govern, and I didn't want to give up my signature. Not to become a slave, I became a baron." It was therefore up to Ludwig's successors to counteract the revolutionary mood in Bavaria and to grant the promised reforms. With the March proclamation, the father bound his son to a program that enabled him to convert Bavaria into a constitutional monarchy in the proper sense. Ludwig I is therefore referred to as the last sovereign ruling monarch in Bavaria.  Wikipedia [in German]