This article is about the specific polity Duchy of Bavaria and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
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Initially one of the stem duchies of the Holy Roman Empire, and then a duchy. It was located mainly in the modern German State of Bavaria.
Establishment
February 962: The Duchy of Bavaria was one of the Stem Duchies of the Holy Roman Empire.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
The Frankish Kingdom was partitioned and reuinited several times as the Frankish rulers used to divide their territories equally among their heirs. This lead also to a number of wars and revolts.
1.1.Incoronation of Otto I
East Frankish King Otto I was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor.
Were a series of military campaigny by the Mongols that created the largest contiguous Empire in history, the Mongol Empire, which controlled most of Eurasia.
2.1.Mongol Invasions of Germany
Were a series of Mongol raids in Germany.
2.1.1.First Mongol Invasion of Germany
Was a Mongol raid in the Holy Roman Empire.
May 1241: The Mongols invaded the Holy Roman Empire without major clash of arms.The army invaded eastern Germany, and crossed the March of Moravia in April-May 1241.
June 1241: The Mongols left eastern Germany and Moravia.
2.1.2.Third Mongol Invasion of Germany
The Mongols raided the March of Brandenburg.
January 1341: In 1340, the Golden Horde, led by Khan Jani Beg, raided the March of Brandenburg.
February 1341: End of Mongol raid in Brandenburg.
Were a series of Wars between the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Poland. .
3.1.Polish-Teutonic War (1326-1332)
Was a war between the Kingdom of Poland and the State of the Teutonic Order over Pomerelia.
January 1327: In 1326, King Władysław I of Poland, with support from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led forces to devastate the Neumark region.
February 1327: End of Polish raid in Neumark.
Was a war between the Duchy of Bavaria and the Hohenzollern domains of Ansbach and Bayreuth.
January 1460: Louis the Rich created the casus belli of the Bavarian War by taking the Free Imperial City of Donauwörth.
January 1462: Louis the Rich of Bavaria was able to occupy further areas of the Brandenburg possessions.
January 1464: A settlement was agreed in the Prague of Prague of 1463: Louis the Rich withdrew from the occupied territories and Albrecht Achilles renounced his claim to imperial jurisdiction.
Was a war that resulted from a dispute between the duchies of Bavaria-Munich (Bayern-München in German) and Bavaria-Landshut (Bayern-Landshut) in the succession of the latter.
December 1503: George, Duke of Bavaria-Landshut, and his wife Hedwig Jagiellon failed to produce a male heir, so George named his daughter Elisabeth (spuse of Ruprecht, Count Palatine of the Rhine) as his heir.
August 1504: On August 9th, troops from the Palatinate conquered Kufstein.
August 1504: Braunau conquered by the Electoral Palatinate.
January 1505: Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, took control of Kufstein in 1504 during the War of the Succession of Landshut. Kufstein was previously under the rule of the Duchy of Bavaria, which Maximilian sought to expand his territory.
January 1505: In the name of their underage sons, the Councilors of the Palatinate nevertheless continued the war, and their commander Georg von Wisbeck succeeded in conquering Vohburg an der Donau.
January 1505: The originally Bavarian offices Kufstein, Kitzbühel and Rattenberg in Tirol were lost to Austria in 1504.
Were a series of wars in Europe (and the overseas possessions of European countries) the 16th, 17th and early 18th that started after the Protestant Reformation. Although the immediate causes of the wars were religious, the motives were complex and also included territorial ambitions.
6.1.Schmalkaldic War
Was a war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran states of the Holy Roman Empire itself.
6.1.1.Danube campaign (Schmalkaldic War)
Was a campaign of the Protestant Schmalkaldic league against the Imperial forces.
July 1546: Schertlin's plan was to disrupt the imperial troop recruitment as early as possible and thus prevent the approaching troops from uniting with the emperor. For this purpose, the Protestant army gathered in southern Germany moved to Füssen and occupied the city on July 10, 1546.
November 1546: The Saxon Elector Johann Friedrich then, after a lengthy argument with Landgrave Philipp, who first wanted to defeat the Emperor, withdrew his troops to Saxony on November 16th. The remaining Protestant army quickly disintegrated under the growing financial need.
6.2.Thirty Years' War
Was a war that took place mainly in central Europe between 1618 and 1648. The war began as a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestant in the Holy Roman Empire but then escalated into a conflict for the hegemony in Europe between Habsburg Spain and Austria, Sweden and France.
6.2.1.Swedish Period
Was the third main period of the Thirty Years' War. It started with the intervention of the Kingdom of Sweden.
April 1632: On April 15, during the Battle of Rain am Lech, east of Donauwörth, the Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus defeated the Imperial forces commanded by Tilly.
May 1632: The Swedes arrive in Landshut but are defeated by the Imperial troops led by John of Werth of May, 14th 1632.
May 1632: The Swedish army, led by King Gustavus Adolphus, captured Munich.
July 1632: The Swedes reach the city of Ehrenburg bei Reutte, which is, however, succesfully defended by Leopold William of Habsburg.
April 1633: The Swedish army captured Landsberg am Lech.
November 1633: The Swedes under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar capture Ratisbon (today known as Regensburg).
December 1633: The lack of payment of wages led to mutinies among the soldiers, causing delays in the swedish conquest of Regensburg until November 1633.
July 1634: The Catholic League, led by Johann von Aldringen, successfully recaptured the city of Regensburg from the Swedes in July 1634. This victory marked a significant turning point in the Thirty Years' War, as the territory was then handed over to the Duchy of Bavaria.
6.2.2.Franco-Swedish Period
Was the fourth main period of the Thirty Years' War. It started with the intervention of the Kingdom of France.
6.2.2.1.North German Front (Sweden)
Was the north German front during the Franco-Swedish period of the Thirty Years' War.
November 1637: After the death of Swedish King Ferdinand II, his son and successor Ferdinand III brought the Swedish troops back to Pomerania, leaving the territories occupied by Sweden in Germany.
January 1646: Swedish forces led by Field Marshal Torstensson reached the Danube.
September 1646: The exausted Swedish army led by Field Marshal Torstensson left Germany in the early summer of 1646 and returned to Sweden.
June 1648: In May 1648, there was the last major field battle of the Thirty Years' War between French-Swedish and Imperial-Bavarian armies near Augsburg.
November 1648: When in November Gustaf of Sweden received a report about the signed peace, he ordered his troops to leave. Also the French troops started leaving the occupied territories in the Holy Roman Empire.
6.2.2.2.Rhineland Front (France)
Was the Rhineland front during the Franco-Swedish period of the Thirty Years' War.
May 1648: The French returned to Swabia and then to Bavaria. They defeated the Imperial forces at Zusmarshausen (May 17, 1648) and drove Maximilian of Bavaria out of Munich.
6.2.3.Peace of Westphalia
Were a series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire. There were major territorial adjustments. In particular, France, Sweden and Brandenburg had major territorial gains, and several religious territories of the Holy Roman Empire were secularized.
October 1648: Maximilian kept the Upper Palatinate, to the north of Bavaria.
October 1648: With the Peace of Westphalia Sweden received Western Pomerania (henceforth Swedish Pomerania), Wismar, and the Prince-Bishoprics of Bremen and Verden as hereditary fiefs. Sweden evacuated the remnant territories it had occupied in the Holy Roman Empire.
January 1649: Marstetten was devastated during the Thirty Years' War. Its territoriy became de facto part of Bavaria.
The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Philip of Anjou and Charles of Austria, and their respective supporters. It was a global war, with fighting taking place in Europe, Asia, and America. At the end of the war, Philip II, who was the successor chosen by Charles II as a descendant of Charles' paternal half-sister Maria Theresa, became King of Spain and of its overseas empire. The Spanish possessions in Europe were partitioned between various European Monarchies.
7.1.Dutch and German Theatre (War of the Spanish Succession)
Was the theatre of war of the War of the Spanish Succession in Germany and the Low Countries.
January 1703: In mid-January 1704 the Elector of Bavaria took Passau on the Danube.
September 1704: Ulm and Ingolstadt conquered by austria.
November 1704: By the Treaty of Ilbersheim, signed 7 November 1704, Bavaria was placed under Austrian military rule, allowing the Habsburgs to use its resources for the rest of the War of the Spanish Succession.
7.2.Treaty of Baden
Was a treaty between France and the Holy Roman Empire, to end the War of the Spanish Succession.
September 1714: Treaty of Baden in 1714.
Were a series of wars between the Habsburg Domains and Prussia for the control of Silesia. The war started during the War of the Austrian Succession, when Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Habsburg-held Silesia.
8.1.First Silesian War
Was the first of three wars between Austria and Prussia for the control of Silesia. It was part of the War of the Austrian Succession. The war started when Prussia invaded Silesia. The possession of the region by Prussia was aknowledged by Austria at the end of the war.
8.1.1.Bavarian Theatre
Was the Bavarian theatre of the First Silesian War.
January 1742: Von Khevenhüller defeated a Bavarian army at Schärding.
February 1742: On January 24, 1742, during the War of the Austrian Succession, Bavarian Field Marshal Bärenklau captured the capital city of Munich, which was under the control of the Habsburg Empire at the time.
May 1743: The Battle of Simbach in 1743 saw the Bavarians defeated by Charles of Lorraine, who was a general in the Habsburg Empire. This military occupation resulted in the territory of Simbach falling under Habsburg control.
June 1743: In mid-June, the Pragmatic army arrived at Aschaffenburg, on the north bank of the River Main.
October 1744: Prince Charles's army was able to return to Bohemia quickly, in good order and at full strength, though it was forced to abandon control of Alsace and Bavaria. Austrian diplomats also persuaded Saxony to re-enter the conflict on Austria's side, though in a strictly defensive role. By early October the Austrians were advancing through southwestern Bohemia toward Prague.
April 1745: With Prussia's forces driven out of Bohemia, Austria renewed its offensive against Bavaria in March 1745, swiftly over-running the defences that had been reestablished there during the winter. On 15 April the Austrians under Count Batthyány decisively defeated the Franco-Bavarian army at the Battle of Pfaffenhofen and drove the allied forces entirely out of Bavaria.
April 1745: After this defeat, Maximilian III of Bavaria (the son of the late Emperor Charles Albert) made peace with Maria Theresa by the Treaty of Füssen on 22 April.
January 977: Carinthia was made a separate duchy from Bavaria.
January 1000: The Passau Prince-Bishopric acquired Imperial immediacy.
January 1001: Hals County was established in the 11th century.
January 1001: The castle was built around the year 1000 in what was then Nordmark by the Counts of Hohenburg as a border county.
January 1001: In the 11th and 12th centuries the lords of Zulling had extensive possessions in the Isar valley where they established Leonsberg County.
January 1008: In 1007, the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg was established.
January 1025: The county of Abenberg came into being under the Ottonians between 1002 and 1024.
January 1051: The organization of the Geisenhausen dominion has been recognizable since the middle of the 11th century.
January 1055: Castell County is first mentioned in 1054.
January 1076: Marquartstein Castle was founded in 1075 by the Chiemgau count Marquardt.
January 1079: The first evidence of Lechsgemünd Castle as the ancestral seat of the noble family also dates back 1078.
January 1089: Wasserburg is first mentioned in a document dated between 1085 and 1088.
January 1101: In the 12th century the nobleman Dietmar von Dornberg built a castle on a mountain cone of the "Dornberg".
January 1101: After Bavarian and Germanic land seizures in the coming centuries, Count Rodolt or Rodin from the influential Ebersberg family converted the remains of a Roman complex into a castle. When the Sempt and Ebersberg families died out in 1045, the Lords and later Counts of Roning took over the inheritance. Count Otto, who founded the Roning-Rottenburg branch line, expanded the castle around 1100 in terms of defense and living space in order to live in it himself.
January 1101: First documented reference of Frontenhausen County.
January 1139: Gebhard I, who built Abensberg Castle in the middle of the 12th century, was the first to name himself after the town of Abensberg. The earliest written mention under the name of habensperch comes from around 1138.
January 1141: Eschenlohe Lordship is mentioned for the first time in 1140.
September 1156: Austria was elevated from a margraviate to an independent duchy in the Privilegium Minus.
January 1157: Henry the Lion (* around 1129/30 or 1133/35; † August 6, 1195 in Braunschweig) from the House of Guelph was Duke of Saxony (Henry III) from 1142 to 1180 and also Duke of Bavaria from 1156 to 1180 (Henry XII.).
January 1182: The Hohenstaufen dynasty succeeded in isolating Henry the Lion and eventually deprived him of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony. Bavaria fell to Otto I, the first Bavarian ruler from the House of Wittelsbach, a dynasty which reigned until the abdication of King Ludwig III of Bavaria in the German Revolution of 1918.
January 1195: Berchtesgaden Provostry gains imperial immediacy.
January 1201: Establishment of the Regensburg Prince-Bishopric in the 13th Century.
January 1201: Sternstein County is mentioned for the first time in 1200.
January 1220: Nuremberg is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1221: Based on Gustav Droysen's Holy Roman Empire Map at the time of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.
January 1227: Konrad III, the last Count of Frontenhausen and Bishop of Regensburg, sold part of the County of Frontenhausen to Bavaria for 7000 pounds.
January 1242: Weißenburg is named in the imperial tax register of 1241 (66. Item de Wizenburc XL mr).
January 1248: In 1220 the town already had ring walls and a moat[12], but in 1247 Wasserburg was conquered by Duke Ludwig (later Ludwig II the Strict) after a 17-week siege. The possessions of the Count of Wasserburg passed to the duke and Wasserburg was thus owned by the Wittelsbach family (contract of inheritance).
January 1250: After the death of the first Meranian Duke in 1159, his son Konrad III. was his successor. He is only mentioned as Duke of Merania, thus Croatia and Dalmatia had disappeared from the Duchy.
January 1262: The fief of Dillingen reverted to the Empire, and the Holy Roman Emperor assigned it to Bavaria.
January 1271: From 1269 the Nordgau, which had previously belonged to Emperor Barbarossa and his descendants from the Staufer family, came under the rule of the Wittelsbach family.
January 1273: Ortenburg-Murach is sold to Bavaria.
January 1273: The family of the Falkensteiner died out in 1272 with Siboto IV. The county reverted to the Duchy of Bavaria.
January 1274: With the end of Hohenstaufen Dynasty influence from 1273, many imperial territories were acquired by states of the Holy Roman Empire.
January 1280: After the Counts of Moosburg-Rottenburg died out in 1279, Veste Rottenburg and the surrounding area passed into the possession of the Wittelsbach Duke Heinrich von Niederbayern.
January 1282: The Moosburg family of counts died out with Konrad IV in 1281. As a result, the fiefs, including the market town of Moosburg, reverted to the feudal lords.
January 1296: In 1295, the rulers of Eschenlohe became extinct and the county was partitioned between Austria and the Duchy of Bavaria.
January 1301: The centuries-long efforts of the Lords of Waldeck to gain imperial immediacy finally led to the release of the feudal sovereignty of the Bishop of Freising around 1300.
January 1301: The Marquartstein castle passed to the Wittelsbach family at the end of the 13th century.
January 1320: After thei extinction of the Brandenburg Ascanians in 1319, the main part of Mark Lusatia was acquired by the Wittelsbachs.
September 1322: After his victory over the Habsburg Frederick the Handsome in the Battle of Mühldorf on September 28, 1322, Alsace came under the control of Louis of Bavaria.
January 1324: The Wittelsbach Emperor Louis IV granted Brandenburg to his oldest son, Louis I. Brandenburg thus entered the possession of the Bavarian Wittelsbach.
January 1326: After reverting to the Habsburgs in 1325, Alsace finally came under the rule of Louis IV of Bavaria after the death of Frederick IV in 1330.
January 1328: In 1327 the last male descendant of the Lechsgemünd family died. The entire property of the Counts of Lechsgemünd fell to the Wittelsbach family.
January 1330: In 1329, Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian divided the Wittelsbacher Lande through the House Treaty of Pavia, whereby the Rheinpfalz and the Nordgau fell to the descendants of his brother Rudolf, the now Palatinate line of the Wittelsbachs.
January 1331: After reverting to the Habsburgs in 1325, Alsace finally came under the rule of Louis IV of Bavaria after the death of Frederick IV in 1330.
January 1334: The Archbishop of Salzburg razed the Dornberg castle in 1333. Shortly thereafter, Bavarian troops occupied the castle and it was rebuilt by order of the duke.
January 1343: The Tirol County is acquired by the Duchy of Bavaria.
January 1350: Holland is acquired by the Bavarian Wittelsbachs.
January 1359: Selz is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1361: The bailiff of Lower Alsatia was transferred as a whole to the Counts Palatine.
January 1368: Elector Otto von Wittelsbach sold the March of Lusatia to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1367.
January 1369: For the sake of peace, the Brandenburg Margrave Otto the Lazy sold the city of Deutsch Krone (today Wałcz) to the Poles in 1368.
January 1370: In 1369, Tyrol fell through the Treaty of Schärding to the Habsburgs.
January 1374: Charles (Luxembourg) succeeded in purchasing Brandenburg from Margrave Otto for 500,000 guilders in 1373 and, at a Landtag in Guben, he attached (but not incorporated) Brandenburg to the Crown of Bohemia.
January 1379: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire in the XIV century.
January 1394: In 1393, Hedwig von Fraunhofen left the bailiwick of Geisenhausen to the Wittelsbachers of Landshut for 10,000 guilders.
January 1434: Holland is acquired by the Duchy of Burgundy.
January 1438: In 1437 Niklas von Ramsberg sold the property over Leonsberg to Duke Ernst and his son Albrecht III (i.e. to Bavaria).
January 1486: Although independent rule, Abensberg was always dependent on the powerful Bavarian dukes. The last lord of Abensberg, Niklas, allegedly named after his godfather Nikolaus von Kues, was killed by Duke Christoph in 1485. [...] The rule of Abensberg lost its independence and became part of Bavaria.
January 1509: The Harbach Lordship is annexed by Bavaria.
January 1537: The Knights of Schwangau then continued to hold the dominion as an imperial fief until they died out in 1536.
January 1548: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the Reformation.
January 1617: Mindelheim is acquired by the Duchy of Bavaria.
January 1643: After the Helfenstein family died out in 1627, two-thirds of the imperial county of Wiesensteig (through three hereditary daughters) fell to Electoral Bavaria in 1642.
January 1647: Extinction of the counts of Leuchtenburg. The county falls to Bavaria.
January 1715: The Churchill-Marlborough Principality is acquired by the Duchy of Bavaria.
January 1715: In 1714 the city of Donauwörth was annexed by Bavaria.
January 1716: The Hals County is acquired by the Duchy of Bavaria.
January 1735: After the Maxlrain family died out in 1734, Hohenwaldeck came to the Wittelsbach family.
December 1777: Electoral Palatinate-Bavaria came into being in 1777 when Elector Karl Theodor took over the inheritance of the Bavarian line of his house (Electorate of Bavaria), which had died out in the male line.
Disestablishment
December 1777: Electoral Palatinate-Bavaria came into being in 1777 when Elector Karl Theodor took over the inheritance of the Bavarian line of his house (Electorate of Bavaria), which had died out in the male line.
Selected Sources
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), pp. 26-27
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), pp. 30-31
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), pp. 38-39
Krumenacker, Y. (2008): La Guerre de Trente Ans, Paris, Ellipses, pp. 146-147
Schmidt, G. (2006): Der Dreißigjährige Krieg, Munich (Germany), p. 65
Schmiele, E. (1887): Zur Geschichte des schwedisch-polnischen Krieges von 1655 bis 1660, Berlin (Germany), p. 5
Spindler, M. (2017): Geschichte Schwabens bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich (Germany), p. 266
Strakosh-Grassmann, G. (1893): Der Einfall der Mongolen in Mitteleuropa in den Jahren 1241 und 1242, Innsbruck (Austria), pp. 53-67
Westfälischer Friede - Vertrag von Osnabrück, https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Westf%C3%A4lischer_Friede_%E2%80%93_Vertrag_von_Osnabr%C3%BCck
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Duchy of Bavaria
