History of the Kingdom of Greece: Conclusion

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Abolished Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, House of Glucksburg, House of Wittelsbach, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Restoration

I began this series back on January 19th after the death of Constantine II the last King of the Hellenes. I knew the Greek Kingdom had a tumultuous history and I wanted to a survey of the reign of each King. I knew the monarchy was unstable so it was fascinating to see just how unstable the monarchy was.

Here is a list of each monarch and how each reign ended.

Otto – deposed
George I – assassinated
Constantine I (first reign) – deposed
Alexander – died tragically young
Constantine I (second reign) – abdicated
George II (first reign) – deposed

A referendum on becoming a republic was held in Greece on April 13, 1924. It followed the catastrophic outcome of the Asia Minor Campaign. On March 1924 the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed by Parliament.

On November 3, 1935, almost 98% of the reported votes supported restoration of the monarchy with a rigged plebiscite.

George II (second reign) – fled German invasion

German Occupation; George II led government in exile

George II (third reign) – died on throne
Paul – died on throne
Constantine II – exiled and deposed

Junta – overthrown, democracy restored
Monarchy abolished

It is difficult to conceive that the Greek monarchy will ever be restored. Most Greeks consider both the reign of the sole King from the House of Wittelsbach and the reigns of the Kings from the House of Glücksburg as foreign rulers and non-Greek aliens imposed on them by foreign powers. This is an accurate view. With it’s perception of being a foreign dynasty the monarchy never established the firm cultural roots within the Greek nation.

As I reviewed the reigns of each King, one issue of the Greek monarchy is readily apparent; none of the kings of the Hellenes ever behaved as a constitutional monarch and held too much political power and influence. Personally, I believe that the role of the monarch as a symbol of national unity they need to remain politically neutral. One of main reasons most of the surviving European monarchies are still with us is due to the ability of it’s monarchs to remain neutral and to be above partisan politics. The Greek monarchy is a prime example of what happens when that political neutrality is not adhered to.

One of the sad issues with the failure of the Greek monarchy, especially with the collapse of the reign of King Constantine II, is that he was a good, kindly family man who loved Greece and desired a peaceful reign with all Greek citizens living peacefully amongst one another. This makes his record as a monarch was an unfortunate one. .

I believe that King Constantine II did have good intentions. He desired to keep his throne and to avoid Greece becoming a military dictatorship. Sadly, his actions when he acted unconstitutionally did destabilize the country, helping pave the way for the Colonel’s Coup which he then legitimated. However good a man King Constantine II may have been (and I believe he was a good man), he is forever associated by Greeks with not only the mistakes he made but also with a dark time in their history to which no one wants to return.

I am not only an historian, I am also a Monarchist. I firmly believe in and support the principals and concepts of a Constitutional Monarchy. My desire and dream, no matter how unrealistic, is to see the restoration of all deposed and extinct monarchies.

However, the Greek monarchy is an exception. History has shown that a monarchy and the Nation of Greece, are incompatible. I believe Greece is best served by being a Republic.

April 20, 1544: Birth of Renata of Lorraine, Duchess of Bavaria

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Archduchess Isabella of Austria, Archduke Philipp of Austria, Charles I of Spain, Christian II of Denmark-Norway, Christina of Denmark, Duke of Burgundy, Duke William V of Bavaria, Emperor Charles V, Francis I of Lorraine, House of Austria, House of Habsburg, House of Lorraine, House of Wittelsbach, King Philip I of Castile, King Philip II of Spain, Queen Joanna of Castile, Renata of Lorraine

Renata of Lorraine (April 20, 1544 – May 22, 1602) was a French noblewoman who became a Duchess of Bavaria by her marriage to Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria

Early life

By birth a member of the House of Lorraine born in Nancy, she was the second child and eldest daughter of François I, Duke of Lorraine and his wife, Christina of Denmark, younger surviving daughter of King Christian II of Denmark and Norway and Archduchess Isabella of Austria, herself the daughter of Archduke Philipp of Austria, ruler Burgundian Netherlands and titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the first Habsburg King of Castile (as Felipe I) for a brief time in 1506 as the husband of Queen Joanna of Castile. Archduchess Isabella of Austria was the sister of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King Carlos I of Spain.

Renata was described as a beauty and a desirable match. In 1558, after the death of his first wife Prince Willem I the Silent of Orange expressed a desire to marry Renata. Her mother, Christina, liked the idea, and it was further cemented after the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis. This match was however prevented by King Felipe II of Spain. Christina declined the plan of Cardinal of Lorraine to arrange a marriage between Renata and Henri I, Duke of Guise and Prince of Joinville, and also a match proposed by the Spanish king to marry Renata to Juan d’Austria, the natural son born to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his mistress Barbara Blomberg.

In 1561, Renata’s mother planned to marry her to King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway. However, the outbreak of the Nordic Seven Years’ War between Denmark and Sweden in 1563, interrupted these plans. From 1565 to 1567, Christina negotiated with King Eric XIV of Sweden to create an alliance between Sweden and Denmark through his marriage to Renata. The plan was for Christina to conquer Denmark with the support of Sweden, a plan Eric supported.

However, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I opposed the plan due to the destructive effect it could have on the balance of power among the German states of the Empire, if Saxony (being strongly allied with Denmark) opposed Christina’s claims. Neither did she manage to acquire the support of King Felipe II of Spain. The planned marriage alliance between Lorraine and Sweden was finally ended when King Eric XIV married his non-noble lover Karin Månsdotter in 1567.

Duchess consort of Bavaria

Finally, on February 22, 1568, Renata married her paternal second, but maternal first cousin Wilhelm, hereditary Duke of Bavaria, in a large, elaborate ceremony and celebration in Munich that lasted 18 days. The event was described in detail by Massimo Troiano in his Dialoghi (1569). Approximately 5,000 riders took part in it, and the music was composed by Orlande de Lassus.

Despite their large wedding and status, Renata, along with her husband, led a life of charity and humility. They left the Munich Residenz and lived in the Jesuit Kollegienbau west of Munich. Renata cared for the sick, the poor and religious pilgrims. In this task, she was completely supported by her husband. They had ten children, but only six of them lived to adulthood.

After her husband inherited the duchy in 1579 as Wilhelm V of Bavaria, Renata spent much of her time in the Herzogspitalkirche in Munich, founded in 1555 by her father-in-law. She died in Munich, aged 58. Her grave is located in the St. Michael’s Church in Munich, the consecration of which was the last high point in both her and her husband’s lives. She was revered as a saint by the people, but never canonized. Her husband, who abdicated in 1597, survived her by twenty-four years, dying in 1626.

All current monarchs of the three Scandinavian countries (Harald V of Norway, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Margrethe II of Denmark) are Renata’s direct blood descendants. Other direct descendants included Josephine of Leuchtenberg, who married the future King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway in 1823; Carl XV of Sweden and Norway who ascended the throne in 1859; Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria; his brother Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico; and King Christian X of Denmark, who ascended the throne in 1912, among other numerous descendants.

The Golden Bull of 1356

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Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke Friedrich the Fair of Austria, Duke of Bavaria, Emperor Charles IV, Emperor Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Wittelsbach, Prince-Elector, The Golden Bull of 1356

The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire at Nuremberg and Metz (Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire. It was named the Golden Bull for the golden seal it carried.

Though the election of the King of the Romans by the chief ecclesiastical and secular princes of the Holy Roman Empire was well established, disagreements about the process and papal involvement had repeatedly resulted in controversies, most recently in 1314 when Ludwig IV of Bavaria and Friedrich of Austria had been elected by opposing sets of electors.

Ludwig, who had eventually subdued his rival’s claim on the battlefield, made a first attempt to clarify the process in the Declaration of Rhense of 1338, which renounced any papal involvement and had restricted the right to choose a new king to the Prince-Electors. The Golden Bull, promulgated by Ludwig’s s successor and rival, Charles IV, was more precise in several ways.

Prince-Electors

Firstly, the Bull explicitly named the seven Prince-Electors who were to choose the King and also defined the Reichserzämter, their (largely ceremonial) offices at court:

Secondly, the principle of majority voting was explicitly stated for the first time in the Empire. The Bull prescribed that four (out of seven) votes would always suffice to elect a new King; as a result, three Electors could no longer block the election. Thirdly, the Electoral principalities were declared indivisible, and succession to them was regulated to ensure that the votes would never be divided.

Finally, the Bull cemented a number of privileges for the Electors, confirming their elevated role in the Empire. It is therefore also a milestone in the establishment of largely independent states in the Empire, a process to be concluded only centuries later, notably with the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.

Codification of Prince-Electors, though largely based on precedence, was not uncontroversial, especially in regard to the two chief rivals of the ruling House of Luxembourg:

The House of Wittelsbach ruled the Duchy of Bavaria as well as the County Palatinate. Dynastic divisions had caused the two territories to devolve upon distinct branches of the house. The Treaty of Pavia, which in 1329 restored the Palatinate branch, stipulated that Bavaria and the Palatinate would alternate in future elections, but the Golden Bull fixed the electoral vote upon the Palatinate and not upon Bavaria, partly because Charles’s predecessor and rival Ludwig IV was of that branch.

Ludwig IV’s sons, Ludwig V and Stephan II of Bavaria, protested this omission, feeling that Bavaria, one of the original duchies of the realm and their family’s chief territory for over 170 years, deserved primacy over the Palatinate. The omission of Bavaria from the list of Prince-Electors also allowed Bavaria, which had only recently been reunited, to fall into dynastic fragmentation again.

Brandenburg was in the hands of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs (though held by a junior member of the house) in 1356; they eventually lost the territory to the Luxemburgs in 1373, leaving the Bavarian branch without representation in the electoral college until 1623.

The House of Habsburg, long-time rivals of the Luxembourgs, were completely omitted from the list of Prince-Electors, leading to decreased political influence and dynastic fragmentation. In retaliation, Duke Rudolph IV, one of the dukes of fragmented Austria, had the Privilegium Maius forged, a document supposedly issued by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa.

The document gave Austria – elevated to the position of an Archduchy – special privileges, including primogeniture. While ignored by the Emperor and other princes at the time, the document was eventually ratified when Friedrich of Austria himself became Emperor in the 15th century. Still, the Habsburgs remained without an electoral vote until they succeeded to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1526.

Procedures

The bull regulated the whole election process in great detail, listing explicitly where, when, and under which circumstances what should be done by whom, not only for the prince-electors but also (for example) for the population of Frankfurt, where the elections were to be held, and also for the counts of the regions the prince-electors had to travel through to get there.

The decision to hold the elections in Frankfurt reflected a traditional feeling dating from days of the Kingdom of East Francia that both election and coronation ought to take place on Frankish soil. However, the election location was not the only specified location; the bull specified that the coronation would take place in Aachen, and Nuremberg would be the place where the first diet of a reign should be held. The elections were to be concluded within thirty days; failing that, the bull prescribed that the Prince-Electors were to receive only bread and water until they had decided.

Besides regulating the election process, the chapters of the Golden Bull contained many minor decrees. For instance, it also defined the order of marching when the Emperor was present, both with and without his insignia.

A relatively major decision was made in chapter 15, where Charles IV outlawed any conjurationes, confederationes, and conspirationes, meaning in particular the city alliances (Städtebünde), but also other communal leagues that had sprung up through the communal movement in mediaeval Europe. Most Städtebünde were subsequently dissolved, sometimes forcibly, and were re-founded, their political influence was much reduced. Thus the Golden Bull also strengthened the nobility in general to the detriment of the cities.

The pope’s involvement with the Golden Bull of 1356 was basically nonexistent, which was significant in the history of relations between the popes and the emperors. When Charles IV laid down procedure for electing a King of the Romans, he mentioned nothing about receiving papal confirmation of the election. However, Pope Innocent VI did not protest this because he needed Charles’s support against the Visconti. Pope Innocent continued to have good relations with Charles IV after the Golden Bull of 1356 until the former’s death in 1362.

History of the Kingdom of East Francia: Conclusion

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Bavaria, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, Emperor Maximilian I, Franconia, Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Hohenstaufen, House of Wittelsbach, King of the Romans, Kingdom of East Francia, Kingdom of Germany, Lotharingia (Lorraine), Saxony, Stem Duchy, Swabia (Alemannia).

I would like to briefly summarize not only the History of the Kingdom of East Francia but also it’s relevant and associated titles.

In 800 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day. This Empire, which was to be a restart of the old Roman Empire, is known as the Carolingian Empire. When Emperor Charlemagne died in 814 he left this Empire fully intact to his son Louis the Pious.

However, upon Louis’s death in 840 he divided the empire amongst his three surviving sons. After a brief Civil War between the royal brothers, it lead to the signing of the Treaty of Verdun in 843 which effectively divided the Empire. The third son of Louis the Pious, known as Louis the German, inherited the eastern portion of the Empire, logically known as the Kingdom of East Francia.

After the Carolingian Dynasty died out in the Kingdom of East Francia, the elective monarchy became the possession of the Dukes of Saxony with Heinrich the Fowler as the first German elected King of East Francia.

When his son, King Otto I of East Francia, was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope John XII in 962 we see a transition from a Frankish Kingdom into a Germanic Kingdom, and from there the title of the monarch transitioned from King of East Francia to the King of Germany. Although as noted elsewhere in the series the title King of East Francia was still in usage for many many more years.

In other words, during the time of the Ottonian Dynasty there seems to be overlap with the titles “King of East Francia”, “King of Germany” and “King of the Romans” with these titles being used interchangeably, at least by modern historians.

Therefore, from the reign of King/Emperor Heinrich II the title King of the Romans was used by the German King following his election by the princes within the Empire, until he was crowned Emperor by the Pope.

In 1508, Emperor Maximilian I, adopted the title “Emperor Elect”, with papal approval, and dispensed with the Papal Coronation. Subsequent rulers adopted that title after their elections as kings. Using the title ” King of the Romans” became unnecessary due to the fact that the elected monarch did not need that title prior to a Papal Coronation that no longer existed.

Emperor Maximilian I

At the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as “King of the Romans” in the emperor’s lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title “King of the Romans” (Rex Romanorum) came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive.

Thus far I have been mostly talking about titles. However, the Kingdom of East Francia was not just a title. The kingdom had borders and land associated with the titles. But with the transformation from a Frankish Kingdom to a Germanic Kingdom and later the Holy Roman Empire, what became of the land known as the kingdom of East Francia?

The Kingdom of East Francia consisted of a series of tribal regions known as the Stem Duchies.

A stem duchy meaning “tribe”, in reference to the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians and Swabians was a constituent duchy of the Kingdom of East Francia at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty (death of Louis the Child in 911) and through the transitional period leading to the formation of the Ottonian Empire or, the Holy Roman Empire.

The Carolingians had dissolved the original tribal duchies of the Empire in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Empire declined, the old tribal areas assumed new identities. The five stem duchies (sometimes also called “younger stem duchies” in contrast to the pre-Carolingian tribal duchies) were: Bavaria, Franconia, Lotharingia (Lorraine), Saxony and Swabia (Alemannia).

Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa

The Salian Emperors (reigned 1027–1125) retained the stem duchies as the major regions of the lands that compromised the Kingdom Germany or corresponding to the Kingdom of East Francia. The rest of the regions of the Holy Roman Empire lay outside the German territories which mainly consisted of Italian lands such as the Kingdom of the Lombards, also known as the medieval Kingdom of Italy.

As the stem duchies became increasingly obsolete during the early high-medieval period, under the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, specifically Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, who finally abolished the Stem Duchies in 1180 in favour of more numerous territorial duchies.

An example of the fate of one Stem Duchy, Swabia, mirrors the fate of many of the Stem Duchies. In the 13th century the Duchy of Swabia was in complete disarray, with its territories falling to the Wittelsbach, Württemberg, and Habsburg families. The main core territory of Swabia continued its existence as the County of Württemberg, which was raised to the status of a Duchy in 1495, which in turn became the Kingdom of Württemberg within 19th-century Germany.

With new territories rising from the ashes of the abolished Stem Duchies, these new territories became increasingly autonomous; and with that occurrence the Kingdom of East Francia can be considered to have drifted into the shadows of history by this time.

Nevertheless, there are relatively few references to a German kingdom distinct from the Holy Roman Empire.

January 26, 1873: Death of Amélie of Leuchtenberg, Empress of Brazil

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Amélie of Leuchtenberg, Emperor of the French, Emperor Pedro of Brazil, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, House of Leuchtenberg, House of Wittelsbach, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte

From the Emperor’s Desk: In addressing the death of Amélie of Leuchtenberg I will focus on the arrangement of her marriage to Emperor Pedro of Brazil.

Amélie of Leuchtenberg (July 31, 1812 – January 26, 1873) was Empress of Brazil as the wife of Pedro I of Brazil. Amélie was the fourth child of General Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Princess Augusta of Bavaria.

Her father was the son of Joséphine de Beauharnais and her first husband, Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais. When Joséphine remarried, to Napoleon Bonaparte, Eugène was adopted by the latter and made viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy.

Amélie of Leuchtenberg

Amélie’s mother was the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his first consort, Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Among Amélie’s siblings were Josephine of Leuchtenberg, Queen Consort of King Oscar I of Sweden, and Auguste de Beauharnais, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg, prince consort of Queen Maria II of Portugal (stepdaughter of Amélie). French Emperor Napoleon III was Amélie’s first cousin.

After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, Eugène de Beauharnais, having been granted the title Duke of Leuchtenberg by his father-in-law, settled in Munich. The possibility occurred to Amélie’s mother, Augusta, of marrying Amélie to the Emperor of Brazil, to guarantee the pretensions of the House of Leuchtenberg to royal status.

Marriage

After the death of his first wife, the Austrian Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, in December 1826, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (former King Pedro IV of Portugal) sent the Marquis of Barbacena to Europe to find him a second wife.

Emperor Pedro ‘s Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, and his second wife, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. Among her many siblings were Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Amélie of Leuchtenberg

Marquis of Barbacena’s task was not easy; several factors complicated the search. First, Emperor Pedro had stipulated four conditions: a good family background, beauty, virtue and culture. Conversely, the Emperor of Brazil did not have a particularly good image in Europe: his relationship with the Marchioness of Santos was notorious, and few eligible princesses were expected to be eager to leave the courts of Europe to marry a widower who had a tarnished reputation as a husband, becoming step-mother to his five children.

To make matters worse, the former father-in-law of Emperor Dom Pedro, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II had a low opinion of his son-in-law’s political views, and apparently acted to prevent a new marriage to ensure that his grandchildren would inherit the throne of Brazil if they survived infancy.

After refusals by eight princesses turned the ambassador into an object of scorn in the courts of Europe, the Marquis of Barbacena, in agreement with the Emperor, lowered his requirements, seeking for Dom Pedro a wife merely “good and virtuous.”

Amélie now became a good possibility, but their encounter was brought about not by the Marquis of Barbacena, but by Domingos Borges de Barros, Viscount of Pedra Branca, minister in Paris, to whom she had been pointed out.

Emperor Pedro I of Brazil

She came from a distinguished and ancient line on her mother’s side, the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria, but her father, an exile who shared in the disgrace of Napoleon Bonaparte’s deposition as Emperor, was not an optimal marital match. However, that was her sole “defect”. The princess was tall, very beautiful, well proportioned, with a delicate face.

She had blue eyes and brownish-golden hair. António Teles da Silva Caminha e Meneses, Marquis of Resende, sent to verify the beauty of the young lady, praised her highly, saying that she had “a physical air that like that the painter Correggio gave us in his paintings of the Queen of Sheba”. She was also cultured and sensitive.

A contemporary piece in The Times of London affirms that she was one of the best educated and best prepared princesses in the German world.

Amélie of Leuchtenberg

The marriage contract was signed on May 29, 1829 in England, and ratified on June 30 in Munich by Amélie’s mother, the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, who had tutored her daughter personally. On July 30 of that year, in Brazil, a treaty of marriage between Pedro I and Amélie of Leuchtenberg was promulgated.

Upon confirming the marriage, Emperor Pedro definitively broke his links to the Marchioness of Santos and, as evidence of his good intentions, instituted the Order of the Rose, with the motto “Amor e Fidelidade” (“Love and Fidelity”).

Marriage of Amélie of Leuchtenberg and Emperor Pedro I of Brazil

A proxy marriage ceremony on August 2 in the chapel of the Palais Leuchtenberg in Munich was a simple affair with few in attendance, as Amélie insisted on donating to a Munich orphanage the appreciable amount Dom Pedro had sent for a ceremony with full pomp. Dom Pedro was represented by the Marquis of Barbacena. Amélie was barely seventeen years old; Dom Pedro was thirty.

History of the Kingdom of Greece. Part III. King Otto.

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Deposed, House of Wittelsbach, Infanta Maria de la Paz of Spain, Infante of Spain, King Otto of Greece, Kingdom of Greece, Prince Aldalbert of Bavaria, Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Queen Isabella II of Spain

The continued inability of the royal couple to have children also raised the thorny issue of succession: the 1844 constitution insisted that Otto’s successor had to be Orthodox, but as the king was childless, the only possible heirs were his younger brothers, Prince Luitpold and Prince Adalbert.

The staunch Catholicism of the Wittelsbachs complicated matters, as Prince Luitpold refused to convert to the Greek Orthodox Church and Prince Adalbert married Infanta Amalia of Spain, the eleventh child and sixth daughter of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain, younger brother of King Fernando VII of Spain, and his wife, Princess Luisa Carlota of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Otto, King of Greece

The sons of Prince Adalbert, and especially the eldest, Prince Ludwig Ferdinand, were now considered the most likely candidates, but due to the issue of religion, no definite arrangements were ever made.

Following his marriage to Infanta María de la Paz of Spain, Prince Ludwig Ferdinand was also created an Infante of Spain. Infanta María de la Paz of Spain was the third surviving daughter of Queen Isabella II and her husband Infante Francisco of Spain.

According to historians, the true biological father of Infanta Paz was the diplomat and politician Miguel Tenorio de Castilla (1818–1916), who was secretary of Queen Isabella II for several years.

It has been suggested that had Otto and Amalia borne an heir, the king would not have been overthrown, as succession was also a major unresolved question at the time. However, the Constitution of 1844 made provision for his succession by his two younger brothers and their descendants.

While Otto was visiting the Peloponnese in 1862 a new coup was launched and this time a Provisional Government was set up and summoned a National Convention.

King Otto of Greece

Ambassadors of the Great Powers urged King Otto not to resist, and the king and queen took refuge on a British warship and returned to Bavaria aboard (the same way they had come to Greece), taking with them the Greek regalia which they had brought from Bavaria in 1832.

In 1861, a student named Aristeidis Dosios (son of politician Konstantinos Dosios) attempted to murder Queen Amalia and was openly hailed as a hero. His attempt, however, also prompted spontaneous feelings of monarchism and sympathy towards the royal couple among the Greek population

Otto died in the palace of the former bishops of Bamberg, Germany, and was buried in the Theatiner Church in Munich. During his retirement, he would still wear the Greek traditional uniform, nowadays worn only by the evzones (Presidential Guards).

History of the Kingdom of Greece. Part II. King Otto

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Athens, Duchess Amalia (Amelie) of Oldenburg, House of Wittelsbach, King of the Hellenes, King Otto of Greece, Prince Otto of Bavaria, Queen of Greece

Otto was born as Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria at Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg (when it briefly belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria), as the second son of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

His father served there as the Bavarian governor-general. Through his ancestor, the Bavarian Duke John II, Otto was a descendant of the Byzantine imperial dynasties of Komnenos and Laskaris. His father was a prominent Philhellene, and provided significant financial aid to the Greek cause during the War of Independence.

The Great Powers extracted a pledge from Otto’s father to restrain him from hostile actions against the Ottoman Empire. They also insisted that his title be “King of Greece”, rather than “King of the Hellenes”, because the latter would imply a claim over the millions of Greeks then still under Turkish rule.

King Otto of Greece

Not quite 18, the young prince arrived in Greece with 3,500 Bavarian troops (the Bavarian Auxiliary Corps) and three Bavarian advisors aboard the British frigate HMS Madagascar. Although he did not speak Greek, he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by adopting the Greek national costume and Hellenizing his name to “Othon” (some English sources, such as Encyclopædia Britannica, call him “Otho”).

Otto’s early reign was also notable for his moving the capital of Greece from Nafplion to Athens. His first task as king was to make a detailed archaeological and topographic survey of Athens. He assigned Gustav Eduard Schaubert and Stamatios Kleanthis to complete this task. At that time, Athens had a population of roughly 4,000–5,000 people, located mainly in what today covers the district of Plaka in Athens.

Although King Otto tried to function as an absolute monarch, as Thomas Gallant writes, he “was neither ruthless enough to be feared, nor compassionate enough to be loved, nor competent enough to be respected.”

During 1836–37, Otto visited Germany, marrying a beautiful and talented 17-year-old, Duchess Amalia (Amelie) of Oldenburg (December 21, 1818 to May 20, 1875), Duchess Amalia Maria Frederica was born on 21 December 1818 in Oldenburg to Duke Paul Frederick Augustus of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Adelheid of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym as their first child.

King Otto of Greece enters Athens

She was less than two years old when her mother died, on September 13, 1820. Her father remarried in 1825 to Princess Ida of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, though she soon died in 1828; his last marriage was with Princess Cecilia of Sweden in 1831.

Due to her father’s marriages, Amalia had 5 siblings, 4 being born as half-siblings: Duchess Frederica, Duke Nikolaus Friedrich, Duke Alexander, Duke August, and Anton Gunther, Friedrich Elimar.

The wedding took place not in Greece but in Oldenburg, on November 22, 1836; the marriage did not produce an heir, and the new queen made herself unpopular by interfering in the government and maintaining her Lutheran faith. Otto was unfaithful to his wife, and had an affair with Jane Digby, a notorious woman his father had previously taken as a lover.

King Otto of Greece in native dress.

When she arrived in Greece in 1837, she at first won the hearts of the Greeks with her refreshing beauty. After she became more politically involved, she then became the target of harsh attacks—and her image suffered further as she proved unable to provide an heir to the throne. She and her husband were expelled from Greece in 1862, after an uprising. She spent the rest of her years in exile in Bavaria.

She acted as Regent of Greece in 1850-1851, and a second time in 1861-1862 during the absence of Otto.

Amalia is attributed to the creation of the “romantic folksy court dress,” which in return became Greece’s national costume.

By 1843, public dissatisfaction with him had reached crisis proportions and there were demands for a Constitution. Initially Otto refused to grant a Constitution, but as soon as Bavarian troops were withdrawn from the kingdom, a popular revolt was launched.

Duchess Amalia (Amelie) of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece

On September 3, 1843, the infantry led by Colonel Dimitris Kallergis and the respected Revolutionary captain and former President of the Athens City Council General Yiannis Makriyiannis assembled in Palace Square in front of the Palace in Athens. Eventually joined by much of the population of the small capital, the crowd refused to disperse until the king agreed to grant a constitution, which would require that there be Greeks in the Council, that he convene a permanent National Assembly and that Otto personally thank the leaders of the uprising.

Left with little recourse now that his German troops were gone, King Otto gave in to the pressure and agreed to the demands of the crowd over the objections of his opinionated queen.

This square was renamed Constitution Square (Greek: Πλατεία Συντάγματος) to commemorate (through to the present) the events of September 1843—and to feature many later tumultuous events of Greek history. Now for the first time, the king had Greeks in his Council and the French Party, the English Party and the Russian Party (according to which of the Great Powers’ culture they most esteemed) vied for rank and power.

October 11, 1347: Death of Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Part II

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Anti-Pope Nicholas V, Emperor Louis IV, German-Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, House of Wittelsbach, King Edward III of England, King Philippe VI of France, Margaret II of Hainaut, Pope Benedict XIII, Pope John XII

After the reconciliation with the Habsburgs in 1326, Ludwig marched to Italy and was crowned King of Italy in Milan in 1327. Already in 1323, Ludwig had sent an army to Italy to protect Milan against the Kingdom of Naples, which was together with France the strongest ally of the papacy. But now the Lord of Milan Galeazzo I Visconti was deposed since he was suspected of conspiring with the pope.

In January 1328, Ludwig IV entered Rome and had himself crowned emperor by the aged senator Sciarra Colonna, called captain of the Roman people. Three months later, Ludwig IV published a decree declaring Pope John XXII (Jacques Duèze), who resided in Avignon, deposed on grounds of heresy. He then installed a Spiritual Franciscan, Pietro Rainalducci as antipope Nicholas V, who soon left Rome and a few years later submitted to Pope John XXII.

In the meantime, Robert, King of Naples had sent both a fleet and an army against Ludwig and his ally Frederick II of Sicily. Ludwig spent the winter 1328/29 in Pisa and stayed then in Northern Italy. When his co-ruler Friedrich the Fair of Habsburg died in 1330, Ludwig returned from Italy. In fulfillment of an oath, Ludwig founded Ettal Abbey on 28 April 1330.

Franciscan theologians Michael of Cesena and William of Ockham, and the philosopher Marsilius of Padua, who were all on bad terms with the Pope as well, joined Emperor Ludwig in Italy and accompanied him to his court at Alter Hof in Munich which became the first imperial residence of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1333, Emperor Ludwig IV sought to counter French influence in the southwest of the empire so he offered Umberto II of Viennois the Kingdom of Arles which was an opportunity to gain full authority over Savoy, Provence, and its surrounding territories. Humbert was reluctant to take the crown due to the conflict that would follow with all around him, so he declined, telling the emperor that he should make peace with the church first.

Emperor Ludwig IV also allied with King Edward III of England in 1337 against King Philippe VI of France, the protector of the new Pope Benedict XII in Avignon. King Philippe VI had prevented any agreement between the Emperor and the Pope. Thus, the failure of negotiations with the papacy led to the declaration at Rhense in 1338 by six electors to the effect that election by all or the majority of the electors automatically conferred the royal title and rule over the empire, without papal confirmation. King Edward III was the Emperor’s guest at the Imperial Diet in the Kastorkirche at Coblence in 1338 and was named Vicar-General of the Holy Roman Empire. However in 1341, the Emperor deserted Edward III but came to terms with Philippe VI only temporarily. For the expected English payments were missing and Louis intended to reach an agreement with the Pope one more time.

Imperial privileges

Ludwig IV was a protector of the Teutonic Knights. In 1337 he allegedly bestowed upon the Teutonic Order a privilege to conquer Lithuania and Russia, although the Order had only petitioned for three small territories. Later he forbade the Order to stand trial before foreign courts in their territorial conflicts with foreign rulers.

Louis concentrated his energies also on the economic development of the cities of the empire, so his name can be found in many city chronicles for the privileges he granted. In 1330 the emperor for example permitted the Frankfurt Trade Fair, and in 1340 Lübeck, as the leading member of the Hanseatic League, received the coinage prerogative for golden gulden.

Dynastic policy

In 1323 Ludwig IV gave Brandenburg as a fiefdom to his eldest son Ludwig V after the Brandenburg branch of the House of Ascania had died out. With the Treaty of Pavia in 1329 the emperor reconciled the sons of his late brother Rudolph and returned the Palatinate to his nephews Rudolph and Rupert. After the death of Heinrich of Bohemia, the duchy of Carinthia was released as an imperial fief on May 2, 1335 in Linz to his Habsburg cousins Albrecht II, Duke of Austria, and Otto, Duke of Austria, while Tyrol was first placed into Luxemburg hands.

With the death of duke Johann I in 1340 Ludwig IV inherited Lower Bavaria and then reunited the duchy of Bavaria. Johann’s mother, a member of the Luxemburg dynasty, had to return to Bohemia. In 1342 Ludwig also acquired Tyrol for the Wittelsbach by voiding the first marriage of Margarete Maultasch with Johann Heinrich of Bohemia and marrying her to his own son Ludwig V, thus alienating the House of Luxemburg even more.

In 1345 the emperor further antagonized the lay princes by conferring Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland upon his wife, Margaret II of Hainaut. The hereditary titles of Margaret’s sisters, one of whom was the Queen of England, were ignored. Because of the dangerous hostility of the Luxemburgs, Louis had increased his power base ruthlessly.

Tomb of Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Emperor

The acquisition of these territories and his restless foreign policy had earned Ludwig V many enemies among the German princes. In the summer of 1346 the Luxemburg Charles IV was elected rival king, with the support of Pope Clement VI. Louis himself obtained much support from the Imperial Free Cities and the knights and successfully resisted Charles, who was widely regarded as a papal puppet (“rex clericorum” as William of Ockham called him). Also the Habsburg dukes stayed loyal to Louis. In the Battle of Crécy Charles’ father Johann of Luxemburg was killed; Charles himself also took part in the battle but escaped.

But then Ludwig IV sudden death avoided a longer civil war. Ludwig died in October 1347 from a stroke suffered during a bear-hunt in Puch near Fürstenfeldbruck. He is buried in the Frauenkirche in Munich. The sons of Ludwig supported Günther von Schwarzburg as new rival king to Charles but finally joined the Luxemburg party after Günther’s early death in 1349 and divided the Wittelsbach possessions amongst themselves again. In continuance of the conflict of the House of Wittelsbach with the House of Luxemburg, the Wittelsbach family returned to power in the Holy Roman Empire in 1400 with King Rupert of Germany, a great-grandnephew of Ludwig.

October 11, 1347: Death of Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Part I

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Duke of Bavaria, Frederick the Fair, Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII, Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Empire, House of Wittelsbach, King of the Germans, King of the Romans, Pope John XXII

Ludwig IV (April 1,1282 – October 11, 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328.

Ludwig was born in Munich, the son of Ludwig II, Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine, and Matilda Matilda was the eldest daughter of King Rudolph I of Germany and Gertrude of Hohenberg.

Though Ludwig was partly educated in Vienna and became co-regent of his brother Rudolph I in Upper Bavaria in 1301 with the support of his Habsburg mother and her brother, King Albrecht I, he quarreled with the Habsburgs from 1307 over possessions in Lower Bavaria.

A civil war against his brother Rudolph due to new disputes on the partition of their lands was ended in 1313, when peace was made at Munich.

Tomb effigy at Munich Frauenkirche

In the same year, on November 9, Ludwig defeated his Habsburg cousin Friedrich the Fair who was further aided by duke Leopold I. Originally, he was a friend of Friedrich, with whom he had been raised. However, armed conflict arose when the guardianship over the young Dukes of Lower Bavaria (Heinrich XIV, Otto IV, and Heinrich XV) was entrusted to Friedrich, even though the late Duke Otto III, the former King of Hungary, had chosen Ludwig.

On November 9, 1313, Friedrich was defeated by Ludwig in the Battle of Gammelsdorf and had to renounce the tutelage. This victory caused a stir within the Holy Roman Empire and increased the reputation of the Bavarian Duke.

The death of Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII in August 1313 necessitated the election of a successor. Heinrich’s son Johann, King of Bohemia since 1310, was considered by many prince-electors to be too young, and by others to be already too powerful. One alternative was Friedrich the Fair, the son of Heinrich VII’s predecessor, Albrecht I, of the House of Habsburg.

In reaction, the pro-Luxembourg party among the prince electors settled on Ludwig of Bavaria as its candidate to prevent Friedrich’s election.

On October 19, 1314, Archbishop Heinrich II of Cologne chaired an assembly of four electors at Sachsenhausen, south of Frankfurt. Participants were Ludwig’s brother, Count Rudolph I of the Palatinate, who objected to the election of his younger brother, Duke Rudolph I of Saxe-Wittenberg, and Heinrich of Carinthia, whom the Luxembourgs had deposed as King of Bohemia. These four electors chose Friedrich as King.

The Luxembourg party did not accept this election and the next day a second election was held. Upon the instigation of Peter of Aspelt, Archbishop of Mainz, five different electors convened at Frankfurt and elected Ludwig as King. These electors were Archbishop Peter himself, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier and King Johann of Bohemia – both of the House of Luxembourg – Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg and Duke Johann II of Saxe-Lauenburg, who contested Rudolph of Wittenberg’s claim to the electoral vote.

This double election was quickly followed by two coronations: Ludwig IV was crowned at Aachen – the customary site of coronations – by Archbishop Peter of Mainz, while the Archbishop of Cologne, who by custom had the right to crown the new king, crowned Friedrich at Bonn. In the following conflict between the kings, Ludwig IV recognized in 1316 the independence of Switzerland from the Habsburg dynasty.

After several years of bloody war, victory finally seemed within the grasp of Friedrich, who was strongly supported by his brother Leopold. However, Friedrich’s army was decisively defeated in the Battle of Mühldorf on September 28, 1322 on the Ampfing Heath, where Friedrich and 1300 nobles from Austria and Salzburg were captured.

Ludwig IV held Friedrich captive in Trausnitz Castle (Schwandorf) for three years, but the determined resistance by Friedrich’s brother Leopold, the retreat of Johann of Bohemia from his alliance, and a ban by Pope John XXII, who excommunicated Ludwig IV in 1324, induced Louis to release Friedrich in the Treaty of Trausnitz of 13 March 1325.

In this agreement, Friedrich recognized Ludwig IV as the legitimate Emperor and undertook to return to captivity should he not succeed in convincing his brothers to submit to Ludwig.

Golden Bull of Ludwig IV 1328

As he did not manage to overcome Leopold’s obstinacy, Friedrich returned to Munich as a prisoner, even though the Pope had released him from his oath. Ludwig IV, who was impressed by such nobility, renewed the old friendship with Friedrich, and they agreed to rule the Empire jointly.

Since the Pope and the electors strongly objected to this agreement, another treaty was signed at Ulm on January 7, 1326, according to which Friedrich would administer German lands as King of the Romans, while Ludwig would be crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in Italy. However, after Leopold’s death in 1326, Friedrich withdrew from the regency of the Empire and returned to rule only Austria. Friedrich died on January 13, 1330.

August 25, 1845: Birth of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria

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Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, Duke in Bavaria, German Empire, Herrenchiemsee, House of Wittelsbach, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, Linderhof Palace, Marie of Prussia, Neuschwanstein Castle, Richard Wagner

Ludwig II (August 25, 1845 – June 13, 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, and Duke in Swabia.

Early life

Born at Nymphenburg Palace (located in what is today part of central Munich), he was the elder son of Maximilian II of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia, Crown Prince and Princess of Bavaria, who became King and Queen in 1848 after the abdication of the former’s father, Ludwig I, during the German Revolution.

His mother, Marie of Prussia, was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, a younger brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, and his wife, Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg.

In her youth, Marie was seriously considered as a wife for Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, (elder brother of Prince Albert , husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom) until her engagement to Maximilian was announced.

Ludwig II, King of Bavaria

His parents intended to name him Otto, but his grandfather insisted that his grandson be named after him, since their common birthday, August 25, is the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France, patron saint of Bavaria (with “Ludwig” being the German form of “Louis”). His full name was Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm. His younger brother, born three years later, was named Otto.

Like many young heirs in an age when kings governed most of Europe, Ludwig was continually reminded of his royal status. King Maximilian II wanted to instruct both of his sons in the burdens of royal duty from an early age. Ludwig was both extremely indulged and severely controlled by his tutors and subjected to a strict regimen of study and exercise. Some point to these stresses of growing up in a royal family as the causes for much of his odd behavior as an adult.

Ludwig was not close to either of his parents. King Maximilian’s advisers had suggested that on his daily walks he might like, at times, to be accompanied by his future successor. The King replied, “But what am I to say to him? After all, my son takes no interest in what other people tell him.” Later, Ludwig would refer to his mother as “my predecessor’s consort”. He was far closer to his grandfather, the deposed and notorious King Ludwig I.

Marie of Prussia, mother of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria

Ludwig ascended to the throne in 1864 at the age of 18. Two years later, Bavaria and Austria fought a war against Prussia lasting only a matter of weeks, which they lost. However, in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Bavaria sided with Prussia in their successful war against France.

Despite Ludwig’s reluctance to support the Unification of Germany, Bavaria and 21 other monarchies became part of the new German Empire with Wilhelm I, the King of Prussia and Ludwig’s cousin, as the German Emperor. Bavaria retained a large degree of autonomy within the Empire under the new Imperial Constitution.

The greatest stress of Ludwig’s early reign was pressure to produce an heir. This issue came to the forefront in 1867. Ludwig became engaged to Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, his cousin and the youngest sister of his dear friend, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary.

Duchess Sophie in Bavaria was a daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. The ninth of ten children born to her parents, she was known as Sopherl within the family.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria and his fiancé Duchess Sophie in Bavaria

Princess Ludovika of Bavaria was the sixth child of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Caroline of Baden, and the mother of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria, was born at Bamberg, the only son of Duke Pius August in Bavaria (1786–1837) and his wife, Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg (1789-1823).

Duke in Bavaria

After the Landshut War of Succession primogeniture was established in the House of Wittelsbach and therefore there could only be one Duke of Bavaria anymore, resulting in the actually quite unprecedented decision to create a title of Duke in Bavaria for the rest of the family, which all members of the House took for themselves, even the older Palatine branch – the other major Wittelsbach possession.

King Ludwig II and Duchess Sophie shared a deep interest in the works of Wagner. The engagement was announced on January 22, 1867; a few days earlier, Ludwig had written Sophie, “The main substance of our relationship has always been … Richard Wagner’s remarkable and deeply moving destiny.” Ludwig repeatedly postponed the wedding date, and finally cancelled the engagement in October.

Duchess Sophie in Bavaria

After the engagement was broken off, Ludwig wrote to his former fiancée, “My beloved Elsa! Your cruel father has torn us apart. Eternally yours, Heinrich.” (The names Elsa and Heinrich came from characters in Wagner’s opera Lohengrin.) Sophie later married Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, grandson of French King Louis Philippe I, at Possenhofen Castle at which Ludwig II unexpectedly attended the reception.

Ludwig never married nor had any known mistresses. His diary, private letters, and other documents reveal his strong homosexual desires, which he struggled to suppress to remain true to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Homosexuality had not been punishable in Bavaria since 1813, but the unification of Germany under Prussian hegemony in 1871 instated Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexual acts between males.

Throughout his reign, Ludwig had a succession of close friendships with men, including his aide-de-camp the Bavarian prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis, his chief equerry and master of the horse, Richard Hornig, the Hungarian theater actor Josef Kainz, and courtier Alfons Weber. Letters from Ludwig reveal that the quartermaster of the royal stables, Karl Hesselschwerdt, acted as his male procurer.

Ludwig’s original diaries from 1869 onward were lost during World War II, and all that remain today are copies of entries made during the 1886 plot to depose him. Some earlier diaries have survived in the Geheimes Hausarchiv (‘secret archives’) in Munich, and extracts starting in 1858 were published by Evers in 1986.

Linderhof Palace (my personal favorite)

Ludwig increasingly withdrew from day-to-day affairs of state in favour of extravagant artistic and architectural projects. He commissioned the construction of lavish palaces: Neuschwanstein Castle, Linderhof Palace and Herrenchiemsee. He was also a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner.

Ludwig spent all his own private royal revenues (although not state funds as is commonly thought) on these projects, borrowed extensively, and defied all attempts by his ministers to restrain him. This extravagance was used against him to declare him insane, an accusation that has since come under scrutiny.

Ludwig was taken into custody and effectively deposed on June 12, 1886, and he and his doctor were found dead on the following day. His death was ruled to be a suicide but this too has been disputed. Today, his architectural and artistic legacy includes many of Bavaria’s most important tourist attractions.