Herzog von Bayern Maximilian I

Maximilian I, Herzog von Bayern, Kurfürst (Munich, 1573-1651, Ingolstadt), a Wittelsbach, succeeded his father Duke Wilhelm V in 1597, and emerged as an influential statesman before and during the Thirty Years War (see Dreissigjähriger Krieg). Through the formation of the Catholic League (see Katholische Liga) he became a powerful figure in the defence of the Catholic and imperial cause. He supported the Edict of Restitution, which Ferdinand II issued in 1629, but urged the Emperor to dismiss Wallenstein, whom he regarded as a rival threatening his dynastic interests. The Peace of Westphalia (see Westfälischer Friede) confirmed his status as Elector, an imperial reward for defeating Friedrich V of the Palatinate as king of Bohemia (see Weissen Berge, Schlacht am). He was ably served by general Tilly. An efficient and austere administrator, he had, even by the standards of his time, an exaggerated sense of responsibility for the morality of his subjects. He forbade his peasants to dance, and he introduced the death penalty for adulterers.

Maximilian was a protector of the arts (a collector of Dürer) and built the Munich Residenz. He gave the Bibliotheca Palatina of Heidelberg (see Libraries) to the Pope.