The Bavarian Circle (German: Bayerischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire.
Bavarian Circle Bayerischer Reichskreis | |
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1500–1806 | |
The Bavarian Circle as at the beginning of the 16th century within the Holy Roman Empire | |
Capital | Regensburg |
Historical era | Early modern period |
• Established | 1500 |
• Disestablished | 1806 |
Today part of | Slovenia |
The most significant state by far in the circle was the Duchy of Bavaria (raised to an Electorate by Emperor Ferdinand II in 1623) with the Upper Palatinate territories.[1] Other Imperial Estates like the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, the Prince-Bishoprics of Freising, Passau and Regensburg as well as the Imperial city of Regensburg, seat of the Imperial Diet from 1663, had a secondary importance. The elector of Bavaria and the archbishop of Salzburg acted as the circle's directors.[2][3]
Composition
editThe circle was made up of the following states:
Name | Type of entity | Established | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Bavaria | Duchy | 907 | Established in 907, held by the House of Wittelsbach from 1180, Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut reunited in 1506, annexed the Upper Palatinate from the Electoral Palatinate in 1628 along with the electoral dignity, inherited as a whole by the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1777; 2nd seat to the Reichstag |
Berchtesgaden | Prince-Provostry | 1111 | Established in 1111, Reichsfreiheit granted by Frederick I Barbarossa in 1156, 61st seat to the Reichstag |
Breitenegg | Lordship | 1624 | Granted to Johann Tserclaes de Tilly by Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1624, Imperial county from 1654, sold to Bavaria in 1792. |
Ehrenfels | Lordship | 1465 | Territory around Beratzhausen, Reichsfreiheit granted by Frederick III of Habsburg in 1465, acquired by Palatinate-Neuburg in 1567. |
Freising | Prince-Bishopric | 724 | Established by Saint Corbinian in 724, Prince-Bishopric from 1294, 31th seat to the Reichstag |
Haag | County | 1245 | Reichsfreiheit granted by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in 1245, Imperial county from 1509, held by the Dukes of Bavaria from 1567. |
Hohenwaldeck | Lordship | 1476 | Former Freising territory, Reichsfreiheit granted by Frederick III of Habsburg in 1476, county from 1637, to Bavaria in 1734 |
Leuchtenberg | Landgraviate | 1146 | Principality from 1433, inherited by the House of Wittelsbach in 1646, to Bavaria in 1712, 72nd seat to the Reichstag. |
Lobkowitz | Principality | 1562 | Störnstein was a fief of the Bohemian Crown raised to county and granted to the House of Lobkowicz by Emperor Ferdinand I in 1562, gained Reichsfreiheit in 1641 with the 83th seat to the Reichstag. |
Niedermünster in Regensburg | Prince-Abbacy | 788 | Established about 788, Reichsfreiheit granted by Henry II in 1002, 15th Prelatess of the Rhine. |
Obermünster in Regensburg | Prince-Abbacy | 876 | Established before 876, Reichsfreiheit granted by Louis IV of Wittelsbach in 1315, 16th Prelatess of the Rhine. |
Ortenburg | County | 1120 | Established about 1120, Reichsfreiheit confirmed in 1479 by Frederick III of Habsburg, 24th County of Wetterau |
Palatinate-Neuburg | Duchy | 1505 | Wittelsbach territory established in 1505 after the Landshut War of Succession, inherited the Palatinate in 1685, line extinct in 1742, inherited by Palatinate-Sulzbach with 10th vote to the Reichstag |
Palatinate-Sulzbach | Duchy | 1656 | Subdivision of Palatinate-Neuburg from 1656, heir of Palatinate-Neuburg and Electoral Palatinate in 1742, both united with Bavaria in 1777. |
Passau | Prince-Bishopric | 739 | Established in 739 by Saint Boniface, Reichsfreiheit granted by Otto III in 999. |
Regensburg | Prince-Bishopric | 739 | Established in 739 by Saint Boniface, Imperial immediacy from the 13th century, 33th seat to the Reichstag |
Regensburg | Imperial City | 1245 | Since 1245, 1st Swabian City |
Salzburg | Prince-Archbishopric | 696 | Bishopric established in 696 by Saint Rupert, archbishopric from 798, prince-archbishopric from 1213 with the 5th seat to the Reichstag. Secularised and transferred to the Austrian Circle in 1803 |
St Emmeram in Regensburg | Prince-Abbacy | 739 | Established in 739, held by the Bishops of Regensburg until 975, Reichsfreiheit granted by Adolph of Nassau in 1295, 9th Prelate of the Rhine. |
Sulzbürg-Pyrbaum | Lordship | 1353 | Held by the House of Wolfstein, Reichsfreiheit confirmed in 1353, county from 1673, fell to Bavaria in 1740. |
External links
edit- Imperial Circles in the 16th Century – Historical Maps of Germany
References
edit- ^ Freeman, Edward Augustus (1882). The Historical Geography of Europe. Vol. I (Second ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Company. p. 221.
- ^ Holberg, Ludvig (1787). Radcliffe, William (ed.). An Introduction to Universal History. Translated by Sharpe, Gregory. London: L. Davis, J. Johnson and R. Baldwin. p. 307.
- ^ The Edinburgh Gazetteer, Or Geographical Dictionary. Vol. 1. Edinburgh and London: Archibald Constable and Company. 1822. p. 409.