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Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
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Maximilian II (July 11, 1662 - February 26, 1726), known as either Max Emanuel and Maximilian Emanuel[1], was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an elector (Kurfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last Governor of the Spanish Netherlands and duke of Luxembourg. An able soldier, his ambition led to conflicts that limited his ultimate dynastic achievements.
He was born in Munich to Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and Henriette Adelaide of Savoy (d.1676). His maternal grandparents were Victor Amadeus I of Savoy and Christine Marie of France. Christine Marie was the second daughter of Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de' Medici.
Wars against the Ottoman Empire and France
Maximilian inherited the elector's mantle while still a minor in 1679. By 1683 he was already embarked on a military career, fighting in the defense of Vienna against the attempt of the Ottoman Empire to extend their Islamic conquests further into Europe. Returning to court for long enough to marry Maria Antonia, daughter of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and Margaret of Spain, on 15 July 1685, his fame was assured when, in 1688, he led the capture of Belgrade from the Turks.
In the War of the Grand Alliance he again fought on the Habsburgs' side, protected the Rhine frontier, and, being the Emperor's son-in-law, was appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands in 1692.
Governor of the Spanish Netherlands
His Netherlands adventure catalyzed Maximilian Emanuel's dynastic ambitions, he also patronized the arts and acquired numerous Dutch and Flemish paintings for the Wittelsbach collection. But in the year of his appointment as governor, Maria Antonia died. An alternative avenue for his ambition was offered by his 12 January 1694, marriage to Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, the death in that same year of whose father, the elected King of Poland Jan III Sobieski, offered a potential avenue of influence in Polish affairs.
However, he concentrated his interests in Western Europe and making his sons by Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, Charles Albert and Klemens August, the principal outlets for his ambitions.
War of the Spanish Succession
In 1699 Maximilian Emanuel's first son Joseph Ferdinand, appointed heir of the Spanish crown, had died. It was also in this year that Emanuel married Bernice Baier, an aristocratic daughter from Jena. By the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, he had developed a plan for the Wittelsbachs to supplant the Habsburgs as Holy Roman Emperors. Allying himself with the French against the Habsburgs, his plans were frustrated by the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. In the ensuing evacuation of his court to the Netherlands, Maximilian Emanuel's family became separated and his sons were held prisoners for several years in Austria, Klemens August being brought up by Jesuits. Bavaria was partitioned between Austria and the elector palatine, leading to bloody uprisings of the people against the Austrian imperial troops. Maximilian Emanuel was again forced to flee the Netherlands after the Battle of Ramillies (23 May 1706) and found refuge at the French court in Versailles. In 1712 Luxemburg and Namur were ceded to Maximilian Emaunel by his French allies.
The war was finally ended in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht which restored Maximilian Emanuel. Only in 1715 was the family re-united in Munich.
Final years in Bavaria
Back in Bavaria, Maximilian Emanuel patronized the arts even more than before. Not only was the Nymphenburg Palace enlarged during his reign but also the new Schleissheim Palace was completed. In 1724 he created a union of all lines of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Maximilian Emanuel founded also in 1726 the Royal Order of Saint George for the Defense of the Immaculate Conception, a dynastic Order of the Royal House of Bavaria.
Sixteen years after Maximilian Emanuel's death in Munich, his son Charles VII Albert finally realized Wittelsbach aspirations when the male Habsburg line became extinct. Based upon his marriage to a daughter of Emperor Joseph I, he was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1742, but he died within three years and the Empire reverted back to the Habsburgs through Francis Stephen of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of Joseph I's younger brother, Charles VI.
Maximilian Emanuel is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich.
Ancestors
Succession
First marriage with Maria Antonia of Austria, daughter of Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor:
Second marriage with Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska of Poland, daughter of John III Sobieski:
- Stillborn child (1695)
- Maria Anna Karoline (1696-1750), since 1720 a nun
- Charles Albert (1697-1745), elector of Bavaria, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, ∞ 1722 Amalia Maria Josepha Anna of Austria (1701-1756)
- Philipp Moritz Maria (1698-1719), elected bishop of Paderborn and Münster
- Ferdinand Maria Innocenz (1699-1738), imperial general
- Clemens August (1700-1761), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Prince Archbishop of Cologne, Bishop of Regensburg, Paderborn, Osnabrück, Hildesheim and Münster
- Wilhelm (1701-1704)
- Alois Johann Adolf (1702-1705)
- Johann Theodor (1703-1763), Cardinal, Prince bishop of Regensburg, Freising and Liege
- Maximilian Emanuel Thomas (1704-1709)
Literature
References
- ^ Spencer, Charles. Blenheim: Battle for Europe. Phoenix (2005). ISBN 0-304-36704-4
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