Duke Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria (4 December 1808 – 15 November 1888), known informally as Max in Bayern, was a member of a junior branch of the royal

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

who were Kings of Bavaria, and a promoter of Bavarian folk-music. He is most famous today as the father of Empress Elisabeth of Austria ("Sisi") and great-grandfather of King

Leopold III of Belgium Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invas ...

Life

Maximilian Joseph was born at

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castl ...

, the only son of

Duke Pius August in Bavaria Duke ''Pius August'' in Bavaria, full German name: ''Pius August Herzog in Bayern'' (born 1 August 1786 in Landshut, Electorate of Bavaria; died 3 August 1837 in Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria) was a Duke in Bavaria as a member of the Palatine Bir ...

(1786–1837) and his wife,

Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg , image = Amalie Luise von Arenberg, Herzogin in Bayern.jpg , caption = , spouse = , issue = Duke Maximilian Joseph , house = Arenberg , father = Prince Louis of Arenberg , mother = Marie de Ma ...

(1789-1823). On 9 September 1828, at Tegernsee, Maximilian Joseph married

Princess Ludovika of Bavaria Princess Ludovika of Bavaria (Marie Ludovika Wilhelmine; ''Mary Louise Wilhelmina''; 30 August 1808 – 25 January 1892) was the sixth child of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline of Baden, and the mother of Empress ...

, the sixth daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, his father's cousin. They had ten children. In 1834 he purchased

Possenhofen Castle Possenhofen Castle (german: Schloss Possenhofen) is located in the town of Possenhofen on the western shore of Lake Starnberg in Bavaria, Germany. History The castle was built in 1536 by Jakob Rosenbusch, was destroyed during the Thirty Year ...

Lake Starnberg Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm, or ''Würmsee'' , until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area. It and its surroundings lie in three different Ba ...

; this was his major residence for the rest of his life. In 1838 he acquired Unterwittelsbach Castle (today housing a "Sisi" museum) near the site of

Burg Wittelsbach Wittelsbach Castle (german: Burg Wittelsbach) was a castle near Aichach in today's Bavarian Swabia. The castle was first mentioned around the year 1000. In 1119, Otto IV, Count of Scheyern moved into the castle of Wittelsbach and converted h ...

, the

ancestral seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families to ...

of the

. Maximilian Joseph died in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. He and his wife are buried in the family crypt in Tegernsee Abbey, a former monastery which Ludovika's father, King Maximilian I Joseph, had acquired in 1817. At the same time of the

secularisation In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

, Duke Maximilian Joseph's grandfather Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria had also purchased a former monastery, Banz Abbey. Both properties, Tegernsee and Banz, are still today owned by

Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria Max-Emanuel Ludwig Maria Herzog in Bayern (sometimes styled Prince Max of Bavaria, Duke in Bavaria; born 21 January 1937) as the younger son of Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, is the heir presumptive to both the headship of the former Bavarian royal ...

. File:Schloss Possenhofen 2010 2.JPG,

File:Schloss Unterwittelsbach.jpg, Unterwittelsbach Castle File:Schloss Tegernsee.jpg, Tegernsee Abbey File:München Ludwigstraße 13 Bundesbank.jpg, The house of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Munich

Middle East trip

In 1838 Maximilian Joseph travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

and Palestine. He published an account of this trip: ''Wanderung nach dem Orient im Jahre 1838'' (München: Georg Franz, 1839; reprinted Pfaffenhofen: Ludwig, 1978). While climbing the

Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ...

, he arranged for his servants to

yodel Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from th ...

as if he were climbing in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. He collected a number of antiquities which he brought back to Bavaria and displayed in his father's home, Banz Abbey; they can still be seen there today. Among the items are the mummy of a young woman, three mummies' heads, several animal mummies, shawabtis, and several stones from tombs or temples including one from the

Temple of Dendur The Temple of Dendur (Dendoor in the 19th century) is a Roman Egyptian religious structure originally located in Tuzis (later Dendur), Nubia about south of modern Aswan. Around 23 BCE, Emperor Augustus commissioned the temple dedicated to the E ...

. He also bought some children in the

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

slave market and later freed them. When Maximilian Joseph was in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, he paid for the restoration of the

Church of the Flagellation The Church of the Flagellation is a Roman Catholic church and Christian pilgrimage site located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, near St. Stephen's Gate (also called Lions' Gate). It is part a Franciscan monastery which als ...

on the Via Dolorosa.

Folk-music

Maximilian Joseph was one of the most prominent promoters of Bavarian folk-music in the 19th century. Under his influence the

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat ...

started to be used in court circles and eventually became identified as the national musical instrument of Bavaria. Because of his interest he received the nickname ''Zither-Maxl''. He himself played the zither and also composed music for it. During a visit by his cousin

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 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 ...

, Ludwig saw some sheet music on Maximilian Joseph's piano by the composer

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, which led on to Ludwig's financial support for Wagner from 1863. Maximilian Joseph's musical compositions have been collected in the work: ''Die im Druck erschienenen Kompositionen von Herzog Maximilian in Bayern: Ländler, Walzer, Polka, Schottisch, Mazurka, Quadrillen und Märsche für Pianoforte, Zither, Gitarre oder Streichinstrumente'' (München: Musikverlag Emil Katzbichler, 1992).

Issue

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations: * : Knight of the Order of Saint Hubert * : Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Ludwig, ''26 November 1849'' *

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

: Knight of the

Order of the Black Eagle The Order of the Black Eagle (german: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler) was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I, King i ...

, ''20 November 1841'' * : Knight of the

Order of the Rue Crown The Order of the Rue Crown (german: Hausorden der Rautenkrone) or Order of the Crown of Saxony was a dynastic order of knighthood of the Kingdom of Saxony. The order takes its name from the green floral crown of rue ('' crancelin'') found in th ...

, ''1864'' * : ** Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen, ''1853'' ** Knight of the Distinguished

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriag ...

, ''1854'' *

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label= Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, wh ...

: Grand Cross of the

Order of the Redeemer The Order of the Redeemer ( el, Τάγμα του Σωτήρος, translit=Tágma tou Sotíros), also known as the Order of the Saviour, is an order of merit of Greece. The Order of the Redeemer is the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the ...

* : Grand Cross of the Illustrious Royal Order of Saint Ferdinand and Merit

Ancestry

Notes

Bibliography

* Dreyer, Aloys. ''Herzog Maximilian in Bayern, der erlauchte Freund und Förderer des Zitherspiels und der Gebirgspoesie''. München: Lindauer, 1909. * Damien Bilteryst, Olivier Defrance, Joseph van Loon: ''Les Biederstein, cousins oubliés de la reine Élisabeth, années 1875-1906''. Museum Dynasticum, Bruxelles, XXXIV/1 2022. * See also parts of ''Furst und Arzt : Dr. med. Herzog Carl Theodor in Bayern : Schicksal zwischen Wittelsbach und Habsburg'' by Richard Sexau, a biography of his son Karl Theodor (Styria Verlag, Graz, 1963)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maximilian Joseph In Bavaria, Duke 1808 births 1888 deaths 19th-century German people People from Bamberg House of Wittelsbach Members of the Bavarian Reichsrat Dukes in Bavaria German hunters Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Great Pyramid of Giza