Ludwig I. König von Bayern
(25.08.1786 - 29.02.1868)
place of birth:  Straßburg, Elsaß  (Alsace)
Königreich Bayern:  Seine Majestät der König

                            

Ludwig I. of the House of Wittelsbach succeeded his father Maximilian I. as King of Bavaria, reigning from 1825 through 1848. Ludwig, who was near deaf, married Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen in October of 1810, an event which signified the first Oktoberfest in Munich. Even though personally opposed to his father's alliance with Napoleon I., as crown prince and commander of Bavaria's 1st Infantry Division, Ludwig had to serve under Marshal Lefebvre during the French Emperor's Wars. Later however, Ludwig enthusiastically backed Bavaria's decision to declare war on France when it joined the Sixth Coalition in 1813. 

Ludwig I. ascended the throne upon his father's death in 1825. His reign was characterized by his passion for history and the arts. He had Bavaria's administrative regions reorganized and reintroduced his kingdom's former regional names of Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria), Franken (Franconia), Schwaben (Swabia), and Pfalz (Palatinate). He also established the town of Ludwigshafen along the west bank of the Rhine. Ludwig likewise supported commercial enterprises which would lead to Bavaria's industrial modernization, including the first German railway, between Fürth and Nürnberg, the Ludwig Canal connecting the Danube and Main. Bavaria also joined the German Custom's Union, der Zollverein, in 1834. All was not perfect, however, as when he decreed a new beer tax in 1844, the resulting riots - the Beer Riots - forced him to restore civil order by having the price of beer reduced. Four more years of unrest in the Kingdom culminated in the so-called March Proclamation and numerous concessions. He ultimately decided not to rule as a constitutional monarch and thus abdicated on 20 March, leaving the throne to his eldest son Maximilian. The King lived for twenty more years, passing away in Nice, France in 1868.

	König von Bayern	13.10.1825  -  20.03.1848
	Schwarzer Adler-Orden