91-449: Hohenschwangau Castle (German: Schloss Hohenschwangau ) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was built by King Maximilian II of Bavaria , and was the childhood residence of his son, King Ludwig II of Bavaria . It is located in the German village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Füssen , part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria , Germany, very close to
182-472: A floor plan that still today exists. The older Schwangau fortress however continued to fall into ruins. Paumgartner, after having been elevated to the rank of baron, died in 1549 and his sons sold their new castle to Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria . The Wittelsbachs used the castle for bear hunting or as a retreat for agnatic princes. In 1743 it was plundered by Austrian troops. In the German mediatization
273-494: A brief and unexpected illness, King Maximilian died at Munich on 10 March 1864. He is buried in the Theatinerkirche there. Maximilian offered Paul Heyse and other writers from North Germany large stipends. Hans Christian Andersen visited "King Max" (as he called him) in his castle Starnberg , and wrote of him as a young, highly amiable man. The King, having read his novels and fairy tales , let Andersen know that he
364-689: A conservative imperial constitution based on the Prussian three-class electoral system. Ernst August I of Hanover and Friedrich August II of Saxony, however, only heeded the King's request while absolutist Austria was tied up with uprisings in Hungary . Since eight individual German states, including the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg , did not participate in the Erfurt Union from
455-666: A crusade against the ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. In many pieces of correspondence from the period, the Crown Prince wrote about religious experiences using elements of the Pietist revivalist movement, including the subjective experience of God, the power of personal prayer and individual striving for salvation and redemption. Frederick William was a Romanticist , and his devotion to
546-490: A historically legitimate framework, inspired by the ancient laws and customs of the Holy Roman Empire , which had been dissolved under Napoleon in 1806. He was a draftsman interested in both architecture and landscape gardening and was a patron of several great German artists, including architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and composer Felix Mendelssohn . In 1823 he married Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria . Since she
637-454: A journey on foot through his country, which began in Lindau . However, because of frequent rain, he repeatedly had to be carried physically. In government policy, the King repeatedly requested the advice of his ministers and scholarly experts before making a decision, which led to long delays. In addition, King Maximilian often traveled to Italy and Greece, which also led to long delays. After
728-405: A letter dated 13 December 1848, Frederick William stated to the Prussian ambassador to England, Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen : Such an imaginary hoop [the crown] baked from dirt and weeds – should a legitimate king of Prussia be pleased with it? [...] I tell you bluntly: If the thousand-year-old crown of the German nation, which has been dormant for 42 years, is to be awarded once again, it
819-569: A medieval-feudal relationship of loyalty between the Prussian people and the monarch, making the liberal reform of the state along the lines of the French constitutional-parliamentary model superfluous. He believed that he derived his close ties to his people from the divine right of grace, which gave him a "sacred insight into the needs of his subjects". Any restriction of his de facto absolutist power seemed to him to be an irresponsible obstruction of his divinely ordained mission. Frederick William IV
910-446: A mental illness". It is likely that psychopathological abnormalities occurred before the strokes he suffered, making him barely able to perform his government offices. The strokes, which began on 14 July 1857, affected his speech centre. After Prince William 's term acting as deputy for the King had been extended three times, the ailing Frederick William signed a regency charter for him on 7 October 1858, based on an expert opinion from
1001-579: A model for future folklore collectors. Maximilian II responded also to the demands of the people for a united German state by attending the Frankfurt Assembly which intended to create such a state. The progress of the 1848 Revolution, however, gave him pause. The king strenuously opposed the unionist plans of the Frankfurt Parliament , refused to recognize the imperial constitution devised by it and assisted Austria in restoring
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#17327906430881092-569: A moderate policy of easing press censorship, releasing political prisoners and reconciling with the Catholic population of the kingdom. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849 , he was initially forced to accommodate the people's revolutionary sentiments, although he rejected the title of Emperor of the Germans offered by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849, believing that it did not have the right to make such an offer. In December 1848 he dissolved
1183-423: A number of other notable political events during his time on the throne: In his final years, the King was affected by a serious illness, the symptoms of which, from the perspective of the medical knowledge of the era, appeared to be a "mental illness". According to current medical knowledge, Friedrich Wilhelm suffered from a "cerebral vascular disease", a "cerebral arteriosclerosis", which "could not be described as
1274-542: A period in which the European monarchies were confronted with the revolutionary challenge of the French Revolution . By calling the dynastic tradition into question, the execution of Louis XVI in 1793 helped create the conditions for Frederick William's later political orientation towards historical continuity and tradition. Since there was a danger that he and his younger brother William might be captured by
1365-421: A representative of the principle of monarchical legitimacy, he detested the idea of a unilateral taking of power that would have violated the historical rights of other German monarchs. The crown offered by representatives of the people was furthermore unacceptable to Frederick William, whose monarchical self-image was based on the traditional idea of divine right and who rejected the idea of popular sovereignty. In
1456-591: A revolutionary movement throughout Europe. Frederick William IV called for a congress of German states that was to meet in Dresden on 25 March. By discussing reform of the German Confederation , the King hoped to appease the people's revolutionary sentiments, but before he could implement his plans, they were overtaken by the events of the revolution in Berlin. The sound of the fighting could be heard in
1547-465: A royal cradle, his choice would have been to become a professor. As crown prince, in the chateau of Hohenschwangau near Füssen , which he had rebuilt, he gathered about him an intimate society of artists and men of learning and devoted his time to scientific and historical study. The Wittelsbacher Palais was built for Maximilian as a Crown Prince Palace in Munich but was completed only when he ascended
1638-657: Is I and those like me who will award it. King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony provoked an uprising in Dresden in May 1849 by refusing to accept the Frankfurt Constitution. He wrote a letter to the Prussian king urging him to put down the uprising by force. On 5 May 1849, Frederick William sent Prussian troops to Dresden under Colonel Friedrich von Waldersee , who took control of the city on 9 May. Seven hundred revolutionaries were taken prisoner and 250 killed in
1729-448: Is not your job to represent opinions, to want to bring the opinions of the times to the fore. ... That is completely un-German and, beyond that, completely impractical." The majority of the deputies nevertheless did not see themselves as representatives of the estates but of the Prussian people. On 20 April 1847, the parliament sent an address to the King calling for a regular convocation. Laws, they wrote, should only come into force with
1820-534: The Berlin Palace . Although the Berlin barricade battle was one of the most costly incidents of the March Revolution , with 300 casualties among the demonstrators at the hands of Prussian troops, the King rejected any responsibility and instead spread the false report of a foreign conspiracy in his manifesto 'To my dear Berliners': "A gang of villains, mostly consisting of foreigners, ... has become
1911-764: The Federal Convention of the German Confederation to form a national constitutional assembly which would write a new constitution for the Confederation. Elections were held for it on 1 May 1848. Of the 379 members who attended the Frankfurt Parliament 's first session on 18 May, 132 were from Prussia. The Prussian National Assembly rejected the Camphausen government's draft constitution on 20 June 1848. Left-wing forces then began to assert themselves more and more clearly. The words "by
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#17327906430882002-702: The Frankfurt Constitution would have required German-speaking Austria to have a separate constitution, government and administration from the rest of the Empire. On 28 March 1849, the Assembly elected Frederick William IV as Emperor of the Germans, but he refused the crown. In a letter to a confidant, he wrote: "I can call God to witness that I do not want it, for the simple reason that Austria will then be separated from Germany." The exclusion of Austria would have ruined Frederick William IV's vision of
2093-512: The Prussian National Assembly when he found its constitutional proposals too radical. At the urging of his ministry, which wanted to prevent a renewal of unrest, he imposed a constitution with a parliament and a strong monarch. He then used the Prussian military to help put down revolutionary forces throughout the German Confederation . Frederick William IV had an artistic nature and an interest in architecture. He extended
2184-526: The Ruhr region , Silesia and Berlin slowly developed into centres of industrialisation. In spite of his politically backward-looking attitude, Frederick William supported the technological progress brought about by the Industrial Revolution , notably by using government bonds to promote the expansion of the railway network. The rapid industrial growth was accompanied by social tensions to which
2275-539: The Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria, but continued to occupy the castle as Burgraves . In 1521 they became owners again but had to sell their land in 1535. The purchaser, Johann Paumgartner, a wealthy Augsburg merchant, had the lower castle reconstructed by Italian architect Lucio di Spazzi who already worked on the Hofburg, Innsbruck . He kept the exterior walls and the towers but rebuilt the inner parts until 1547, on
2366-538: The federal diet and in carrying out the federal execution in Hesse-Kassel and Holstein . In the aftermath of the failure of the Frankfurt Assembly , Prussia and Austria continued to debate which monarchy had the inherent right to rule Germany. The dispute between Austria and the Electoral Prince of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) was used by Austria and its allies, including Bavaria, to promote
2457-454: The "principle of the estates " that he advocated. The high point of Frederick William's youth was his participation in the campaigns against Napoleon in the Wars of Liberation of 1813/1814 that pushed the French out of Germany. In his experience with war, which showed him to be an indifferent soldier, the boundaries between patriotism and religious fervour became blurred. He saw the conflict as
2548-527: The Bavarian State Parliament recognised the right of the former royal family to reside in the castle. From 1933 to 1939, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and his family used the castle as their summer residence, and it continues to be a favourite residence of his successors, currently his grandson Franz, Duke of Bavaria . In May 1941, Prince Adalbert of Bavaria was purged from the military under Hitler's Prinzenerlass and withdrew to
2639-643: The Bavarian kingdom's alliance with Austria against Prussia. In his German policy, Maximilian was guided by the desire to maintain the union of the princes. During the cold warfare between Austria and Prussia, King Maximilian and his ministers favoured the former, which was a policy enthusiastically supported by the Catholics and the Protestants of the Bavarian Kingdom. Simultaneously, however,
2730-534: The Bavarian peasantry. That was done to promote a separate national identity against Prussian-inspired Pan-Germanism. The King was assisted in that by his Personal Private Secretary, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth . A native of the Oberpfalz region of the Bavarian Kingdom, Schonwerth's work collecting the folklore and traditions of his native district won him the admiration of the Brothers Grimm and made him
2821-583: The Christian estates. He made this clear to the governor of the province of Prussia not long after his coronation: I feel myself [to be king] entirely by the grace of God and will feel that way with His help until the end. Without envy I leave splendour and artifice to so-called constitutional princes, who have become a fiction, an abstract concept to the people through a piece of paper [a constitution]. As his alternative to parliamentary-style popular legislatures, Frederick William IV focussed his attention on
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2912-527: The Erfurt Union in the Prussian government, Austria was able to revive the German Confederation, which had been inactive since the 1848 revolutions. In the Punctation of Olmütz , Prussia declared its willingness to return to the German Confederation without Austria having assured it of legal equality in the leadership of the Confederation. In addition to the 1848 revolution and the constitutional question that dominated Frederick William IV's reign, there were
3003-571: The French after the Prussians lost the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October 1806, they were taken to Königsberg in East Prussia on 17 October 1806. After their parents arrived on 9 December 1806, they fled together from the advancing troops to Memel . After Prussia's defeat and the family's return to Berlin, Frederick William's education was adapted more to prepare him for governing. He
3094-520: The King and his Ministers also attempted to preserve Bavaria's independence by trying to play both powers against each other. That policy continued under his son, King Ludwig II. In 1863, however, the King supported the project of reform proposed by Austria at the Frankfurt Fürstentag [ de ] . Attempts by Austria to reorganise the loose and entirely-decentralised German Confederation were opposed by Prussia and therefore
3185-699: The King did not respond with any significant policies beyond donations to private social associations. In 1844, for example, he provided the Association for the Welfare of the Working Class with 15,000 thalers. The next year he issued a General Prussian Industrial Code that included a ban on strikes and prison sentences of up to a year for conspiring to encourage one. The overthrow of the French July Monarchy on 24 February 1848 triggered
3276-429: The King out of his short-term plans to abdicate. Otto von Bismarck , the future chancellor of a united Germany, joined the group towards the end of 1848. The second United Parliament called by Frederick William on 2 April 1848 announced elections to form a Prussian National Assembly , which convened in Berlin on 22 May. Frederick William IV submitted a draft constitution in which the balance of power continued to favour
3367-618: The Provincial Estates, the representative bodies of the eight Prussian provinces, which had been founded in 1823. In 1847 he summoned all representatives of the Prussian provincial parliaments to Berlin. He was prepared to give the United Parliament the right to discuss the financing of railways, canals and roads – specifically a request for a 25 million thaler bond for building the Berlin to Königsberg railway. He did not want to levy new taxes or take out loans without
3458-746: The Prussian state treasury. For negotiations with the Roman Curia , the King announced in June 1840 that within the Ministry of Culture he would set up a department for Catholic affairs which was to consist exclusively of Catholic councillors. With the founding of the Protestant Church in Prussia in 1817, in which Calvinists and Lutherans were united, Friedrich Wilhelm's father had created an institution for all Protestants in his kingdom that
3549-406: The United Parliament's consent, envisioning that their approval would not restrict his power but strengthen it by eliminating future constitutional demands. In his opening speech, Frederick William reiterated that he did not want a "piece of paper" to come between himself and the people and replace the "old, sacred loyalty with it". He told the deputies of the limits he saw on their duties: "... it
3640-525: The advice of Alexander von Humboldt , he founded the separate civil class of the Pour le Merite , the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts ( Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste ). The civil order is still being awarded today. Frederick William IV's accession to the throne came with great expectations among liberals and nationalists. By beginning his reign with a policy of reconciliation,
3731-766: The architect Eduard Riedel to redesign Berg Castle in neo-gothic style with several towers and a crenellate. Maximilian II was the principal of the Maximilianstrasse and the Bavarian National Museum in Munich. Compared to his father, Maximilian preferred a new architectural style with strong reference to the Gothic Revival architecture which would combine the best features of historical models combined with then modern building technology. The neo-gothic Royal Mansion in Regensburg
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3822-654: The architects – included the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) and the Neues Museum in Berlin, the Orangery Palace at Potsdam as well as the reconstruction of Stolzenfels Castle on the Rhine and Hohenzollern Castle , in the ancestral homelands of the dynasty which became part of Prussia in 1850. He also enlarged and redecorated his father's Erdmannsdorf manor house. In 1842, on
3913-535: The border with Austria . The fortress Schwangau (literally translated the Swan District ), which was first mentioned in historical records dating from the 12th century, stood high up on a rock on the site of the present 19th-century Neuschwanstein castle. The knights, later counts of Schwangau, were ministeriales of the Welfs . Hiltbolt von Schwangau (1195–1254) was a minnesinger . Margareta von Schwangau
4004-761: The building ensembles of the Berlin-Potsdam Residence Landscape , Museum Island , and the cultural landscape of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, and he supported the completion of the Cologne Cathedral . All are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites . From 1857 to 1861, he suffered several strokes and was left incapacitated until his death. His brother and heir-presumptive William served as regent after 1858 and then succeeded him as king. Born to Frederick William III and his wife Queen Louise , Frederick William
4095-486: The castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor during the summer months. King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau, however mostly in the absence of his disliked mother, especially after 1869 when the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein , began on the site of the old Schwangau fortress, high above his parents' castle. After Ludwig's death in 1886, Queen Marie
4186-478: The city wearing a black, red and gold armband – the colours of the revolution – and had an officer dressed in civilian clothes carry a similarly coloured flag in front of him. The King repeatedly stopped to make improvised speeches to affirm his alleged support for German unity. The next day he secretly wrote to his brother William: "I had to voluntarily raise the Reich colours yesterday in order to save everything. If
4277-422: The consent of the United Parliament. Discrimination based on the estates should be abolished and the citizenry guaranteed legal protection against arbitrary measures by the state. If their demands were not fulfilled, they concluded, the parliament would be forced to reject the King's spending plans. Frederick William stopped attending parliamentary sessions and on 26 June 1847 dissolved the United Parliament. With
4368-497: The constitution with the King's cooperation, and on 31 January 1850, the Constitution of 1850 was promulgated. The Parliament had two chambers – an aristocratic upper house and a lower house elected by all male Prussians over 25 years of age using a three-class franchise that weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid, with the result that the wealthy had far more influence than the poor. The constitution reserved to
4459-574: The county of Schwangau became officially a part of the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803. King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria sold the castle in 1820. Only in 1832 his grandson Maximilian II of Bavaria , then crown prince, bought it back. In April 1829, he had discovered the historic site during a walking tour and reacted enthusiastically to the beauty of the surrounding area. He acquired the dilapidated building – then still known as Schwanstein – in 1832, abandoning his father's wish that he should move into
4550-408: The courtiers who had belonged to Frederick William IV's camarilla. On 24 November 1859, the king suffered a stroke that paralysed his left side. Since he was no longer able to be transported, the court remained at Sanssouci . On 4 November 1860, he lost consciousness after another stroke, and on 2 January 1861 he died. In accordance with his testamentary instructions from 1854, the King was buried in
4641-711: The death of his father in 1840. Through a personal union , he was also the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1840–1857), which at the same time was a canton in the Swiss Confederation and the only one that was a principality. In 1842, he gave his father's menagerie at Pfaueninsel to the new Berlin Zoo , which opened its gates in 1844 as the first of its kind in Germany. Other projects during his reign – often involving his close collaboration with
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#17327906430884732-477: The eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia , was king of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the " romanticist on the throne", he was deeply religious and believed that he ruled by divine right. He feared revolutions, and his ideal state was one governed by the Christian estates of the realm rather than a constitutional monarchy. In spite of his conservative political philosophy, he initially pursued
4823-586: The failure of the First United Parliament, the government not only lost its ability to act on fiscal policy – the Prussian National Debt Act of January 1820 stipulating that the government could only take on new debt if it was co-guaranteed by the "imperial estates" remained in force – but also faced increased doubts within Prussia about the legitimacy of the existing state order. During the reign of Frederick William IV,
4914-665: The family castle Hohenschwangau, where he lived for the rest of the war. More than 300,000 visitors from all over the world visit the palace each year. The castle is open all through the year (except for Christmas). Opening hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (April through September) and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (October through March). Guided tours are provided in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Czech, Slovenian, and Japanese. Self-guided tours are not available. Maximilian II of Bavaria Maximilian II (28 November 1811 – 10 March 1864) reigned as King of Bavaria between 1848 and 1864. Unlike his father, King Ludwig I , "King Max"
5005-597: The fighting. The suppression of the uprising in Saxony strengthened Prussia's negotiating position in its attempt to establish a united German federal state of princes under Prussian leadership. The basis for the union was the Three Kings' Alliance of 26 May 1849 between Prussia, the Kingdom of Saxony and the Kingdom of Hanover . The three monarchs committed themselves for a period of one year to work together to realise
5096-509: The gamble is successful ... I will take them down again!" On 29 March 1848, Frederick William appointed a liberal government led by Minister President Ludolf Camphausen and Finance Minister David Hansemann . The following day, the King founded a secret secondary cabinet, the ministre occulte , as a counter to Camphausen's government. The courtly interest group, which included General Leopold von Gerlach , his brother Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach and Count Anton of Stolberg-Wernigerode , talked
5187-453: The ghastly author of bloodshed." On 21 March 1848, the King, or rather his camarilla , initiated an apparent change of course by placing Frederick William IV at the head of the revolution, whereas the truth was that he lacked the means to pursue a policy independent of the citizens' movement. The King announced that he would support the formation of an all-German parliament, one of the revolution's key demands. On 21 March 1848, he rode through
5278-490: The grace of God" were removed from the draft on 12 October, openly calling into question the divine right of kings . The break with the crown culminated on 31 October when the Assembly abolished nobility, titles and privileges. Frederick William IV then launched a political counterattack. On 1 November he appointed his uncle Frederick William of Brandenburg , who came from the conservative military camp, as minister president of Prussia. Unlike previous minister presidents during
5369-725: The history of Schwangau, as well as medieval German romances such as Parzival and the story of Lohengrin , the Knight of the Swan , on which Richard Wagner later based his operas Lohengrin of 1848 and Parsifal of 1882, sponsored by Ludwig II who had grown up with these stories at Hohenschwangau. Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia , and their two sons Ludwig (the later King Ludwig II of Bavaria ) and Otto (the later King Otto I of Bavaria ). The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here. Queen Marie who loved to hike in
5460-464: The isolation of Prussia in German political affairs. That diplomatic insult almost led to war when Austria, Bavaria and other allies moved troops through Bavaria towards Hesse-Kassel in 1850. However, the Prussian Army backed down and accepted the principle of dual leadership. The event was known as the Punctation of Olmütz but also as the "Humiliation of Olmütz" by Prussia. The event solidified
5551-458: The king the power of appointing all ministers, re-established the conservative district assemblies and provincial diets and guaranteed that the civil service and the military remained firmly under control of the king. It also contained a number of liberal elements such as jury courts and a catalogue of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and the press. It was a more liberal system than had existed in Prussia before 1848, but it
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#17327906430885642-405: The king's dominant position in the state. It stipulated that the army and bureaucracy were answerable to the king and not the National Assembly. It also enshrined his view that he was "King by the grace of God" and that the constitution was merely an "agreement between the crown and the people". At the beginning of April, a national pre-parliament sitting at Frankfurt-am-Main decided to work with
5733-400: The majority refused to comply, the King ordered General Friedrich von Wrangel to march through the Brandenburg Gate at the head of 13,000 soldiers and sixty guns. That Wrangel met with no resistance was due in part to the disillusionment of the craftsmen and industrial workers with the revolution. It had done nothing to change their economic hardship, which had led to isolated riots. Although
5824-480: The middle and upper classes sympathised with the workers, they did not want a violent social upheaval and sided with the King. On 5 December the King dissolved the Prussian National Assembly and imposed the Constitution of 1848 . Although Frederick William IV personally opposed the idea of introducing a constitution, the majority of his ministry urged him to take the step in order to prevent protests from flaring up again. The first Parliament of Prussia then modified
5915-418: The mountains created an alpine garden with plants gathered from all over the alps. The King and the Queen lived in the main building, and the boys in the annex. The Queen's cousin, Frederick William IV of Prussia , had Stolzenfels Castle on the Rhine rebuilt at the same time in the Gothic Revival style. King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father's room in
6006-484: The movement, which in the German states featured nostalgia for the Middle Ages , played a part in his developing a conservative worldview at an early age. In 1815, when he was twenty, the Crown Prince exerted his influence to structure the proposed new constitution of 1815, which was never enacted, in such a way that the landed aristocracy would hold the greatest power. He was against the liberalisation of Germany and aspired to unify its many states within what he viewed as
6097-475: The new king fulfilled their hopes during his first six months on the throne. Through an amnesty enacted on 10 August 1840, all "political criminals" were released, politically motivated investigations and court proceedings were discontinued, and press censorship was eased. As a result of the concessions, liberals initially overlooked the fact that Frederick William IV was not of one mind with them. The King intended his policy of reconciliation to restore trust in
6188-488: The old castle (Hohes Schloss) in the nearby town of Füssen . In February 1833, the reconstruction of the castle began, continuing until 1837, with additions up to 1855. The architect in charge, Domenico Quaglio , was responsible for the neogothic style of the exterior design. He died in 1837 and the task was continued by Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller (died 1839) and Georg Friedrich Ziebland. More than 90 wall paintings (by such artists as Lorenzo Quaglio and Michael Neher ) represent
6279-473: The other German princes did not act on the reform proposals. The failure of those plans and the attitude of the Austrian Court towards the Confederation and the Schleswig-Holstein Question disillusioned King Maximilian. The last days of his reign were spent attempting to deal with the new situation created by the outbreak of the war with Denmark. In the summers of 1849 and 1855, King Maximilian travelled his kingdom. Between 24 June and 27 July 1858, he undertook
6370-427: The outset, Frederick William IV began to lose interest in the project. By the winter of 1849, the Kingdoms of Hanover and Saxony had withdrawn their consent as well. In contrast to Prussia, Austria wanted to restore the German Confederation and opposed Prussia's Erfurt Union plans. Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria and Württemberg sided with Austria in the Four Kings' Alliance . With the backing of the conservative opponents of
6461-415: The renewal of a Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , of which Austria had been part for centuries. Accepting the imperial dignity would also have meant an open foreign policy snub of Austria and probably have provoked a war. Even more important was the fact that, in the King's opinion, the imperial dignity could only be conferred by the princes or a college of electors, as had been the case until 1806. As
6552-573: The revolutionary period, Brandenburg was closer to the King than to the National Assembly. The National Assembly sent 25 deputies to the King on 2 November to protest against Brandenburg's appointment. He cancelled the audience after the deputies had read out their request. Under the pretext of removing the National Assembly from the pressure of the Berlin streets, the King told the deputies that they would be moved to Brandenburg an der Havel on 9 November and adjourned until 27 November. After
6643-563: The royal personal physicians. The charter included the formal possibility of a resumption of official duties. The signing of the Regency Charter heralded the New Era in Prussia, marking the end of Frederick William IV's idea of government. Prince Regent William dismissed the reactionary minister president Otto von Manteuffel and recruited Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from the liberal-nationalist camp. He also dismissed
6734-441: The so-called " Ultramontanes ". In his attempts to transform Bavaria into a centre of culture, education, and the arts, he enraged conservative Catholics and Protestants by inviting a number of celebrated men of learning (such as Geibel , Liebig , Heyse and Sybel ) to Munich , regardless of their religious views. Devoted to his family and his people, the King also financed studies of the art, costumes, dialects and customs of
6825-608: The throne. When the abdication of Ludwig I (20 March 1848) called him suddenly to the throne, his choice of ministers promised a liberal regime. In 1849 an uprising in the Bavarian Palatinate was broken down with the support of the Prussian Army . Though from 1850 onwards his government tended in the direction of absolute monarchy , King Maximilian steered a moderate course between the extremes of classical liberalism , Prussian-inspired Pan-Germanism, and
6916-403: The view of the "political romantics", the structure of the estates took the natural inequality of man into account. Individuals should fulfil the tasks and duties that serve the good of society as a whole in the place assigned to them by God. In the Prussian constitutional question, Frederick William IV was not striving for the realisation of a constitutional monarchy but rather a state governed by
7007-418: Was a Roman Catholic, the preparations for the marriage included difficult negotiations which ended with her conversion to Lutheranism . There were two wedding ceremonies – one in Munich by proxy according to the Catholic rite, and the other in person in Berlin. The couple had a harmonious marriage, but after Louise had a miscarriage in 1828, it remained childless. Frederick William became king of Prussia on
7098-402: Was born in Munich and was the eldest son of the Crown Prince of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) and his wife Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen . After studying at Göttingen and Berlin and travelling in Germany, Italy and Greece, he was introduced by his father into the council of state (1836). From the first, he showed a studious disposition and declared on one occasion that had he not been born in
7189-720: Was built for Maximilian 1854–1856, the Royal Mansion in Berchtesgaden and the Royal Villa on Rose Island already in 1853. The hiking path in Upper Bavaria called Maximiliansweg is named after him, as he made a longer hike in the Bavaria alps in the summer of 1858. The Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art was first established on 28 November 1853 by King Maximilian II. While king, Maximilian
7280-548: Was deeply impressed by The Improvisatore , En Digters Bazar , The Little Mermaid and Paradisets Have . During the visit Andersen also read The Ugly Duckling . Later Andersen visited the King at the Schloss Hohenschwangau . Next to Hohenschwangau Castle also the Hambach Castle was reconstructed from 1844 for Crown Prince Maximilian by August von Voit . In 1849 King Maximilian II instructed
7371-498: Was deeply religious. Influenced by Romanticism and the Pietist revivalist movement, he envisioned a Christian state and believed that only Christianity could protect his subjects from revolutionary utopias and reverse the secularisation, growing materialism and other processes of modernisation that he considered harmful. For Friedrich Wilhelm, religion and politics were inextricably linked. In contrast to his father, Frederick William
7462-494: Was directly dependent on the sovereign as the summus episcopus (high bishop). In response, the Old Lutherans formed their own church in 1830, claiming to represent the "true" Lutheran Church, and were consequently subjected to state persecution. In 1845 Frederick William lifted the ban on the formation of Old Lutheran churches and released imprisoned pastors. As part of his policy of reconciliation, Frederick William IV
7553-489: Was generally dismissive of the Prussian reforms that were then underway with the aim of modernising the state from within. His tutor Friedrich Delbrück had instilled in him a disgust of revolutionaries, so that he had no sympathy for Karl August von Hardenberg 's insistence that Prussia be reorganised through a "revolution from above". For Friedrich Wilhelm, the "bureaucratic absolutism of a Hardenberg" meant moving away from
7644-609: Was hampered by constant ill health which often compelled him to travel abroad and, when at home, to live much of the time in the countryside. The relationship with his father, who had persisted in his architectural projects even after his abdication, was mostly tense. By his wife, Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig , daughter of Prince William of Prussia , who he married in 1842, he had two sons: Both of his sons became king, were declared insane, and deposed. Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV ( German : Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861),
7735-457: Was his mother's favourite son. He was educated by private tutors, including the historian and statesman Friedrich Ancillon . When Queen Louise died in 1810 when Frederick William was 14, he saw it as a punishment from God and linked it directly to his outlook on life. He believed that only by leading a life more pleasing to God would he be able to absolve himself of the guilt he felt for her death. Frederick William's early childhood fell during
7826-413: Was interested in finding a solution to the question of a constitution for Prussia. At the core of his political philosophy was the doctrine of the organic nation of the estates of the realm , which was based on philosophers such as Friedrich Schlegel , who wrote in 1805: "The only lasting constitution is the monarchy of the estates, tempered by priests and nobility, and it is also the oldest and best." In
7917-571: Was still a conservative form of government in which the monarch, the aristocracy, and the military retained most of the power. The constitution of 1850 remained in effect, with numerous amendments, until the dissolution of the Prussian kingdom in 1918. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria had made it clear in November 1848 that he would not accept the title of "Emperor of the Germans" from the Frankfurt National Assembly because
8008-566: Was sympathetic to Catholicism. Under Frederick William III in 1825, the Archbishop of Cologne was arrested in a conflict over the law on mixed marriages. In order to reconcile with the Catholic population, Frederick William IV authorised the founding of the Cologne Cathedral Building Association in 1840 to promote and finance the completion of the Cologne Cathedral . Half of the funding for it came from
8099-431: Was the castle's only resident until she in turn died in 1889. Her brother-in-law, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria , lived on the 3rd floor of the main building. He was responsible for the electrification in 1905 and the installation of an electric elevator. Luitpold died in 1912 and the palace was opened as a museum during the following year. During World War I and World War II , the castle suffered no damage. In 1923,
8190-455: Was the wife of minnesinger Oswald von Wolkenstein . The present day Hohenschwangau ("Upper Schwangau") castle was first mentioned in 1397, though under the name of Schwanstein . Only in the 19th century the names of the two castles have switched. It was built on a hill above lake Alpsee, below the older fortress. Between 1440 and 1521 the Lords had to sell their fief with Imperial immediacy to
8281-497: Was very popular and took a greater interest in the business of Government than in personal extravagance. Ascending the throne during the German Revolution of 1848 , King Maximilian restored stability in his kingdom. The rest of his reign was characterized by attempts to maintain Bavarian independence during the wars of German Unification and to transform his capital city of Munich into a cultural and educational city. He
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