Palatinate branch : (extant)
131-554: Löwenstein : (morganatic, extant) The House of Wittelsbach ( German : Haus Wittelsbach ) is a former Bavarian dynasty , with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria , the Electoral Palatinate , the Electorate of Cologne , Holland , Zeeland , Sweden (with Swedish-ruled Finland ), Denmark, Norway, Hungary , Bohemia , and Greece . Their ancestral lands of Bavaria and
262-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
393-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
524-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
655-645: A franchise was granted to only the most eminent bishops and noblemen, and according to the Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Emperor Charles IV only the seven Prince-electors had the right to participate in a majority voting as determined by the 1338 Declaration of Rhense . They were the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz , Trier and Cologne as well as the King of Bohemia , the Count Palatine of
786-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
917-935: A member of the Bavarian branch. As a result, the Upper Palatinate had to be ceded to the Bavarian branch in 1623, along with the Imperial office of Arch-Steward. When the Thirty Years' War concluded with the Treaty of Münster (also called the Peace of Westphalia ) in 1648, a new additional electorate was created for the Count Palatine of the Rhine, along with the new office of Imperial Arch-Treasurer. During their exile Frederick's sons, especially Prince Rupert of
1048-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1179-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1310-606: A position that his younger brother Duke Max Emanuel in Bavaria , has since taken over, through which the House of Wittelsbach still maintains a connection to one of its former main territories, the Electoral Palatinate . With Duke Otto III of Lower Bavaria , who was a maternal grandson of Béla IV of Hungary and was elected anti-king of Hungary and Croatia as Bela V (1305–1308) the Wittelsbach dynasty came to power outside
1441-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
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#17327728823261572-566: A six-year-old minor, had been elected to rule the Empire in 1056 he adopted Romanorum Rex as a title to emphasize his sacred entitlement to be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the derogatory term Teutonicorum Rex ("King of the Germans") in order to imply that Henry's authority was merely local and did not extend over the whole Empire. Henry continued to regularly use
1703-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
1834-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1965-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
2096-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
2227-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2358-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2489-475: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
2620-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2751-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
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#17327728823262882-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
3013-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3144-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
3275-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
3406-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
3537-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
3668-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
3799-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
3930-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
4061-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
House of Wittelsbach - Misplaced Pages Continue
4192-589: The German Empire was formed in 1871, Bavaria became the new empire's second most powerful state after Prussia. The Wittelsbachs reigned as kings of Bavaria until the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . On 12 November 1918 Ludwig III issued the Anif declaration (German: Anifer Erklärung ) at Anif Palace in Austria, in which he released his soldiers and officials from their oath of loyalty to him and ended
4323-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4454-688: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
4585-614: The Holy Roman Empire for the first time. Otto had abdicated the Hungarian throne by 1308. The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded non- Protestants from inheriting the throne of Great Britain , making Sophia of Hanover , a born princess of the House of Palatinate-Simmern , the heir presumptive upon Anne's death. Sophia died two months before Anne, however, and Sophia's eldest son George I of Great Britain succeeded
4716-660: The House of Luxembourg . On Duke Albert's death in 1404, he was succeeded in the Netherlands by his eldest son, William . A younger son, John III , became Prince- Bishop of Liège . However, on William's death in 1417, a war of succession broke out between John and William's daughter Jacqueline of Hainaut . This last episode of the Hook and Cod wars finally left the counties in Burgundian hands in 1433. Emperor Louis IV had reunited Bavaria in 1340 but from 1349 onwards Bavaria
4847-560: The Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy . Finally, he would travel to Rome and be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Because it was rarely possible for the elected King to proceed immediately to Rome for his crowning, several years might elapse between election and coronation, and some Kings never completed the journey to Rome at all. As a suitable title for the King between his election and his coronation as Emperor, Romanorum Rex would stress
4978-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
5109-809: The Ottonian period , it was King of the Franks (German: König der Franken , Latin: Rex Francorum ), from the late Salian period it was King of the Romans (German: König der Römer , Lat.: Rex Romanorum ). In the Modern Period, the title King in Germania (German: König in Germanien , Lat.: Germaniae Rex ) came into use. Finally, modern German historiography established the term Roman-German King ( Römisch-deutscher König ) to differentiate it both from
5240-703: The Palatinate were prince-electorates , and the family had three of its members elected emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire . They ruled over the Kingdom of Bavaria which was created in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. The House of Windsor , the reigning royal house of the British monarchy , are descendants of Sophia of Hanover (1630–1714), a Wittelsbach Princess of the Palatinate by birth and Electress of Hanover by marriage, who had inherited
5371-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
House of Wittelsbach - Misplaced Pages Continue
5502-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
5633-560: The Treaty of Pavia , Emperor Louis IV granted the Palatinate including the Bavarian Upper Palatinate to his brother Duke Rudolf's descendants, Rudolf II , Rupert I and Rupert II . Rudolf I in this way became the ancestor of the older (Palatinate) line of the Wittelsbach dynasty, which returned to power also in Bavaria in 1777 after the extinction of the younger (Bavarian) line, the descendants of Louis IV. Through
5764-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
5895-413: The Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. His six sons succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria and Count of Holland and Hainaut in 1347. The Wittelsbachs lost the Tyrol with the death of Duke Meinhard and the following Peace of Schärding – the Tyrol was finally renounced to the Habsburgs in 1369. In 1373 Otto , the last Wittelsbach regent of Brandenburg, released the country to
6026-425: The War of the Jülich succession broke out, ended by the 1614 Treaty of Xanten , which divided the separate duchies between Palatinate-Neuburg and the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Jülich and Berg fell to the Wittelsbach Count Palatine Wolfgang William of Neuburg . In 1619, the Protestant Frederick V, Elector Palatine became King of Bohemia but was defeated by the Catholic Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria ,
6157-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
6288-406: The 738-year rule of the House of Wittelsbach in Bavaria. The republican movement thereupon declared a republic. Before and during the Second World War , the Wittelsbachs were anti-Nazi. Crown Prince Rupert had earned Hitler 's eternal enmity by opposing the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. In 1933, shortly after Hitler's rise to power , he protested against the appointment of governors at the head of
6419-417: The Bavarian dukes became leaders of the German Counter-Reformation . From 1583 to 1761, the Bavarian branch of the dynasty provided the Prince-electors and Archbishops of Cologne and many other bishops of the Holy Roman Empire, namely Liège (1581–1763). Wittelsbach princes served at times as Bishops of Regensburg , Freising , Münster , Hildesheim , Paderborn and Osnabrück , and as Grand Master of
6550-421: The Bavarian prince Clement . In the imperial election a few days later Charles III Philip voted for his Bavarian cousin Prince-Elector Charles Albert . After extinction of the Neuburg branch in 1742, the Palatinate was inherited by Duke Charles Theodore of the branch Palatinate-Sulzbach . After the extinction of the Bavarian branch in 1777, a succession dispute and the brief War of the Bavarian Succession ,
6681-429: The Counts of Scheyern are unclear. Some speculative theories link them to Margrave Henry of Schweinfurt and his father Berthold , whose background is also disputed. Some speculate that the Schweinfurters may be descendants of the Luitpolding dynasty, the Bavarian dukes of the 10th century. The Wittelsbach Conrad of Scheyern-Dachau , a great-grandson of Otto I, Count of Scheyern, became Duke of Merania in 1153 and
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#17327728823266812-419: The Electoral residence moved to Düsseldorf in Berg. His brother and successor Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine moved the Palatinate's capital back to Heidelberg in 1718 and then to Mannheim in 1720. To strengthen the union of all lines of the Wittelsbach dynasty Charles Philip organized a wedding on 17 January 1742 when his granddaughters were married to Charles Theodore of Palatinate-Sulzbach and to
6943-405: The Empire and also as Elector-Archbishop-Electors of Mainz and Archbishop-Electors of Trier . After the death of the Wittelsbach king Rupert of Germany in 1410 the Palatinate lands began to split under numerous branches of the family such as Neumarkt , Simmern , Zweibrücken , Birkenfeld , Neuburg and Sulzbach . When the senior branch of the Palatinate branch died out in 1559,
7074-442: The Empire's dissolution in 1806. After his election, the new king would be crowned as King of the Romans ( Romanorum Rex ), usually at Charlemagne's throne in Aachen Cathedral by the Archbishop of Cologne in a solemnly celebrated ceremony. The details of Otto's coronation in 936 are described by the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae . The kings received the Imperial Crown from at least 1024, at
7205-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
7336-474: The French victory over the Russians and Austrians at the Battle of Austerlitz (2 December), allowed Maximilian to raise Bavaria to the status of a kingdom. Accordingly, Maximilian proclaimed himself king on 1 January 1806. The King still served as an elector until Bavaria seceded from the Holy Roman Empire on 1 August 1806, joining the Confederation of the Rhine . The Duchy of Berg was ceded to Napoleon only in 1806. The Congress of Vienna 1814−15 led to
7467-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
7598-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
7729-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
7860-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
7991-429: The Holy Roman Empire (1 August 1806). The Bavarian Army was involved in the Austrian defeat at Hohenlinden , and General Jean Victor Marie Moreau once more occupied Munich. By the Treaty of Lunéville (9 February 1801), Bavaria lost the Palatinate and the duchies of Zweibrücken and Jülich . In view of the scarcely disguised ambitions and intrigues of the Austrian court, prime minister Montgelas now believed that
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#17327728823268122-698: The House of Wittelsbach. Duke Otto's son Louis I, Duke of Bavaria acquired the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1214. Throughout history, members of the royal house have reigned as Dukes of Merania (1153–1180/82); Dukes, Electors, and Kings of Bavaria (1180–1918); Counts Palatine of the Rhine (1214–1803 and 1816–1918); Margraves of Brandenburg (1323–1373); Counts of Holland , Hainaut , and Zeeland (1345–1433); Elector-Archbishops of Cologne (1583–1761); Dukes of Jülich and Berg (1614–1794/1806); Kings of Sweden (1441–1448 and 1654–1720); and Dukes of Bremen-Verden (1654–1719). The family also provided two Holy Roman Emperors (1328–1347/1742–1745), one King of
8253-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
8384-644: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
8515-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
8646-595: The Palatinate-Sulzbach branch under Elector Charles Theodore succeeded also in Bavaria. With the death of Charles Theodore in 1799 all Wittelsbach land in Bavaria and the Palatinate was reunited under Maximilian IV Joseph , a member of the branch Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld . At the time there were two surviving branches of the Wittelsbach family: Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (headed by Maximilian Joseph) and Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen (headed by Count Palatine William ). Maximilian Joseph inherited Charles Thedore's title of Elector of Bavaria, while William
8777-452: The Pinakotheken. The former Bavarian Royal Family receives around 14 million Euros in payments annually from the proceeds of the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund which also owns agricultural and forestry lands, while its main source of income is urban real estate in Munich. The respective head of the family decides on their distribution and use. He has the right to live in the castles mentioned. While Albrecht lived in Berg Palace from 1949 until
8908-401: The Rhine , gained fame in England. The house of Palatinate of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg as heir to the Swedish throne ruled simultaneously the Duchy of Bremen-Verden (1654–1719). In 1685, the Simmern line died out, and the Catholic Philip William , Count Palatine of Neuburg inherited the Palatinate (and also Duke of Jülich and Berg ). During the reign of Johann Wilhelm (1690–1716)
9039-484: The Rhine , the Saxon duke , and the Margrave of Brandenburg . After the Investiture Controversy , Charles intended to strengthen the legal status of the Rex Romanorum beyond Papal approbation . Consequently, among his successors only Sigismund and Frederick III were still crowned Emperors in Rome and in 1530 Charles V was the last king to receive the Imperial Crown at the hands of the Pope (in Bologna ). The Golden Bull remained effective as constitutional law until
9170-434: The Rhine. When Henry's branch died out in 1340 the Emperor Louis IV , a son of Duke Louis II, reunited the duchy. The family provided two Holy Roman Emperors : Louis IV (1314–1347) and Charles VII (1742–1745), both members of the Bavarian branch of the family, and one German King with Rupert of Germany (1400–1410), a member of the Palatinate branch. The House of Wittelsbach split into these two branches in 1329: Under
9301-431: The Romans (1400–1410), two Anti-Kings of Bohemia (1619–20/1742–43), one King of Hungary (1305–1308), one King of Denmark and Norway (1440–1448), and one King of Greece (1832–1862). The Wittelsbach dynasty ruled the German territories of Bavaria from 1180 to 1918 and the Electorate of the Palatinate from 1214 until 1805. In both countries they had succeeded rulers from the House of Welf . The Duchy of Bavaria
9432-1062: The Second World War: the Ducal Bavarian Brewery of Tegernsee and the König Ludwig Schlossbrauerei . Since 2011, the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory is also owned by a member of the family. The head of the house is also Grand Master of the Wittelsbach House Orders , the Royal Order of Saint George for the Defense of the Immaculate Conception , the Order of Saint Hubert and the Order of Theresa . Duke Franz maintained
9563-548: The Teutonic Order . In 1623 under Maximilian I the Bavarian dukes were invested with the electoral dignity and the duchy became the Electorate of Bavaria . His grandson Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria served also as Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (1692–1706) and as Duke of Luxembourg (1712–1714). His son Emperor Charles VII also claimed the throne of Bohemia (1741–1743). With
9694-531: The claim. Christopher III of the House of Palatinate-Neumarkt was king of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in 1440/1442–1448, but left no descendants. The House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken succeeded to the monarchy of Sweden again 1654–1720 when Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated her throne on 5 June 1654 in favour of her cousin Charles X Gustav . Under Charles X, Charles XI , Charles XII , Sweden reached its greatest power (see Swedish Empire ). Charles XII
9825-470: The classical Roman Emperor as well as from the modern German Emperor . The territory of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum by contemporary sources until the 11th century. During this time, the king's claim to coronation was increasingly contested by the papacy , culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy . After the Salian heir apparent Henry IV ,
9956-559: The coronation of Conrad II . In 1198 the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia was crowned Rex Romanorum at Mainz Cathedral (as was King Rupert centuries later), but he had another coronation in Aachen after he had prevailed against his Welf rival Otto IV . At some time after the ceremony, the king would, if possible, cross the Alps , to receive coronation in Pavia or Milan with
10087-475: The death of Charles' son Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria the Bavarian branch died out in 1777. The Palatinate branch kept the Palatinate until 1918, having succeeded also to Bavaria in 1777. With the Golden Bull of 1356 the Counts Palatine were invested with the electoral dignity, their county became the Electorate of the Palatinate . Princes of the Palatinate branch served as bishops of
10218-535: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
10349-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
10480-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
10611-629: The efforts of Louis IV, the Wittelsbachs controlled the Duchy of Bavaria , the Electorate of the Palatine , the County of Tyrol , the Margraviate of Brandenburg , the County of Holland , County of Zeeland and the County of Hainault . This gave them a chance to dominate the Empire as the previous imperial houses of Hohenstaufen , Salians , Ottonians and Carolingians had. However, in
10742-477: The electorate passed to Frederick III of Simmern , a staunch Calvinist , and the Palatinate became one of the major centers of Calvinism in Europe, supporting Calvinist rebellions in both the Netherlands and France . The Neuburg cadet branch of the Palatinate branch also held the Duchy of Jülich and Berg from 1614 onwards: When the last duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died without direct heirs in 1609,
10873-674: The end of Wittelsbach rule in Greece. Joseph Ferdinand , a son of Maximilian II Emanuel , was the favored choice of England and the Netherlands to succeed as the ruler of Spain, and Charles II of Spain chose him as his heir. Due to the unexpected death of Joseph Ferdinand in 1699 the Wittelsbachs did not come to power in Spain, leaving the Spanish Succession uncertain again. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
11004-762: The end of Wittelsbach rule in Sweden. Prince Otto of Bavaria was chosen by the London Conference of 1832 to be king of newly independent Greece . This was confirmed by the Treaty of Constantinople , whereby Greece became a new independent kingdom under the protection of the Great Powers (the United Kingdom , France and the Russian Empire ). Throughout his reign, Otto faced political challenges concerning Greece's financial weakness and
11135-617: The end of his life in 1996, his son and successor Franz primarily uses the side wing of the Nymphenburg Palace that is available to him. The administration of the House of Wittelsbach is also based there. The private assets of the House of Wittelsbach include the castles of Tegernsee Abbey , Wildenwart (near Frasdorf ), Leutstetten (near Starnberg ) and Kaltenberg as well as agricultural lands and forestry with an area of 12,500 hectares, real estate and industrial shares. These include two breweries that only became significant after
11266-574: The end of the kingdom, the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund (Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds) was established through a compromise in 1923 and the Wittelsbach State Foundation for Art and Science was established by the former Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria . The Wittelsbach State Foundation received the Wittelsbach family's art treasures acquired before 1804 and has since been the owner, although not
11397-468: The establishment of significant territorial gains for the Kingdom of Bavaria . Although the Duchy of Berg remained lost, almost all of Franconia , previously ruled by a number of Prince-bishops , as well as parts of Swabia , which had belonged to various mediatised secular and ecclesiastic princes, came under Bavarian rule. In both areas a number of formerly free imperial cities were also integrated into
11528-792: The federal states and thus the de facto abolition of German federalism. In 1938, he emigrated to Italy and, after the German Army occupied Italy in September 1943, went into hiding in Florence. His son, Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria , initially left Germany for Hungary with his family, but was eventually arrested by the Gestapo in October 1944, after Germany had occupied Hungary in March. With his wife, four children and three half-sisters, he
11659-550: The foundation Wittelsbach Compensation Fund . He also appoints one of the 3 board members of the Wittelsbach State Foundation for Art and Science , while the other two are a representative of the Bavarian Ministry of Culture and a museum specialist appointed by the latter. There are around 13,500 cultural items belonging to the Wittelsbach State Foundation while another 43,000 are owned by the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund , mainly shown in museums and collections such as
11790-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
11921-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
12052-478: The interests of Bavaria lay in a frank alliance with the French Republic ; he succeeded in overcoming the reluctance of Maximilian Joseph; and, on 24 August, a separate treaty of peace and alliance with France was signed at Paris, which allied Bavaria with France. The 1805 Peace of Pressburg (now Bratislava ) between Emperor Napoleon of France and Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor , as a consequence of
12183-451: The king might retain the title "King of the Romans" for his entire reign. The title Romanorum Rex ceased to be used for ruling kings after 1508, when the Pope permitted King Maximilian I to use the title of Electus Romanorum Imperator ("elected Emperor of the Romans") after he failed in a good-faith attempt to journey to Rome. At this time Maximilian also took the new title "King in Germania" ( Germaniae rex , König in Germanien ), but
12314-463: The kingdom. The previously heavily fragmented Palatinate territory was rounded off and partially moved. Smaller, mostly ecclesiastical territories on the southern border with Austria were also added. In this way, the border of Bavaria, which largely still exists today, was redefined and the state grew by more than a third in size. Under Maximilian's descendants, Bavaria became the third most powerful German state, behind only Prussia and Austria . When
12445-591: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . King of the Romans King of the Romans ( Latin : Rex Romanorum ; German : König der Römer ) was the title used by the king of East Francia following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward. The title originally referred to any German king between his election and royal coronation until he
12576-479: The latter was never used as a primary title. Maximilian's titles read, in part: " Maximilian von Gots genaden erwelter Romischer Romischer kayser, zu allen zeiten merer des Reichs, in Germanien zu Hungern, Dalmatien, Croatien etc. kunig […] ("Maximilian, by God's grace Elected Roman Emperor, always Augustus, in Germany, of Hungary, Dalamatia, Croatia etc King […]" Beginning with Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor ,
12707-455: The manager, of a large part of the holdings of the ancient and classical art museums in Munich, while more recent art collections came into the possession of the compensation fund, into which most of the possessions from the former Wittelsbach House Property Fund were transferred in 1923, including art treasures and collections (in particular the art collection of King Ludwig I , today mostly in
12838-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
12969-780: The museums Alte Pinakothek and Neue Pinakothek and in the Glyptothek in Munich), the Secret House Archives (today a department of the Bavarian State Archives) and the former royal castles of Berg , Hohenschwangau (including the Museum of the Bavarian Kings ), Berchtesgaden and Grünau hunting lodge. The respective head of the House of Wittelsbach appoints a board of up to 8 directors of
13100-652: The next generation they were outmaneuvered in Imperial politics by the Habsburgs and the most importantly by the Luxemburgs who both held compact and large possessions in the Duchy of Austria for the former and the Kingdom of Bohemia for the latter that allowed them to expand eastward. The Bavarian branch kept the Duchy of Bavaria until its extinction in 1777. The Wittelsbach Emperor Louis IV acquired Brandenburg (1323), Tyrol (1342), Holland , Zeeland and Hainaut (1345) for his House but he had also released
13231-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
13362-452: The plenitude of his authority over the Empire and his warrant to be future Emperor ( Imperator futurus ) without infringing upon the Papal privilege. Not all Kings of the Romans made this step, sometimes because of hostile relations with the Pope, or because either the pressure of business at home or warfare in Germany or Italy made it impossible for the King to make the journey. In such cases,
13493-509: The position. The only requirements generally observed were that the candidate be an adult male, a Catholic Christian, and not in holy orders. The kings were elected by several Imperial Estates (secular princes as well as Prince-Bishops ), often in the imperial city of Frankfurt after 1147, a custom recorded in the Schwabenspiegel code in about 1275. Originally all noblemen present could vote by unanimous acclamation, but later
13624-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
13755-621: The role of the government in the affairs of the Church. The politics of Greece of this era was based on affiliations with the three Great Powers, and Otto's ability to maintain the support of the powers was key to his remaining in power. To remain strong, Otto had to play the interests of each of the Great Powers’ Greek adherents against the others, while not aggravating the Great Powers. Otto's standing amongst Greeks suffered when Greece
13886-405: The rulers of the Empire no longer sought the Imperial coronation by the Pope and styled themselves "Emperors" without Papal approval, taking the title as soon as they were crowned in Germany or, if crowned in their predecessor's lifetime, upon the death of a sitting Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy . No person had an automatic legal right to the succession simply because he
14017-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
14148-412: The succession rights of the House of Stuart and passed them on to the House of Hanover . When Otto I, Count of Scheyern died in 1072, his third son Otto II, Count of Scheyern acquired Wittelsbach Castle (near Aichach ). The Counts of Scheyern left Scheyern Castle (constructed around 940) in 1119 for Wittelsbach Castle and the former was given to monks to establish Scheyern Abbey . The origins of
14279-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
14410-494: The throne in 1714. In this way, the House of Hanover inherited the British crown. It remained on the throne until the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. The line of Jacobite succession, which recognises the right for a Catholic monarch from the House of Stuart , acknowledges Franz, Hereditary Prince of Bavaria to be the rightful heir as "Francis II". However, no individual since Henry Benedict Stuart has publicly taken up
14541-430: The title Romanorum Rex until he finally was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084. Henry's successors imitated this practice, and were also called Romanorum Rex before and Romanorum Imperator after their Roman coronations. Candidates for the kingship were at first the heads of Germanic stem duchies . As these units broke up, rulers of smaller principalities and even non-Germanic rulers were considered for
14672-438: The tradition founded by his father of holding a large annual reception with a sit-down dinner at Nymphenburg Palace. Around 1,500 mostly changing guests from state politics, municipalities, churches and sciences, art and medicine as well as friends and relatives are invited. He also invites smaller groups of changing guests to Berchtesgaden Castle to discuss specific topics that are important to him. His 80th birthday party, in 2013,
14803-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
14934-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
15065-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
15196-593: Was also skilled as a politician, he was reluctant in making peace. While Sweden achieved several large scale military successes early on, and won the most battles, the Great Northern War eventually ended in Sweden's defeat and the end of the Swedish Empire . Charles was succeeded to the Swedish throne by his sister, Ulrika Eleonora. Her abdication in favour of her husband Frederick I in 1720 marked
15327-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
15458-731: Was blockaded by the British Royal Navy in 1850 and 1853 to stop Greece from attacking the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War . As a result, there was an assassination attempt on his wife Queen Amalia in 1861. In 1862, Otto was deposed while in the countryside, and in 1863, the Greek National Assembly elected George I of the House of Glücksburg , aged only 17, King of the Hellenes , marking
15589-480: Was compensated with the title of Duke in Bavaria. The form Duke in Bavaria was selected because in 1506 primogeniture had been established in the House of Wittelsbach resulting in there being only one reigning Duke of Bavaria at any given time. Maximillian Joseph assumed the title of king as Maximilian I Joseph on 1 January 1806. The new king still served as a Prince-elector until the Kingdom of Bavaria left
15720-488: Was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope . The title was also used to designate the successor to the throne elected during the lifetime of a sitting Emperor. From the 16th century onwards, as German kings adopted the title of Emperor-elect and ceased to be crowned by the Pope, the title continued to be used solely for an elected successor to the throne during his predecessor's lifetime. The actual title varied over time. During
15851-563: Was elevated to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1623, and in 1806, Napoleon elevated it to the Kingdom of Bavaria . In 1815, the majority of the Palatinate was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Baden , with the remainder becoming the Circle of the Rhine . On Duke Otto II 's death in 1253, his sons divided the Wittelsbach possessions between them: Henry became Duke of Lower Bavaria , and Louis II Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of
15982-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
16113-688: Was held at the Schleissheim Palace near Munich. The party was attended by 2,500 guests including the then-incumbent Minister-President of Bavaria , Horst Seehofer . In addition to numerous honorary positions in Bavaria , including many cultural and scientific institutions, Franz was also a member of the European Foundation for the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate for many years,
16244-461: Was in the same form as that of the senior ruler. In practice, however, the actual administration of the Empire was always managed by the Emperor (or Emperor elect), with at most certain duties delegated to the heir. When Napoleon I, Emperor of the French , had a son and heir, Napoleon II (1811–32), he introduced the title as King of Rome ( Roi de Rome ), styling his son as such at birth. The boy
16375-567: Was often known colloquially by this title throughout his short life. However, from 1818 onward, he was styled officially as the Duke of Reichstadt by his maternal grandfather, Emperor Francis I of Austria . The following list shows all individuals bearing the title "Kings of the Romans". The regnal dates given are those between a king's election as "King of the Romans" and either becoming Emperor or ending their reign by deposition or death. Ruling kings are coloured in yellow, while those whose claim to
16506-491: Was related to the current Emperor. However, the Emperor could, and often did, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent bore the title "King of the Romans". During the Middle Ages, a junior King of the Romans was normally chosen only when the senior ruler bore the title of Emperor, so as to avoid having two, theoretically equal kings. Only on one occasion (1147–1150)
16637-485: Was sent to a series of Nazi concentration camps , including Oranienburg , Flossenbürg and Dachau . Badly hit by hunger and disease, the family barely survived. At the end of April 1945, they were liberated by the United States Third Army . Albrecht's eldest son, Franz von Bayern (Francis of Bavaria) is the current head of the house. In the course of the division of state and house assets after
16768-545: Was split among the descendants of Louis IV, who created the branches Bavaria-Landshut , Bavaria-Straubing , Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Munich . With the Landshut War of Succession Bavaria was reunited in 1505 against the claim of the Palatinate branch under the Bavarian branch Bavaria-Munich . From 1549 to 1567 the Wittelsbach owned the County of Kladsko in Bohemia. Strictly Catholic by upbringing,
16899-429: Was succeeded by his sister Ulrika Eleonora . Sweden reached its largest territorial extent under the rule of Charles X after the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. Charles's son Charles XI rebuilt the economy and refitted the army. His legacy to his son Charles XII was one of the finest arsenals in the world, a large standing army, and a large fleet. Charles XII was a skilled military leader and tactician. However, although he
17030-415: Was succeeded by his son Conrad II . It was the first duchy held by the Wittelsbach family (until 1180/82). Otto I's eldest son Eckhard I, Count of Scheyern was father of the count palatine of Bavaria, Otto IV (died 1156), who was the first Count of Wittelsbach and whose son Otto was invested with the Duchy of Bavaria in 1180 after the fall of Henry the Lion and hence the first Bavarian ruler from
17161-404: Was there both a ruling King of the Romans (King Conrad III ) and a King of the Romans as heir ( Henry Berengar ). This practice continued from the 16th century onwards as the rulers of the Empire assumed the title "Emperor elect" without Imperial coronation by the Pope. The title of a King of the Romans now exclusively refers to the elected successor during his predecessor's lifetime. The election
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