Note 43 — Chapter IV

Maximilian-Joseph, Elector, and subsequently King, of Bavaria, under the title of Maximilian I., son of Frederick, Prince des Deux-Ponts Berkenfeld. He was born in 1756, and died in 1825. He at first served in the French army, became colonel of the regiment of Alsace, and remained at Strasburg from 1782 to 1789. He succeeded his brother, Charles II., in the dukedom of Deux-Ponts, and his uncle, Charles Theodore, as Elector of Bavaria, and as Duke of Berg and Juliers in 1799. In 1805 he threw in his lot with the Confederation of the Rhine, and at the Peace of Presburg received the title of king. In 1806 he married one of his daughters to Eugène de Beauharnais, and the other to the Emperor Francis of Austria. In 1813 he joined the coalition against France. In 1818 he gave a Constitution to his subjects; he made some salutary reforms in the administration, and greatly encouraged art and science.