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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:history:9c4257a2b0f6",
    "title": "HISTORY",
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    "verified_text": "the earliest known inhabitants of the district afterwards called bavaria were a people, probably of celtic extraction, who were subdued by the romans just before the opening of the christian era, when colonies were founded among them and their land was included in the province of raetia. during the 5th century it was ravaged by the troops of odoacer and, after being almost denuded of inhabitants, was occupied by tribes who, pushing along the valley of the danube, settled there between a.d. 488 and 520. many conjectures have been formed concerning the race and origin of these people, who were certainly a new and composite social aggregate. most likely they were descendants of the marcomanni, quadi and narisci, tribes of the suevic or swabian race, with possibly a small intermixture of gothic or celtic elements. they were called _baioarii, baiowarii, bawarii_ or _baiuwarii_, words derived most probably from _baja_ or _baya_, corruptions of _bojer_, and given to them because they came from _bojerland_ or _bohemia_. another but less probable explanation derives the name from a combination of the old high german word _uuara_, meaning league, and _bai_, a gothic word for both. the bavarians are first mentioned in a frankish document of 520, and twenty years later jordanes refers to them as lying east of the swabians. their country bore some traces of roman influence, and its main boundaries were the enns, the danube, the lech and the alps; but its complete settlement was a work of time. frankish influence. the bavarians soon came under the dominion of the franks, probably without a serious struggle; and were ruled from 555 to 788 by dukes of the agilolfing family, who were possibly of frankish descent. for a century and a half a succession of dukes resisted the inroads of the slavs on their eastern frontier, and by the time of duke theodo i., who died in 717, were completely independent of the feeble frankish kings. when charles martel became the virtual ruler of the frankish realm he brought the bavarians into strict dependence, and deposed two dukes successively for contumacy. pippin the short was equally successful in maintaining his authority, and several marriages took place between the family to which he belonged and the agilolfings, who were united in a similar manner with the kings of the lombards. the ease with which various risings were suppressed by the franks gives colour to the supposition that they were rather the outcome of family quarrels than the revolt of an oppressed people. between the years 739 and 748 the bavarian law was committed to writing and supplementary clauses were afterwards added, all of which bear evident traces of frankish influence. thus, while the dukedom belongs to the agilolfing family, the duke must be chosen by the people and his election confirmed by the frankish king, to whom he owes fealty. he has a fivefold wergild, summons the nobles and clergy for purposes of deliberation, calls out the host, administers justice and regulates finance. there are five noble families, possibly representing a former division of the people, after whom come the freeborn, and then the freedmen. the country is divided into _gaus_ or counties, under their counts, who are assisted by judges responsible for declaring the law. christianity. christianity had lingered in bavaria from roman times; but a new era set in when rupert, bishop of worms, came to the country at the invitation of duke theodo i. in 696. he founded several monasteries, and a similar work was also performed by st emmeran, bishop of poitiers; with the result that before long the bulk of the people professed christianity and relations were established between bavaria and rome. the 8th century witnessed indeed a heathen reaction; but it was checked by the arrival in bavaria about 734 of st. boniface, who organized the bavarian church and founded or restored bishoprics at salzburg, freising, regensburg and passau. frankish conquest. tassilo iii., who became duke of the bavarians in 749, recognized the supremacy of the frankish king pippin the short in 757, but soon afterwards refused to furnish a contribution to the war in aquitaine. moreover, during the early years of the reign of charlemagne, tassilo gave decisions in ecclesiastical and civil causes in his own name, refused to appear in the assemblies of the franks, and in general acted as an independent ruler. his position as possessor of the alpine passes, as an ally of the avars, and as son-in-law of the lombard king desiderius, was so serious a menace to the frankish kingdom that charlemagne determined to crush him. the details of this contest are obscure. tassilo appears to have done homage in 781, and again in 787, probably owing to the presence of frankish armies. but further trouble soon arose, and in 788 the duke was summoned to ingelheim, where on a charge of treachery he was sentenced to death. he was, however, pardoned by the king; and he then entered a monastery and formally renounced his duchy at frankfort in 794. the country was ruled by gerold, a brother-in-law of charlemagne, till his death in a battle with the avars in 799, when its administration was entrusted to frankish counts and assimilated with that of the rest of the carolingian empire, while its condition was improved by the measures taken by charlemagne for the intellectual progress and material welfare of his realm. the bavarians offered no resistance to the change which thus abolished their dukedom; and their incorporation with the frankish dominions, due mainly to the unifying influence of the church, was already so complete that charlemagne did not find it necessary to issue more than two capitularies dealing especially with bavarian affairs. union with carolingian empire. part of the german kingdom. the duchy passes to the welfs. the history of bavaria for the ensuing century is bound up with that of the carolingian empire. given at the partition of 817 to the king of the east franks, louis the german, it formed part of the larger territories which were confirmed to him in 843 by the treaty of verdun, louis made regensburg the centre of his government, and was active in improving the condition of bavaria, and providing for its security by numerous campaigns against the slavs. when he divided his possessions in 865 it passed to his eldest son, carloman, who had already undertaken its government, and after his death in 880 it formed part of the extensive territories of the emperor charles the fat. its defence was left by this incompetent emperor to arnulf, an illegitimate son of carloman, and it was mainly owing to the support of the bavarians that arnulf was able to take the field against charles in 887, and to secure his own election as german king in the following year. bavaria, which was the centre of the east frankish kingdom, passed in 899 to louis the child, during whose reign it was constantly ravaged by the hungarians. the resistance to these inroads became gradually feebler, and it is said that on the 5th of july 907 almost the whole of the bavarian race perished in battle with these formidable enemies. for the defence of bavaria the mark of carinthia had been erected on the south-eastern frontier, and during the reign of louis the child this was ruled by liutpold, count of scheyern, who possessed large domains in bavaria. he was among those who fell in the great fight of 907; but his son arnulf, surnamed the bad, rallied the remnants of the race, drove back the hungarians, and was chosen duke of the bavarians in 911, when bavaria and carinthia were united under his rule. refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the german king conrad i., he was unsuccessfully attacked by the latter, and in 920 was recognized as duke by conrad's successor, henry i., the fowler, who admitted his right to appoint the bishops, to coin money and to issue laws. a similar conflict took place between arnulf's son and successor eberhard and otto the great; but eberhard was less successful than his father, for in 938 he was driven from bavaria, which was given by otto with reduced privileges to the late duke's uncle, bertold; and a count palatine in the person of eberhard's brother arnulf was appointed to watch the royal interests. when bertold died in 947 otto conferred the duchy upon his own brother henry, who had married judith, a daughter of duke arnulf. henry was disliked by the bavarians and his short reign was spent mainly in disputes with his people. the ravages of the hungarians ceased after their defeat on the lechfeld in 955, and the area of the duchy was temporarily increased by the addition of certain adjacent districts in italy. in 955 henry was succeeded by his young son henry, surnamed the quarrelsome, who in 974 was implicated in a conspiracy against king otto ii. the reason for this rising was that the king had granted the duchy of swabia to henry's enemy, otto, a grandson of the emperor otto the great, and had given the new bavarian east mark, afterwards known as austria, to leopold i., count of babenberg. the revolt was, however, soon suppressed; but henry, who on his escape from prison renewed his plots, was formally deposed in 976 when bavaria was given to otto, duke of swabia. at the same time carinthia was made into a separate duchy, the office of count palatine was restored, and the church was made dependent on the king instead of on the duke. restored in 985, henry proved himself a capable ruler by establishing internal order, issuing important laws and taking measures to reform the monasteries. his son and successor, who was chosen german king as henry ii. in 1002, gave bavaria to his brother-in-law henry of luxemburg; after whose death in 1026 it passed successively to henry, afterwards the emperor henry iii., and to another member of the family of luxemburg, as duke henry vii. in 1061 the empress agnes, mother of and regent for the german king henry iv., entrusted the duchy to otto of nordheim, who was deposed by the king in 1070, when the duchy was granted to count welf, a member of an influential bavarian family. in consequence of his support of pope greegory vii. in his quarrel with henry, welf lost but subsequently regained bavaria; and was followed successively by his sons, welf ii. in 1101, and henry ix. in 1120, both of whom exercised considerable influence among the german princes. henry was succeeded in 1126 by his son henry x., called the proud, who obtained the duchy of saxony in 1137. alarmed at this prince's power, king conrad iii. refused to allow two duchies to remain in the same hands; and, having declared henry deposed, he bestowed bavaria upon leopold iv., margrave of austria. when leopold died in 1141, the king retained the duchy himself; but it continued to be the scene of considerable disorder, and in 1143 he entrusted it to henry ii., surnamed jasomirgott, margrave of austria. the struggle for its possession continued until 1156, when king frederick i. in his desire to restore peace to germany persuaded henry to give up bavaria to henry the lion, a son of duke henry the proud. then to the wittelsbachs. area of bavaria. a new era of government set in when, in consequence of henry being placed under the imperial ban in 1180, the duchy was given by frederick i. to otto, a member of the old bavarian family of wittelsbach (q.v.), and a descendant of the counts of scheyern. during the years following the destruction of the carolingian empire the borders of bavaria were continually changing, and for a lengthened period after 955 this process was one of expansion. to the west the lech still divided bavaria from swabia, but on three other sides the opportunities for extension had been taken advantage of, and the duchy embraced an area of considerable dimensions north of the danube. during the later years of the rule of the welfs, however, a contrary tendency had operated, and the extent of bavaria had been reduced. the immense energies of duke henry the lion had been devoted to his northern rather than his southern duchy, and when the dispute over the bavarian succession was settled in 1156 the district between the enns and the inn had been transferred to austria. the increasing importance of the mark of styria, erected into a duchy in 1180, and the county of tirol, had diminished both the actual and the relative strength of bavaria, which was now deprived on almost all sides of opportunities for expansion. the neighbouring duchy of carinthia, the great temporal possessions of the archbishop of salzburg, as well as a general tendency to independence on the part of both clerical and lay nobles, were additional forces of similar influence. rule of the wittelsbachs. division of the duchy. upper bavaria. when otto of wittelsbach was invested with bavaria at altenburg in september 1180 the duchy was bounded by the bohmerwald, the inn, the alps and the lech; and the power of the duke was practically confined to his extensive private domains around wittelsbach, kelheim and straubing. otto only enjoyed his new dignity for three years, and was succeeded in 1183 by his son louis i., who took a leading part in german affairs during the earlier years of the reign of the emperor frederick ii., and was assassinated at kelheim in september 1231. his son otto ii., called the illustrious, was the next duke, and his loyalty to the hohenstaufen caused him to be placed under the papal ban, and bavaria to be laid under an interdict. like his father, otto increased the area of his lands by purchases; and he had considerably strengthened his hold upon the duchy before he died in november 1253. the efforts of the dukes to increase their power and to give unity to the duchy had met with a fair measure of success; but they were soon vitiated by partitions among different members of the family which for 250 years made the history of bavaria little more than a jejune chronicle of territorial divisions bringing war and weakness in their train. the first of these divisions was made in 1255 between louis ii. and henry i., the sons of duke otto",
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