Maximilian Joseph | |
---|---|
Duke in Bavaria | |
Born | 4 December 1808 |
Died | 15 November 1888 | (aged 79)
Spouse | Princess Ludovika of Bavaria |
Issue |
Ludwig Wilhelm, Duke in Bavaria Wilhelm Karl Helene, Hereditary Princess of Thurn of Taxis Elisabeth, Empress of Austria Karl-Theodor Maria Sophie, Queen of the Two Sicilies Mathilde Ludovika, Countess of Trani Maximilian Sophie Charlotte, Duchess of Alençon Maximilian Emanuel |
House | Wittelsbach |
Father | Duke Pius August in Bavaria |
Mother | Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg |
Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria (4 December 1808 – 15 November 1888), known informally as Max in Bayern, was a member of a junior branch of the House of Wittelsbach and a promoter of Bavarian folk-music. He is most famous today as the father of Empress Elisabeth of Austria ("Sisi") and greatgrand father of King Leopold III of Belgium.
Maximilian Joseph was born at Bamberg, the only son of Duke Pius August in Bavaria (1786–1837) and of his wife, Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg. On September 9, 1828, at Tegernsee, Maximilian Joseph married Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. They had ten children.
In 1834 he purchased Possenhofen Castle on Lake Starnberg; this was his major residence for the rest of his life. In 1838 he acquired Unterwittelsbach Castle (today housing a "Sisi" museum) near the site of Burg Wittelsbach, the ancestral seat of the House of Wittelsbach. Maximilian Joseph died in Munich. He and his wife are buried in the family crypt in Tegernsee Abbey, a former monastery which Ludovika's father, King Maximilian I Joseph, had acquired in 1817. At the same time of the secularisation, Duke Maximilian Joseph's grandfather Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria had also purchased a former monastery, Banz Abbey. Both properties, Tegernsee and Banz, are still today owned by Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria.