Wittelsbach

House of Wittelsbach

Country	Bavaria, Germany, Greece, Kalmar Union
Titles	Duke of Bavaria Elector of Bavaria King of Bavaria Elector of the Palatinate Elector of Cologne Holy Roman Emperor King of the Romans King of Denmark King of Sweden King of Norway King of Greece
Founded	11th century
Founder	Otto I
Final ruler	Ludwig III
Current head	Franz, Duke of Bavaria
Deposition	7 November 1918
Ethnicity	German
Cadet branches	Palatinate-Simmern, Palatinate-Sulzbach, Palatinate-Neumarkt, Palatinate-Zweibrücken, Palatinate-Birkenfeld

The Wittelsbach family is a European royal family and a German dynasty from Bavaria.

Members of the family reigned as 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 (1345–1432), 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 the Romans (1400–1410), two Anti-Kings of Bohemia (1619–20/1742–43), one King of Hungary (1305–1309), one King of Denmark and Norway (1440–1447) and one King of Greece (1832–1862).

The family's head, since 1996, is Franz, Duke of Bavaria.

Berthold, Margrave in Bavaria (died 980), was the ancestor of Otto I, Count of Scheyern (died 1072), whose third son Otto II, Count of Scheyern acquired the castle of Wittelsbach (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.