Flag of the Kingdom of Bavaria (1816-1918), with blue and white symbolising the colours of the sky. The car brand BMW is from Bavaria and its logo features the same colours.
History
Bavaria was first mentioned as a Duchy in 555 AD. It was part of the Frankish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Bavaria's original territory was much larger than it is today, and included large parts of what currently is Austria until Austria became an independent duchy in 1156. In 1180 the House of Wittelsbach came to power in Bavaria, in would remain so until Germany became a republic in 1918.
In the 14th century the Wittelsbacher ruled not only Bavaria but also other territories in the Holy Roman Empire such as Holland and Friesland in the Netherlands, Brandenburg and the Rhine Palatinate. From 1349 Bavaria was partitioned in four independent duchies: Bavaria-Munich, Bavaria-Landshut, Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Straubing. By 1505 all these were reunited again but territorial changes had occurred over the years.
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) was a religious conflict mainly fought in the Holy Roman Empire, during which Bavaria sided with the catholic alliance of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Bavaria was awarded by being raised to an electorate in 1623 which meant that members of the House of Wittelsbach could elect the emperor among the electors.
During the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815) Bavaria was initially allied to Austria, but switched sides when Napoleon promised to upgrade the electorate to a kingdom in 1805 and that same year Austria was defeated at the Battle of Austerlitz. Emperor Francis dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and proclaimed himself Emperor of Austria. In turn the new Kingdom of Bavaria became part of the French-backed Confederation of the Rhine (German: Rheinbund) along with many other smaller German states. It would last until Naloleon's defeat and subsequent Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Bavaria in the German Confederation (1815-1866).
As the German states entered a new confederation in 1815, Bavaria was the third most powerful behind Prussia and Austria, the main contestants for German hegemony. On religious grounds Bavaria preferred to stay close to catholic Austria, but at the same time it did not want to cede too much power to Austria as well. During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which was won by Prussia, Bavaria was allied to Austria but it did not contribute that much to the war. Now that Austria had been defeated it did join Prussia a few years later in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1). As a result Bavaria, along with other southern German states except Austria, joined the North German Confederation in 1871, forming the German Empire.
The role of Bavaria within the German Empire did not please its leadership to the fullest extent. Bavaria remained a somewhat conservative catholic state, in contrast to the protestant and increasingly secular Prussia. The Bavarian King Ludwig II (1864-1886) was nicknamed the Fairy Tale King as he spent more time building Disney-like castles than taking care of governmental affairs. Ludwig II was deposed in 1886 and died under mysterious circumstances shortly after.
Ludwig II was succeeded by his brother Otto, but as Otto suffered from depressions their uncle Luitpold was made Prince-Regent and ruled Bavaria effectively until 1913. Luitpold's son Ludwig III succeeded him in the wake of World War I, but abdicated after the Armistice of 1918 that led to the collapse of all German monarchies. Ever since Bavaria has been a Free State in Germany and it has enjoyed considerable economic success after World War 2. It now represents one of the most prosperous regions in Germany, while still retaining some of its local language and culture.
Currency
Bavaria's first coins date from the 10th century. They were Pfennige (or Denars) and Oboles (Half Pfennig) that were part of the Carolingian monetary system (240 Pfennige/Pennies in a Pfund/Pound) that was introduced by the Frankish Empire in the 8th century. Over time many variants of Pfennige were introduced and frequently debased to contain less and less silver. One example was the Pfennig minted in Schwäbisch Hall, also known as Häller Pfennig, later changed to Heller. As newer coins contained more copper than silver it started to have a value of half a Pfennig.
The need for more denominations saw the introduction of the Groschen (12 Pennies) and the Kreuzer (4 Pfennige) in the 14th century. Hence a Groschen was worth 3 Kreuzer.
An important gold coin of that era used in parts of Germany was the Rhenish Gulden, which was based on the Italian gold Florin from Florence. Several German states formed a monetary union based on the Rhenish Gulden, with its value at 20 Groschen or 60 Kreuzer, although values could fluctuate. These values remained the basis for the Gulden as a unit of account in Southern Germany.
So now we have Gulden = 20 Groschen = 60 Kreuzer = 240 Pfennige = 480 Heller. But from the early 16th century a new large silver coin gained popularity: the Thaler, which contained 1/9th of a Cologne Mark (approx. 233 grams) of silver. In Southern Germany the Thaler was initially valued at 68 Kreuzer, but increased in value versus account money over time. In 1754 Bavaria and Austria entered a monetary union on the basis of the Conventionsthaler of 1/10 of a Cologne Mark. The Conventionsthaler was set at 2 Austrian Gulden and 2.4 South German Gulden. To confuse things even more, there were two types of Kreuzers: the South German Gulden was equal to 60 Kreuzer Landmünze and the Conventionsthaler equal to 120 Conventionskreuzer, or 144 Landkreuzer. The Landkreuzer was used for denominations up to 6 and the Conventionskreuzer for coins of 10 and 20. So the 10 Conventionskreuzer coin was worth twice as much as the contemporary 6 Landkreuzer coin.
Next to this even a Kronenthaler (1/9 of a Mark) was minted in Bavaria, which had a not so usable value of 2.7 Gulden (162 Kreuzer Landmünze). The gold Ducat was an almost pure gold coin of a bit less than 3.5 grams and generally valued at 5.5 Gulden. It was used as a trade coin and its value fluctuated versus silver.
In 1837 the South German states debased the Gulden slightly with a Cologne Mark of silver revalued from 24 to 24.5 Gulden. As the Prussian Thaler was 1/14 of a Mark this created an exchange rate of 7 Gulden = 4 Prussian Thalers. And in 1857 these silver standards were updated slightly so that a metric pound (500 grams) of silver was worth 30 Prussian Thalers, 52.5 South German Gulden and 45 Austrian Gulden. This standard was known as the Vereinsthaler, and was a monetary union in the whole of the German Confederation.
Following the German unification in 1871 the Vereinsthaler was replaced by the German Mark in 1873. The Mark was valued at 1/3 of a Vereinsthaler or 7/12 of a South German Gulden. Bavaria continued to have its own coins until 1918, with denominations of 2 Mark and above still having its own sides.
Catalogue:
Duchy of Bavaria (555-1623)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/bavaria_duchy-1.html
Electorate of Bavaria (1623-1806)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/bavaria_electorate-1.html
Kingdom of Bavaria (1806-1918)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/bavaria_kingdom-1.html
Bavaria-Landshut (1349-1505):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/bavaria_landshut-1.html
Bavaria-Ingolstadt (1392-1447):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/bavaria_ingolstadt-1.html
