Their ancestral lands of Bavaria and the Palatinate were prince-electorates, and the family had three of its members elected emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire.

This gave them a chance to dominate the Empire as the previous imperial houses of Hohenstaufen, Salians, Ottonians and Carolingians had.

However, in the next generation they were outmaneuvered in Imperial politics by the Habsburgs and the most importantly by the Luxemburgs who both held compact and large possessions in the Duchy of Austria for the former and the Kingdom of Bohemia for the latter that allowed them to expand eastward.

From 1583 to 1761, the Bavarian branch of the dynasty provided the Prince-electors and Archbishops of Cologne and many other bishops of the Holy Roman Empire, namely Liège (1581–1763).

Wittelsbach princes served at times as Bishops of Regensburg, Freising, Münster, Hildesheim, Paderborn and Osnabrück, and as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

His grandson Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria served also as Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (1692–1706) and as Duke of Luxembourg (1712–1714).

With the death of Charles' son Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria the Bavarian branch died out in 1777.

After the death of the Wittelsbach king Rupert of Germany in 1410 the Palatinate lands began to split under numerous branches of the family such as Neumarkt, Simmern, Zweibrücken, Birkenfeld, Neuburg and Sulzbach.

The Neuburg cadet branch of the Palatinate branch also held the Duchy of Jülich and Berg from 1614 onwards: When the last duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died without direct heirs in 1609, the War of the Jülich succession broke out, ended by the 1614 Treaty of Xanten, which divided the separate duchies between Palatinate-Neuburg and the Margraviate of Brandenburg.

When the Thirty Years' War concluded with the Treaty of Münster (also called the Peace of Westphalia) in 1648, a new additional electorate was created for the Count Palatine of the Rhine, along with the new office of Imperial Arch-Treasurer.

With the death of Charles Theodore in 1799 all Wittelsbach land in Bavaria and the Palatinate was reunited under Maximilian IV Joseph, a member of the branch Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld.

The Bavarian Army was involved in the Austrian defeat at Hohenlinden, and General Jean Victor Marie Moreau once more occupied Munich.

In view of the scarcely disguised ambitions and intrigues of the Austrian court, prime minister Montgelas now believed that the interests of Bavaria lay in a frank alliance with the French Republic; he succeeded in overcoming the reluctance of Maximilian Joseph; and, on 24 August, a separate treaty of peace and alliance with France was signed at Paris, which allied Bavaria with France.

The King still served as an elector until Bavaria seceded from the Holy Roman Empire on 1 August 1806, joining the Confederation of the Rhine.

Crown Prince Rupert had earned Hitler's eternal enmity by opposing the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.

With his wife, four children and three half-sisters, he was sent to a series of Nazi concentration camps, including Oranienburg, Flossenbürg and Dachau.

Albrecht's eldest son, Franz von Bayern (Francis of Bavaria) is the current head of the house.

[10] The former Bavarian Royal Family receives around 14 million Euros in payments annually from the proceeds of the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund which also owns agricultural and forestry lands, while its main source of income is urban real estate in Munich.

The private assets of the House of Wittelsbach include the castles of Tegernsee Abbey, Wildenwart (near Frasdorf), Leutstetten (near Starnberg) and Kaltenberg as well as agricultural lands and forestry with an area of 12,500 hectares, real estate and industrial shares.

Duke Franz maintained the tradition founded by his father of holding a large annual reception with a sit-down dinner at Nymphenburg Palace.

Around 1,500 mostly changing guests from state politics, municipalities, churches and sciences, art and medicine as well as friends and relatives are invited.

[13] He also invites smaller groups of changing guests to Berchtesgaden Castle to discuss specific topics that are important to him.

In addition to numerous honorary positions in Bavaria, including many cultural and scientific institutions, Franz was also a member of the European Foundation for the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate for many years, a position that his younger brother Duke Max Emanuel in Bavaria, has since taken over,[14] through which the House of Wittelsbach still maintains a connection to one of its former main territories, the Electoral Palatinate.

The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded non-Protestants from inheriting the throne of Great Britain, making Sophia of Hanover, a born princess of the House of Palatinate-Simmern, the heir presumptive upon Anne's death.

Throughout his reign, Otto faced political challenges concerning Greece's financial weakness and the role of the government in the affairs of the Church.

In 1862, Otto was deposed while in the countryside, and in 1863, the Greek National Assembly elected George I of the House of Glücksburg, aged only 17, King of the Hellenes, marking the end of Wittelsbach rule in Greece.

Due to the unexpected death of Joseph Ferdinand in 1699 the Wittelsbachs did not come to power in Spain, leaving the Spanish Succession uncertain again.

Name of King - King of Bavaria Name of Duke - Duke in Bavaria Name of Prince – Head of Royal House Bold signifies heads of the house and numbers shown indicate the pretense to the kingship of Bavaria: Some of the most important Bavarian castles and palaces that were built by Wittelsbach rulers, or served as seats of ruling branch lines, are the following: Some of the most important castles and palaces of the Palatinate Wittelsbach were: From 1597 to 1794, Bonn was the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne, most of them belonging to the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach (continuously from 1583 to 1761).

This became a unique position given to the eldest descendant of the younger branch of the Wittelsbachs, who inherited the rule of the entire duchy of Bavaria.

Overall quarterly Bavaria, Juliers, Cleves and Berg, inescutcheon sable, a lion or, armed, langued and crowned gules (County palatine of the Rhine).