Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria

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Karl Theodor (December 12, 1724 – february 16, 1799) reigned as Prince-Elector and Count Palatinate from 1742, and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death.

Biography

Born in Drogenbos near Brussels, and educated in Mannheim, Karl Theodor inherited Electoral Palatine in 1742. As reigning Prince of the Palatinate, he won the hearts of his subjects by founding an academy of science, stocking up the museums' collections and supporting the arts. When Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria died in 1777, Karl Theodor became also Elector and Duke of Bavaria and moved to Munich.

He instantly managed to make everyone in Bavaria his enemy by proposing to Emperor Joseph II to exchange parts of Bavaria for some Austrian possessions along the Rhine and in today Belgium. The ensuing diplomatic crisis led to the outbreak of the War of the Bavarian Succession; in the Peace of Teschen (1779), it was established that Karl's children (he was childless - morganatic marriage) would not inherit the throne of Bavaria.

Karl Theodor never became popular as a ruler in Bavaria; in the following years, he constantly tried without success to exchange the ducal lands of Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands and a royal crown, and he never managed to control the mounting social tensions in Bavaria. When the revolutionary armies of France invaded the Palatinate in 1795 and proceeded towards Bavaria in 1796, Karl Theodor begged Francis II for help which in essence would have made Bavaria a puppet state of Austria. When he died of a stroke in Munich in 1799, the population in Munich celebrated for several days.

Despite the mutual dislike and distrust between the Duke and his Bavarian subjects, Karl Theodor left a distinctive mark on the city of Munich: it was under his reign that the English Garden, Munich's largest park, was created, and the city's old fortifications were dismantled to make place for a modern, expanding city. Since 1785 Count Rumford reorganized the state. Karl Theodor is also known for disbanding Adam Weishaupt's order of the Illuminati in 1785.

One of Munich's major squares, Karlsplatz, is named after Karl Theodor. Munich natives, however, seldom use that name, calling the square instead Stachus, after the pub "Beim Stachus" that was located there until construction work for Karlsplatz began. One of the main reasons for this is that Karl Theodor, as noted above, never enjoyed the popularlity in Bavaria that he enjoyed in the Palatinate.