Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Ferdinand Maria
Theatiner Church , Bavaria
Spouse	Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy ​ ​ (m. 1650; died 1676)​
Issue	Maria Anna Victoria, Dauphine of France Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria Joseph Clemens, Archbishop of Cologne Violante Beatrice, Grand Princess of Tuscany
Roman Catholicism
Signature

Ferdinand Maria (31 October 1636 – 26 May 1679) was a

Born during the reign of his father, he was known as the Electoral Prince from birth. Through his mother, he was a first cousin of Queen Mariana of Spain as well as Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.

On 8 December 1650, he married

Still a minor when he succeeded his father in 1651, his mother became his guardian and his uncle,

Ferdinand Maria was crowned on 31 October 1654. His absolutistic style of leadership became a benchmark for the rest of Germany. Though Ferdinand Maria was allied with France, he made no attempt to oppose the Habsburg candidate at the 1658 imperial election after the death of his uncle Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor to avoid conflict. Ferdinand Maria supported the Habsburgs in the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) against the Ottoman Empire, providing Bavarian contingents for the Army of the Holy Roman Empire. Under his leadership, Bavaria was officially neutral during the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678). Plans for a Bavarian colony near New York were discussed but soon abandoned.

The marriage of his eldest daughter

Ferdinand Maria modernized the Bavarian Army and introduced the first Bavarian local government code. The Elector did much indeed to repair the wounds caused by the Thirty Years' War, encouraging agriculture and industries, and building or restoring numerous churches and monasteries. In 1669, moreover, he again called a meeting of the diet, which had been suspended since 1612. At the end of his reign he left the electorate with a very wealthy treasury.

He died at the

Ferdinand Maria married

The castle was used for festivities there and later reached its zenith when it became the scene of spectacular entertainments and hunts under the rule of his successors, Maximilian Emanuel and Emperor Charles VII. For the Munich Residenz, Ferdinand Maria ordered the creation of the Papal Rooms.

• Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (28 November 1660 – 20 April 1690) married Louis, Dauphin of France
  , and had issue.
• Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (11 July 1662 – 26 February 1726); married Maria Antonia of Austria and had issue; married Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska
  and had issue.
• Luise Margarete Antonie of Bavaria (18 September 1663 – 10 November 1665) died in infancy.
• Ludwig Amadeus Victor of Bavaria (6 April 1665 – 11 December 1665) died in infancy.
• Stillborn son (4 August 1666).
• Kajetan Maria Franz of Bavaria (2 May 1670 – 7 December 1670) died in infancy.
• Joseph Clemens of Bavaria (5 December 1671 – 12 November 1723) Elector and Archbishop of Cologne died unmarried.
• Violante Beatrix of Bavaria (3 April 1673 – 3 June 1731) married Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany
  and died childless.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria.