Maximilian I "the Great" of Bavaria (17 April 1573-27 September 1651) was Duke of Bavaria from 1597 to 1651. He succeeded William V of Bavaria and preceded Ferdinand Maria I of Bavaria.
Biography[]
Maximilian von Wittelsbach was born in Munich, son of William V of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. In 1591, upon his father's abdication, he took a role in the government, and in 1597 he became Duke. In 1607 he occupied Donauworth, a city of the Protestant Union, and, in the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648, Bavaria was the leader of the Catholic League. In 1647 the Protestant armies ravaged Bavaria, and Bavaria was occupied by the titme of the war's end in 1648. Maximilian died in Ingolstadt in 1651.