European Heraldry

House of Wittelsbach

The Wittelsbachs were Dukes, Electors and Kings of Bavaria (1180-1918), Counts Palatine of the Rhine (1214-1803), Counts of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland (1345-1432), Elector-Archbishops of Cologne (1583-1761), Kings of Sweden (1654-1720) and Kings of Greece (1832-1862). The family also provided two Holy Roman Emperors.

• Otto IV, (c. 1083-1156),Count of Wittelsbach, a descendant of Count Otto II of Scheyern
• Louis I, ( 1173 – ),Duke of Bavaria in 1183 and Count Palatine of the Rhine in 1214. Ancestor of all the Wittelsbach lines.
• Henry XIII of Bavaria, ( 1235 – 1290 ), Duke of Lower Bavaria as Henry I. Line extinct 1340

• Otto III of Bavaria, ( 1261– 1312 ), Duke of Lower Bavaria from 1290 to 1312 and King of between 1305 and 1307 as Béla V.

• Louis II of Bavaria ( 1229 – 1294), Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1253. Known as “the Severe”.

Sons of Louis II:

• Rudolf I of Bavaria ( 1274- 1319), Duke of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1294. Ancestor of the senior Palatinate Wittlesbachs. See Count Palatines.
• Louis IV ( 1282 – 1347), Duke of Bavaria from 1294/1301 together with his brother Rudolf I, Count Palatine of the Rhine until 1329, King of Germany from 1314, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Ancestor of the junior Bavarian Wittlesbachs whose line went extinct in 1777.

• Louis VI the Roman ( 1328 – 1365) was the first son of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian from his second wife Margaret of Holland . Louis VI was Duke of Bavaria (1347-1365) and Margrave of Brandenburg (1351-1365). He also served as Prince-elector of Brandenburg from1356. The Wittlesbachs held the Electorate of Brandenburg from 1323 until 1373.

• William I,( 1330 – 1389, ), Duke of Bavaria- Straubing.The second son of the emperor Louis IV the Bavarian from his second wife Margaret of Holland and Hainaut. Known as William V, Count of Holland, as William III, Count of Hainaut and as William IV, Count of Zeeland. Wittlesbach Counts of Holland extinct in 1417.