Editing House of Wittelsbach (section)

===Bavarian branch===
The Bavarian branch kept the Duchy of Bavaria until its extinction in 1777.

[[File:HRR 1648 Bayern.png|thumb|center|400px|The [[Electorate of Bavaria]] highlighted on a map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1648]]

The Wittelsbach Emperor [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis IV]] acquired [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] (1323), [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]] (1342), [[County of Holland|Holland]], [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]] and [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] (1345) for his House but he had also released the [[Upper Palatinate]] for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. His six sons succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria and Count of Holland and Hainaut in 1347. The Wittelsbachs lost the Tyrol with the death of Duke [[Meinhard III of Gorizia-Tyrol|Meinhard]] and the following Peace of Schärding – the Tyrol was finally renounced to the [[Habsburg]]s in 1369. In 1373 [[Otto V, Duke of Bavaria|Otto]], the last Wittelsbach regent of Brandenburg, released the country to the [[House of Luxembourg]]. On Duke [[Albert I, Duke of Bavaria|Albert's]] death in 1404, he was succeeded in the Netherlands by his eldest son, [[William VI, Count of Holland|William]]. A younger son, [[John, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing|John III]], became Prince-[[Bishop of Liège]]. However, on William's death in 1417, a war of succession broke out between John and William's daughter [[Jacqueline of Hainaut]]. This last episode of the [[Hook and Cod wars]] finally left the counties in [[Burgundian State|Burgundian]] hands in 1433.
Emperor Louis IV had reunited Bavaria in 1340 but from 1349 onwards Bavaria was split among the descendants of Louis IV, who created the branches ''[[Bavaria-Landshut]]'', ''[[Bavaria-Straubing]]'', ''[[Bavaria-Ingolstadt]]'' and ''[[Bavaria-Munich]]''. With the [[Landshut War of Succession]] Bavaria was reunited in 1505 against the claim of the Palatinate branch under the Bavarian branch ''Bavaria-Munich''.

From 1549 to 1567 the Wittelsbach owned the [[County of Kladsko]] in Bohemia.

Strictly [[Catholic]] by upbringing, the Bavarian dukes became [[leadership|leader]]s of the German [[Counter-Reformation]]. From 1583 to 1761, the Bavarian branch of the dynasty provided the [[Prince-elector]]s and [[Electorate of Cologne|Archbishops of Cologne]] and many other bishops of the Holy Roman Empire, namely [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège|Liège]] (1581–1763). Wittelsbach princes served at times as Bishops of [[Prince-bishopric of Regensburg|Regensburg]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising#Prince-bishops of Freising|Freising]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Münster|Münster]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim|Hildesheim]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn|Paderborn]] and [[Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück|Osnabrück]], and as [[Grand Master of the Teutonic Order]].

In 1623 under [[Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria|Maximilian I]] the Bavarian dukes were invested with the [[Prince-elector|electoral]] dignity and the duchy became the [[Electorate of Bavaria]]. His grandson [[Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria]] served also as [[Governors of the Habsburg Netherlands|Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands]] (1692–1706) and as Duke of [[Duchy of Luxembourg|Luxembourg]] (1712–1714). His son Emperor [[Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VII]] also claimed the throne of [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]] (1741–1743). With the death of Charles' son [[Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria]] the Bavarian branch died out in 1777.