Ludwig I of Bavaria

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Ludwig I
Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825
King of Bavaria
Reign	13 October 1825 – 20 March 1848
Predecessor	Maximilian I Joseph
Successor	Maximilian II
Born	(1786-08-25)25 August 1786 Strasbourg, Kingdom of France
Died	29 February 1868(1868-02-29) (aged 81) Nice, Second French Empire
Burial	St. Boniface's Abbey, Munich
Spouse	Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen ​ ​ (m. 1810; died 1854)​
Issue	Maximilian II, King of Bavaria Mathilde Caroline, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine Otto, King of Greece Princess Theodelinde Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria Adelgunde, Duchess of Modena Hildegard, Duchess of Teschen Princess Alexandra Prince Adalbert
Names German: Ludwig Karl August English: Louis Charles Augustus
House	Wittelsbach
Father	Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria
Mother	Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Ludwig I or Louis I (German: Ludwig I.; 25 August 1786 – 29 February 1868) was King of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states. When he was crown prince, he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars. As king, he encouraged Bavaria's industrialization, initiating the Ludwig Canal between the rivers Main and the Danube. In 1835, the first German railway was constructed in his domain, between the cities of Fürth and Nuremberg, with his Bavaria joining the Zollverein economic union in 1834. After the July Revolution of 1830 in France, Ludwig's previous liberal policy became increasingly repressive; in 1844, Ludwig was confronted during the Beer riots in Bavaria. During the revolutions of 1848 the king faced increasing protests and demonstrations by students and the middle classes. On 20 March 1848, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Maximilian.

Ludwig lived for another twenty years after his abdication and remained influential. An admirer of ancient Greece and the Italian Renaissance, Ludwig patronized the arts and commissioned several neoclassical buildings, especially in Munich. He was an avid collector of arts, amassing paintings from the Early German and Early Dutch periods as well as Graeco-Roman sculptures.

All living legitimate agnatic members of the House of Wittelsbach descend from him.