Duchy of Bavaria

The Duchy of Bavaria was the only stem duchy from the earliest days of East Francia and the Holy Roman Empire to preserve both its name and most of its territorial extent.

In the line of Holy Roman Emperors, only Louis IV (1328–1347) was associated with the duchy; Bavaria was the source of much opposition, especially from the House of Welf between 1070 and 1180. In the final showdown between Duke Henry the Lion and the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick I, Frederick was triumphant and deprived Henry of his fiefs. Bavaria then passed on to the House of Wittelsbach, which held it until 1918.