The following is a list of monarchs during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1918, Bavaria has been under a republican form of government, and from 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Residenz (German: [ʁeziˈdɛnts] ; 'Residence') in central Munich is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture, room decorations, and displays from the former royal collections.
The complex of buildings contains ten courtyards and displays 130 rooms. The three main parts are the Königsbau (near the Max-Joseph-Platz), the Alte Residenz ('Old Residence'; towards Residenzstraße) and the Festsaalbau (towards the Hofgarten). A wing of the Festsaalbau contains the Cuvilliés Theatre since the reconstruction of the Residenz after World War II. It also houses the Herkulessaal ('Hercules Hall'), the primary concert venue for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.The Byzantine Court Church of All Saints (Allerheiligen-Hofkirche) at the east side is facing the Marstall, the building for the former Court Riding School and the royal stables.
Garibald I (also spelled Garivald; Latin: Garibaldus; born c. 540) was Duke (or king) of Bavaria from 555 until 591.
He was the first known ruler of Bavaria and the head of the Agilolfings, a noble family of Frankish origin. Garibald is regarded as the founder of the Bavarian dynasty, and an ancestor of several prominent figures in the Kingdom of the Lombards.
The Duchy of Bavaria (German: Herzogtum Bayern) was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (duces) under Frankish overlordship. A new duchy was created from this area during the decline of the Carolingian Empire in the late ninth century. It became one of the stem duchies of the East Frankish realm, which evolved as the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.
During internal struggles in the Ottonian dynasty, the Bavarian territory was considerably diminished by the separation of the newly established Duchy of Carinthia in 976. Between 1070 and 1180, the Holy Roman Emperors were again strongly opposed by Bavaria, especially by the ducal House of Welf. In the final conflict between the Welf and Hohenstaufen dynasties, Duke Henry the Lion was banned and deprived of his Bavarian and Saxon fiefs by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Frederick passed Bavaria over to the House of Wittelsbach, which held it until 1918. The Bavarian dukes were raised to prince-electors during the Thirty Years' War in 1623, and to kings by Napoleon in 1806. The duchy chaired the bench of the secular princes to the Reichstag of the Empire.
Henry II (951 – 28 August 995), called the Wrangler or the Quarrelsome (German: Heinrich der Zänker), a member of the German royal Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Bavaria from 955 to 976 and again from 985 to 995, as well as Duke of Carinthia from 989 to 995.
Henry II (German: Heinrich; 1107 – 13 January 1177), called Jasomirgott, a member of the House of Babenberg, was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1140 to 1141, Duke of Bavaria (as Henry XI) and Margrave of Austria from 1141 to 1156, and the first Duke of Austria from 1156 until his death.