Upper Bavaria

The House of Wittelsbach was also split into two branches.

The elder possessed Upper Bavaria and the Palatinate.

The younger ruled in Lower Bavaria.

The Welfs held the Duchy of Brunswick.

There were rival candidates also representing the three leading houses of the time.

John of Bohemia, the late emperor's son, was eventually rejected as too young.

But that still left in the field Albert's son, Frederick the Handsome of Austria, and Louis, Duke of Upper Bavaria, a warrior of great repute.

Delay of more than a year was caused by these complications, and when the election was at last made, the votes were divided between Louis and Frederick, five being given to the former and two to the latter.

On all roads were to be seen pest chapels erected to deliver the land from the terrible scourge.

It was at this time that the natives of Oberammergau in Upper Bavaria, with the same object, instituted the Passion Play.

No wonder that the result was an enormous decrease in the population in all parts of Germany, the effects of which continue to this day.

It has been estimated that the population of the Empire in sixteen forty-eight was only a third of what it was in sixteen eighteen.

These latter ought to have represented the four great nations of which Germany was composed, Franks, Schwabians, Saxons, and Bavarians.

But the duchies of Franconia and Schwabia no longer existed, and the right was exercised by the Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Margrave of Brandenburg, in company with the dukes of Saxony and Bavaria.

In 1256 the votes of this electoral college had been divided between Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of England, and Alfonso the Wise of Castile.

The former was crowned at Aachen and paid an occasional visit to Germany, but never really took up his office.

The Ascanian family ruled in the Mark of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Saxony.

The House of Wittelsbach was also split into two branches.

The elder possessed Upper Bavaria and the Palatinate.

The younger ruled in Lower Bavaria.