bavarikon4U1810: Princely Wedding and Civic Representation
At the beginning was a wedding. On 12 October 1810 the Bavarian Crown Prinz Ludwig, future King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786-1868, r. 1825-1848), wed Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1792-1854). The wedding was followed by several days of celebrations, including a horse race that took place on 17 October 1810 outside the gates of the residential city of Munich. This horse race, which from then on would be repeated every year, forms the origins of today’s Oktoberfest.
The origins of what is today considered the “greatest public festival on earth” fell into dangerous times. In the wake of the French Revolution and under the domination of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Europe, Germany and Bavaria experienced unprecedented upheaval. The territory of Bavaria, which had become a kingdom in 1806, changed several times between 1801 and 1816. Bavaria now united rather heterogeneous regions with diverse cultural and religious roots and economic-social conditions. The political reforms of Maximilian von Montgelas (1759-1838) created a modern, central state after the French model.
Bavaria became a theatre of war on several occasions. In 1809, the year before the wedding, ruthless Bavarian politics had caused an uprising in the Tyrol that had been acquired as recently as in 1805. The young kingdom was only quell the uprising with French military help, while at the same time the Old-Bavarian districts experienced transits of troops and military action as part of the Fifth Coalition War.
In this situation, the wedding provided the possibility to institute a feeling of cohesion in the new kingdom, to summon patriotic sentiments and to solidify the connection with the dynasty.
Bavaria and Munich in the Year 1810
When the “Ur-Oktoberfest” was celebrated on 17 October 1810, the most recent changes to the territorial appearance of Bavaria had only happened seven and a half months previously. In the peace treaty of Paris of 28 February 1810, Bavaria had lost the “Etschkreis” (northern Trentino) that reached all the way to Lake Garda with Trent as capital as well as Ulm and Crailsheim, but had gained in return Berchtesgaden, Salzburg and the Innviertel (literally Inn Quarter), Ratisbon as well as the principality of Bayreuth. The kingdom was divided into nine “districts” that bore the names of rivers (Inn, Salzach, Iller, Isar, Oberdonau [Upper Danube], Regen, Unterdonau [Lower Danube], Rezat, Main) after the French model.
At the time, Bavaria still included Vorarlberg, the Northern Tyrol and parts of the Southern Tyrol, the Salzburger Land (Salzburg State) and the Upper-Austrian Innviertel. Contrary to today, Lower Franconia and the Coburg State were not yet part of Bavaria.
The residential city of Munich , therefore, was situated in the centre of the then kingdom. The city still consisted mostly of the mediaeval city centre, even though from 1791 the mediaeval city wall strengthened by modern fortifications had gradually been dismantled. In 1802/03 the monasteries of Munich had been dissolved. A number of churches and chapels were torn down or secularised. The English Garden and the Max-Joseph-Square near the Residence were newly created.
The physician, geographer and statistician Friedrich Albert Klebe (1769-1842), publisher of the officious Bayerische Nationalzeitung, summed up the numerous changes with the optimism typical at the time: “The exterior of the city becomes more pleasing with every day” (pp. 41/42).
The Royal Wedding
Jakob Beiel, who from 1809 to 1813 inventoried the prints of Italian poets and authors at the königlichen Hofbibliothek (Royal Court Library) in Munich , i.e. today’s Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library), published in 1811 a description of the wedding celebrations. In the form of letters, he described the journey of the bride to Munich, her arrival, the wedding celebrations and the couple’s honeymoon. The “Siebente Brief” (Seventh Letter) is the “Beschreibung des großen Pferderennens auf der neuen Theresien-Wiese bei Sendling” (Description of the great horse race on the new Theresienwiese [Theresia Meadow] near Sendling) (p. 41).
The propagandistic intentions of the description become particularly clear, when Beiel, starting with the 11th Letter, reports about Ludwig’s journey to Innsbruck. Two days after his wedding, the crown prince had been appointed by his father as governor general of the Inn- and Salzachdistricts and was supposed to reside in Salzburg and Innsbruck in turn.
Even in the Tyrol, where the year before an uprising against Bavarian rule had been quelled with much bloodshed, the crown princely couple – if one wishes to believe the commentator – received only “the lively jubilation of the people drunk with joy” (laute(r) Jubel des freudetrunkenen Volkes) (p. 86).
Similarly, the author describes 1816 the wedding of Karoline Charlotte Auguste von Bayern (1792-1873) with Emperor Francis I of Austria (1768-1835).
Poetry for the Wedding
The numerous poems, which were created for the wedding celebrations, assert the state-supporting and patriotic potential of the wedding. The authors may be found in the circles of the Munich bourgeoisie and of the state functionaries. For example, the German philologist Bernhard Joseph Docen (1782-1828) was also employed at the Hofbibliothek (Court Library). Joseph von Mussinan (1766-1837), a jurist in the service of the Bavarian state, also engaged in historical activities and in 1810 became a corresponding member of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Bavarian Academy of Sciences).
The works of poetry presented here, originate from the holdings “Don.Lud.” (Donatio Ludovici) of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library). These books arrived at the then Hofbibliothek (Court Library) in 1846 in exchange against duplicate copies from the king’s private library.
The Horse Race of the Cavalry Division of the Royal-Bavarian National Guard, Third Class
The constitution of the kingdom of Bavaria of 1808 introduced a general conscription and provided for a standing army. In the case of war, the so-called “National Guard” ought to ensure security within the country in accordance with the French model. In the third class of the guard, which as a citizens’ guard was supposed to care for the security in their local province, the citizens’ army of the cities and markets, which had already been founded in 1807, was going to be merged. From 1814, these units bore the label of “Landwehr” (territorial army). They were assigned to the civil authorities.
The horse race organised by the Munich National Guard was the contribution made by the municipal bourgeoisie to the wedding. The city of Munich itself was unable to appear as the active authority as a result of a communal decree of 1808, by which communal self-administration had been abolished.
Andreas Michael von Dall’Armi, the Initiator of the Horse Race
Organiser of the horse race was the, originally Trentine, banker and merchant Andreas Michael von Dall'Armi (1765-1842), an Italian who had become firmly established within the bourgeois elite of Munich . Dall'Armi had been working since 1784 in the bank and in the business of his brother-in-law Jakob Nockher. In 1786, he married Elisabeth Nockher (1750-1793), the main heiress of the Nockher fortune. A year later, he received citizen rights in Munich. In 1792, Dall'Armi was ennobled. His second wife was part of a Munich family of publicans and innkeepers called Stürzer, who owned the well-known inn "Zum Goldenen Hirschen" (The Golden Deer) on Theatinerstraße.
The successful businessman not only organised the horse race, but also suggested to call the event of the race by the name of "Theresens-Wiese" (Theresia Meadow). He published the description of the celebrations at his own expense and suggested – however to no avail – the erection of a Bavarian "National-Monument" on Theresienwiese. For his merits in the creation and continuation of the feast, the city of Munich bestowed on Dall'Armi the Goldene Bürgermedaille (Golden Citizens’ Medal) in 1824.
In 1811, Dall'Armi entered the civil service and became general comptroller with the newly installed commission for the clearance of government debt. He handed over the Nockhers’ business and bank to his nephew Franz Nockher, since the sons of his first marriage showed now interest. The new owner however went bankrupt in 1817 (and committed suicide in 1820). In 1821, Dall'Armi left the civil service and retired.
Literature:
Excursus: Karl Theodor von Heigel and the Official Interpretation of History
In 1872, the Munich historian Karl Theodor von Heigel (1842-1915) delivered the first scholarly biography of Ludwigs I commissioned by the royal government. The biography mentions the Oktoberfest briefly and in a rather remote manner ( p. 32).
Heigel had worked since 1866 at the royal Reichsarchiv (Imperial Archive) in Munich , today’s Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv (Bavarian Main State Archive). In 1885, he was appointed as professor of history at the University of Munich, where he also became head of the Historische Seminar (Historical Seminar). In 1904, he became president of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Bavarian Academy of Sciences). The particular focus of his research rested on Bavarian history and on Bavarian rulers.
