Duke Pius August in Bavaria

Pius August
	Duke of Bavaria
	1800 portrait 1800 portrait
Born	1 August 1786; Landshut, Electorate of Bavaria
Died	3 August 1837 (aged 51); Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria
Spouse	Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg; (m. 1807; died 1823)
Issue	Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria
House	Wittelsbach
Father	Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria
Mother	Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld

Duke Pius August of Bavaria, full German name: Pius August Herzog in Bayern (1 August 1786 – 3 August 1837) was a Duke in Bavaria as a member of the Palatine Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen line of the House of Wittelsbach. He was the paternal grandfather of Empress Elisabeth of Austria through his son Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians and an ancestor of the current generations of the Belgian and Italian Royal Families and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg.

Early life

Pius August was born on 1 August 1786 in Landshut as the third child and eldest surviving son of the then Count Palatine Wilhelm of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen and his wife, Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. His father was a member of the non-reigning Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen line of the widely branched House of Wittelsbach, and his mother was a daughter of Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler, and sister of Maximilian Joseph, later King of Bavaria.^[1]

Pius August married Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg, daughter of Prince Louis Marie of Arenberg and his wife, Marie Adélaïde Julie de Mailly-Nesle, Dame d'Ivry-sur-Seine, on 26 May 1807 in Brussels. Pius August and Amélie Louise had one son:

Duke Pius August was a major general in the royal Bavarian Army and commanded the 8th Infantry Regiment in Bayreuth.^[2] In 1815, Pius August became an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He loved to travel.

Back to citation Huberty, Michel; Giraud, Alain (1985). Giraud, Alain (ed.). L'Allemagne dynastique (in French). Vol. IV: Wittelsbach. Le Perreux-sur-Marne. p. 348. ISBN 978-2-901138-04-4.
Back to citation Militär-Handbuch des Königreiches Bayern (in German). 1838. p. 201.

von Witzleben, Hermann; von Vignau, Ilka (1976). Die Herzöge in Bayern. Von der Pfalz zum Tegernsee [The dukes in Bavaria. From the Palatinate to Tegernsee] (in German). Munich. ISBN 3-7913-0394-5.