Charles Theodore did not immediately take up his new title. He had several mistresses and many illegitimate children. However, those children could inherit neither the
Electorate of Bavaria nor that of the Palatinate; Charles Theodore needed territory that he could bequeath to his illegitimate children. On 3 January 1778, shortly after the death of Max Joseph, Charles Theodore signed an agreement with
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor to exchange southern Bavaria for part of the
Austrian Netherlands. The plan was strongly opposed by
Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, the widow of Max Joseph, and Charles Theodore's cousin
Charles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken, the head of the
House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld and the next heir of Bavaria and the Palatinate. They were supported by
Frederick II of Prussia and most of the German minor states. The ensuing diplomatic crisis led to the
War of the Bavarian Succession, which was ended by the
Peace of Teschen (1779). Charles Theodore accepted the Bavarian succession but agreed that his illegitimate descendants could not inherit Bavaria. Charles Theodore had only one son, Franz Ludwig Josef, with his wife,
Countess Elizabeth Augusta of Sulzbach, who died a day after birth. His wife died in 1794. In 1795, he married
Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este, Joseph's niece, but they had no children. A second proposal to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands in 1784 also failed as Frederick II of Prussia initiated the
Fürstenbund. When Charles Theodore died, Bavaria and the Palatinate passed to his cousin,
Max Joseph, Duke of Zweibrücken, the younger brother of Charles August, who had died in 1795. In 1989, Marvin E. Thomas argued in
Karl Theodor and the Bavarian Succession, 1777–1778 that Charles Theodore had wanted to maintain possession of his new territory, as is shown in his diplomatic correspondence. It is more widely understood that Charles Theodore continued the despotic and expensive habits he had developed as Elector Palatine.
Rule as elector of Bavaria Charles Theodore never became popular as a ruler in Bavaria, according to his critic
Lorenz von Westenrieder. He attempted, without success, to exchange the electoral lands of Bavaria for the
Austrian Netherlands and a royal crown, and he never managed to control the mounting social tensions in Bavaria. After a dispute with Munich's city council, he even moved the electoral residence in 1788 to
Mannheim but returned only one year later. In 1785, he appointed the
American Loyalist exile
Benjamin Thompson as his aide-de-camp and chamberlain. Over the next 11 years, Thompson reformed the
Bavarian Army and many aspects of the state, rose to high ministerial rank with Charles Theodore's backing and became Count von Rumford. Charles Theodore is also known for disbanding
Adam Weishaupt's order of the
Illuminati in 1785. In 1794, the
French Revolutionary Army occupied the
Duchy of Jülich; in 1795, they invaded the Palatinate; and in 1796, they marched towards Bavaria. Charles Theodore begged
Francis II for help that would have made Bavaria a puppet state of Austria. When he died of a stroke in Munich in 1799, the population in Munich celebrated for several days. He is buried in the crypt of the
Theatinerkirche in Munich. Despite the mutual dislike and distrust between the elector and his Bavarian subjects, Charles Theodore left a distinctive mark on the city of Munich. It was during his reign that the
English Garden, Munich's largest park, was created, and the city's old fortifications were dismantled to make place for a modern, expanding city. One of Munich's major squares,
Karlsplatz, is named after Charles Theodore. Munich natives, however, seldom use that name, calling the square instead
Stachus, after the pub "
Beim Stachus" that was located there until construction work for Karlsplatz began, mainly because Charles Theodore, as noted above, never enjoyed the popularity in Bavaria that he enjoyed in the Palatinate. ==Character==