Joseph Clemens of Bavaria

Joseph Clemens.

Joseph Clemens of Bavaria (German: Joseph Clemens von Bayern) (5 December 1671 – 12 November 1723) was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1688 to 1723.

Biography

The third son of Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria and his wife, Henrietta Adelaide of Savoy, Joseph Clemens was designated by his parents for a life in the church. He became Archbishop of Cologne in 1688 after the death of Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, and his appointment to that post by Pope Innocent XI was one cause of the Nine Years' War. He later also served as Prince-Bishop of Liège, of Regensburg, of Freising and of Hildesheim.

He was a proposed groom for Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres and only daughter of Philippe de France (brother of Louis XIV) and his second wife Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. Joseph Clemens' own sister Maria Anna Victoria had married Élisabeth Charlotte's cousin le Grand Dauphin. Élisabeth Charlotte refused and was later married to the Duke of Lorraine.

As did his brother Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, Joseph Clemens allied with France during the War of Spanish Succession and was forced to flee his residence Bonn in 1702 and found refuge at the French court. Joseph Clemens was put under the ban of the Empire and deprived of his lands in 1706.

The war between France and the Empire was finally ended in 1714 with the Treaty of Baden, which restored Joseph Clemens. He died in Bonn, and was buried at the Cologne Cathedral. Joseph Clemens was succeeded by his nephew Clemens August of Bavaria.