Charles Theodore had already ruled the Palatinate-Sulzbach line since 1742 before unexpectedly inheriting Bavaria in 1777, making him one of the more reluctant dynasts of the late Holy Roman Empire — his Bavarian subjects never quite trusted a man whose heart remained on the Rhine. By 1802, his administration was effectively a dead letter: the left bank of the Rhine had been ceded to France under the Treaty of Lunéville the previous year, and the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss was weeks from dissolving the old territorial order entirely. This kreuzer is among the final issues of a polity that ceased to exist in everything but paperwork before the ink had dried.
Charles Theodore had already ruled the Palatinate-Sulzbach line since 1742 before unexpectedly inheriting Bavaria in 1777, making him one of the more reluctant dynasts of the late Holy Roman Empire — his Bavarian subjects never quite trusted a man whose heart remained on the Rhine. By 1802, his administration was effectively a dead letter: the left bank of the Rhine had been ceded to France under the Treaty of Lunéville the previous year, and the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss was weeks from dissolving the old territorial order entirely. This kreuzer is among the final issues of a polity that ceased to exist in everything but paperwork before the ink had dried.