Background
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.
archbishop priest prince-elector
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. Élisabeth Charlotte refused and was later married to the Duke of Lorraine.
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.