The author of this volume, Michael Doeberl (January 15, 1861, in Waldsassen, Upper Palatinate; March 24, 1928, in Partenkirchen, Upper Bavaria), was a historian and diplomat. In 1927, he founded the Commission for Bavarian Regional History at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Doeberl is considered the patriarch of Bavarian regional historical research and writing. His studies on Bavaria and France, particularly under Elector Ferdinand Maria (1900), and his works on Bavaria and the unification of the German Empire in the 19th century are fundamental. His three-volume work on the development of Bavaria (1912-1926) has become a standard reference. Doeberl advocated for parliamentarism in the Kingdom of Bavaria. The National Socialists attacked him in the Völkischer Beobachter when he opposed antisemitic remarks made by students during a lecture.