Property from a Central European Collection A RARE GERMAN (BAVARIAN) STATE GLAIVE (KUSE) FOR THE GUARD OF MAXIMILIAN, ELECTOR OF BAVARIA, CIRCA 1623-51 with knife-like blade double-edged over its upper third, decorated on each face with a large panel covering the greater part of its surface, filled with an elaborate trophy-of-arms, the crowned electoral arms enclosed by the Order of the Golden Fleece, and a further trophy-of-arms beneath, with minute traces of gilding (worn, areas of pitting), tapering moulded socket, a pair of long straps, on is faceted wooden haft with an additional pair of straps 71.0 cm; 28 in head Maximilian I (1573-1651, elector from 1623) received a strict Jesuit education followed by travel in Bohemia and Italy after which he succeeded his father as duke of Bavaria in 1597. The duchy had been administered poorly and was debt ridden but it was soon restored to solvency by the energetic young duke. Under his rule the legal system was revised, an effective army was built and control was tightened over his church and its lands. He established himself as the undisputed leader of the German Catholics during the thirty years war, perhaps in part through his obsessive style of government: "I see to my affairs myself and check my accounts myself" he reportedly told a relative. His determination to achieve religious and political goals played a crucial role in prolonging the war in Germany for thirty years, dying three years after it ended in 1648.