Albrecht I (Bavaria)

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Albrecht I of Bavaria

Albrecht I of Bavaria (born July 25, 1336 in Munich , † December 16, 1404 in The Hague ) was a member of the Wittelsbach family . He was Duke of Bavaria-Straubing , Count of Holland , Zeeland and Hainaut and Lord of Friesland . Albrecht organized the Cambrai double wedding in 1385, which was attended by more than 20,000 guests.

Contemporary history background

With Albrecht's father Ludwig IV. The Bavarian , the Wittelsbachers established the Roman-German king for the first time in 1314. Ludwig, who only prevailed after a long struggle against his competitor Friedrich the Beautiful from the House of Habsburg , systematically expanded his family's domestic power : In addition to the ancestral properties in Bavaria and the Palatinate , he acquired Brandenburg and Tyrol as well as Holland, Zealand and the Hainaut. After his death in 1347, these areas fell to his six sons Ludwig the Brandenburger , Stephan II , Ludwig the Römer , Wilhelm I , Albrecht I and Otto V.

The year of death of Ludwig IV, 1347, marks a turning point in the history of Europe. The Black Death , a plague epidemic of unimagined proportions, spread across the continent. In addition to the devastating economic and demographic effects of the plague, the Hundred Years War broke out between England and France in 1337 . The influence of the church, which split for four decades in the Avignon Schism in 1378 , also declined. Because of these developments, the time in which Albrecht was born is also referred to as the crisis of the late Middle Ages .

Initially, Albrecht's older brothers continued their late father's imperial policy. It was not until February 1350 that the Wittelsbach family recognized Charles IV as the new king and undertook to deliver the imperial regalia to him .

Life

The Duchy of Straubing-Holland
The four Bavarian partial duchies after the division of the country in 1392

Early years and beginning of rule

Albrecht I was the third son of Emperor Ludwig IV and his second wife, Countess Margarethe of Hainaut and Holland.

In 1345 the mother's family had died out in the male line. On September 7, 1346, Ludwig the Bavarian ordered that Margaret's second son Wilhelm I should succeed his mother in the Netherlands in the event of her death, and that after Wilhelm, if he died childless, Margaret's third son Albrecht would come next. For this, Ludwig VI waived. the Roman, as Margarethes eldest son, on his mother's inheritance, the Dutch counties , although the background is not clear.

After the death of his father, Albrecht, still a minor, was duke throughout Bavaria from 1347 to 1349 together with his brothers. From the division of the duchy in the Landsberg Treaty from 1349 to 1353, he ruled the Lower Bavarian partial duchy together with Stephan II and Wilhelm I. In 1353 he married Margarete von Liegnitz-Brieg († 1386), a daughter of Duke Ludwig I of Liegnitz and great-granddaughter of the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II . In the same year he was in the Regensburg Treaty together with Wilhelm I. Duke of Bavaria-Straubing-Holland.

Wilhelm administered the counties in the north, while Albrecht initially stayed in Straubing. When Wilhelm became permanently mentally ill in 1357, he remained formally duke until his death, but Albrecht has ruled alone since then. In February 1358 Duke Albrecht came to Holland and on March 7, 1358 he accepted the reign of the counties. In June his brother Ludwig the Romans finally renounced the counties. It was only after Wilhelm's death in 1389 that Albrecht took over the title of count, previously he was referred to as Ruwaard (governor, regent).

Rule in Straubing-Holland

Although Albrecht had a representative ducal palace built in Straubing , from 1358 he mainly resided in The Hague. At first he succeeded in breaking the last resistance to cable tapping in Delft (1359) and Middelburg (1361), the latter was also supported by England. When King Edward III. made new inheritance claims from England through his wife Philippa von Hennegau , Albrecht's aunt, in the Netherlands, Albrecht traveled to England in 1367 and obtained his renunciation. In view of the claims of England and the opposition of Emperor Charles IV , he joined France closely with the success that Charles IV soon found himself obliged to recognize him in his new possession in the Netherlands.

In the battle for Tyrol (1363-1369) Albrecht stood on the side of his brother Stephan II. In the Peace of Schärding in 1369 Albrecht was able to consolidate his Straubing duchy with the relapse of Schärding to the east. In 1356 Albrecht needed funds to be able to set up an armed force against incursions from Bohemia, so in 1357 he pledged the city of Schärding, including the area and toll, to the dukes of Austria for 20,000 gold guilders.

In terms of foreign policy, Albrecht endeavored in later years to achieve neutrality and the most varied alliances possible with the neighbors of his territories. His rule was secured by his ambitious marriage policy and with the political marriages of his children he became closer to the House of Burgundy , to which he was now related. In 1385 he organized the Cambrai double wedding . Three sons were available as successors: Wilhelm II , who was to take over the Dutch counties, Albrecht II , who was intended to rule in Straubing , and Johann III. who headed the diocese of Liège as prince elect .

However, the relationship between Duke Albrecht and the Dutch noblewoman Aleida von Poelgeest caused unrest on the domestic front. With Aleida's help, the city's cod party tried to expand its influence at Albrecht's court, while the old noblemen made a pact with his son Wilhelm, who was entrusted with the administration of Hainaut at the time (for the background, see the hook and cod war ). The conflict between father and son culminated in 1392 with the murder of Aleida and the ducal court master Willem Cuser, probably caused by the Hoeken . Albrecht was finally able to prevail, Wilhelm had to flee to England. As early as 1394, however, the two were reconciled and Wilhelm received his governor rights back.

Father and son carried out a series of campaigns against the rebellious Frisians who wanted to break away from Holland and submit directly to the Roman-German Emperor , at considerable financial expense, but with no clear result .

The English King Richard II accepted Albrecht in 1397 as a knight in the Order of the Garter .

Death and succession

Albrecht I died on December 16, 1404 after more than 46 years of reign. He had strengthened the duchy, which had only been newly formed in 1353, economically and domestically and brought it to European size through his marriage policy. During his almost fifty-year reign, the Duchy of Bavaria-Straubing-Holland developed into an important factor in European politics. His second son Albrecht II administered the Straubing part of the country until his death in 1397; his eldest son Wilhelm II succeeded him in 1404. With the death of the third son Johann III., Who fought over the rule with Wilhelm II's daughter, Jakobäa , ended in 1425 the male line of the Wittelsbach line Bavaria-Straubing-Holland.

Marriages and offspring

From his marriage on July 19, 1353 in Passau to Margarete von Liegnitz-Brieg, a daughter of Duke Ludwig I of Liegnitz , Albrecht I had seven children:

After his first wife died in 1386, Albrecht married Margarete von Kleve on March 30, 1394 in Cologne . This connection remained childless.

Albrecht was buried in the court chapel in The Hague next to his first wife Margarete von Liegnitz-Brieg.

literature

  • Michaela Bleicher: The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing in the Hussite Wars. Everyday life and warfare as reflected in the land clerk accounts . Dissertation, Regensburg 2006, p. 31-42 ( online ).
  • Laetitia Boehm : The Wittelsbach House in the Netherlands . In: Journal for Bavarian State History . tape 44 , 1981, pp. 93-130 , especially 111-115 ( online ).
  • Alfons Huber, Johannes Prammer (ed.): 650 years of the Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing-Holland. Lecture series of the historical association for Straubing and the surrounding area . Historical association for Straubing and the surrounding area, Straubing 2005, ISBN 3-00-014600-8 , p. 7-39, 91-126 .
  • Dorit-Maria Krenn, Joachim Wild : “princes in the distance”. The Duchy of Lower Bavaria-Straubing-Holland 1353–1425 (=  booklets on Bavarian history and culture . Volume 28 ). House of Bavarian History, Augsburg 2003, ISBN 3-927233-86-2 , p. 5-29, 32-34, 42-44 .
  • Dorit-Maria Krenn: Albrecht I of Straubing-Holland . In: Straubinger! 23 short portraits . Attenkofer, Straubing 2007, ISBN 3-936511-39-X , p. 14-18 .
  • Edmund von Oefele:  Albrecht I, Count Palatine near the Rhine . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 230 f.
  • Hans Patze : The Wittelsbacher in medieval politics in Europe . In: Journal for Bavarian State History . tape 44 , 1981, pp. 33-79 , especially 70-72 ( online ).
  • Hans Rall :  Albrecht I, Duke of Bavaria. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 155 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Joachim Wild: The dukes of Straubing and Ingolstadt. Temporary residence cities . In: Alois Schmid , Katharina Weigand (Hrsg.): The rulers of Bavaria. 25 historical portraits of Tassilo III. until Ludwig III. 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54468-1 , p. 118-129 , especially 119-121 .
  • Joachim Wild: Holland. The Wittelsbacher on the North Sea (1346–1436) . In: Alois Schmid, Katharina Weigand (Hrsg.): Bavaria in the middle of Europe. From the early Middle Ages to the 20th century . CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52898-8 , p. 92-106 , especially 95-103 .

Web links

Commons : Albrecht I. (Bayern)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ From Michiel Vosmeer: Principes Hollandiae et Zelandiae. Antwerp 1578.
  2. ^ Léopold Devillers: Cartulaire des Comtes de Hainaut de l'avènement de Guillaume II à la mort de Jacqueline de Bavière . tape 3 . Hayez, Brussels 1886, p. 241 with note 1 . Marinus Jacobus Waale: De Arkelse oorlog 1401-1412. A political, critical and economic analysis . Lost, Hilversum 1990, p. 108 .
  3. ↑ In detail on Albrecht and his foreign policy Dick de Boer, Person und Neutralitätsppolitik Albrechts I , in: Huber / Prammer, 650 Jahre Herzogtum Niederbayern-Straubing-Holland , pp. 91–126.
  4. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 7.
  5. ↑ On Albrecht's death and burial of Helga Czerny: The death of the Bavarian dukes in the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period 1347–1579. Preparations - dying - funeral ceremonies - burial - memoria (=  series of publications on Bavarian national history . Volume 146 ). CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-10742-7 , p. 102–105 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).
predecessor Office successor
Wilhelm I. Duke of Bavaria (-Straubing-Holland)
1347 / 1353-1404 		Wilhelm II.
personal data
SURNAME Albrecht I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Albrecht I of Bavaria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Bavaria-Straubing, Count of Holland, Zealand and Hainaut and Lord of Friesland
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1336
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1404
Place of death The hague