Johann II. (Bavaria)

Johann II of Bavaria (* around 1341; † between June 14 and July 1, 1397) had been Duke of Bavaria since 1375 . He was the youngest son of Duke Stephen II and Elisabeth of Sicily . Johann founded the Duchy of Bavaria-Munich .

Life

Start of government

Despite the Wittelsbach territorial losses under Stephan II, the financial starting position for the dukes was favorable: Bavaria had received the enormous sum of around half a million guilders in cash and in bonds, the largest of which, for the cession of Tyrol (1369) and Brandenburg (1373) Part was allotted to Stephan II, who in 1375 was also able to inherit a self-contained area. As a result, a number of the former possessions of the Counts of Abensberg, Ortenburg, Hals and Schauenburg, the Hochstift Regensburg, the Lords of Laaber and the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg, especially in Lower Bavaria and in the Nordgau, which still interrupted the regional context, could from to be acquired by the dukes.

From 1375 to 1392 Johann ruled together with his brothers Stephan III. and Friedrich , until his death in 1379 with his uncle Otto, who was about the same age . Together with Stephan, he was responsible for the Upper Bavarian part of the duchy, while Friedrich and initially Otto also administered Lower Bavaria. With the division of the country in 1376 , the four dukes agreed that Upper Bavaria would initially be administered by Stephan and Johann and Lower Bavaria by Friedrich and Otto. So that neither party was disadvantaged, the government areas should change every two years. However, this unusual arrangement was not implemented. Instead, Friedrich paid his brothers, who lived in Upper Bavaria, 4,000 guilders a year as compensation.

Although Johann supported his brothers in some of their armed conflicts, including in the city ​​war , he was of a different nature. In contrast to Stephan and Friedrich, Johann had a calm, level-headed temperament. John's life was primarily characterized by his piety and his love for hunting. Later, however, Johann was finally to finally give up his passivity when he realized that it was necessary to defend the future inheritance of his sons Ernst and Wilhelm against his brothers.

In 1385 there was an uprising against Johann and Friedrich among the citizens of Munich , but this was quickly suppressed. As a result, the Neuveste, which was strategically located on the outskirts of the city at the time, gained in importance, the original building of the Munich Residence .

In 1385 Johann II inherited with his wife Katharina , a daughter of Meinhard VI. of Gorizia a third of the county of Gorizia around the main town Lienz , which he occupied, which caused a conflict with the Habsburgs. In 1388 he installed the Bavarian hunter Hans Kummersprucker as governor, but from 1390 he finally administered the area from Bavaria. In July 1392 Johann sold the claim to Gorizia to the Habsburg Albrecht III. after his brother Stephan's policy on Italy had just suffered a setback.

Johann tried to divide the country completely in 1384 and 1387, but failed due to the resistance of his two brothers and the Upper Bavarian estates and had to promise to continue the joint governance in Aichach in 1384 and in Munich in 1390.

Duke of Bavaria-Munich

The four Bavarian partial duchies after the division of the country in 1392

After further disputes between the brothers, the duchy was divided into three parts in November 1392 : Johann received Bayern-Munich , Friedrich Bayern-Landshut and Stephan III. Bavaria-Ingolstadt . In addition, Bavaria-Straubing already existed as the fourth duchy . The driving force behind the division was Johann, who was no longer willing to pay for his brother Stephan III's costly court. and the Italian policy of Stephen and Frederick, both of whom were married to the daughters of the Milanese city lord Bernabò Visconti , also emerged. With the help of his son Ernst, Johann was able to win the city of Munich and part of the estates on his side, which probably feared a war between the brothers, and so he was ultimately successful. In 1396 Ernst was also supposed to marry a Visconti princess.

However, the division created new tensions between Johann and Stephan, who soon no longer wanted to be satisfied with Ingolstadt. Stephan III. had received scattered areas of Upper Bavaria and Northern Gau when the country was divided, which he ruled from Ingolstadt . He felt that he had been taken advantage of in the division and so there were armed conflicts between him and Duke Johann in the First Bavarian House War in 1394/95 . Stephen's son Ludwig VII attacked Freising on Christmas Eve 1394 , whose bishop Berthold von Wehingen was chancellor of the Austrian dukes, threatened Pfaffenhofen and plundered Neustadt an der Donau in the Duchy of Munich on Epiphany . In return, Johann and his sons turned against Aichach and Friedberg and burned the castle in Markt Schwaben down. After the end of the hostilities, the dukes agreed in September 1395, united by common external enemies, to govern Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Ingolstadt together again. From 1395 to 1397, Johann II ruled with Stephan III, first Johann's sons Ernst and Wilhelm III. could later still their sole government in Bavaria-Munich against Stephan III. push through.

Johann died between June 14th and July 1st, 1397 and was buried in the Frauenkirche in Munich . In 1447 Bavaria-Ingolstadt was united with Bavaria-Landshut, Bavaria-Landshut itself became part of Bavaria-Munich in 1505. Since then, the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbach family consisted only of the descendants of Johann.

progeny

Johann II married Katharina von Görz in 1372. The couple had two sons and a daughter:

• Ernst (1373–1438),
• Wilhelm (1375–1435) and
• Sophie (1376–1428), who married Wenceslaus of Luxembourg .

In addition, Johann had an illegitimate son with Anna Pirsser:

• Johannes Grünwalder , Bishop of Freising .

literature

• 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. 188–189 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).
• Klaus von Andrian-Werburg : Deeds, chancellery, council and government system of the dukes Johann II., Ernst and Wilhelm III. von Bayern-Munich (1392–1438) (=  Munich historical studies. Department of Historical Auxiliary Sciences . Volume 10 ). Lassleben, Kallmünz 1971, ISBN 3-7847-4410-9 (also dissertation, Munich 1961).
• Theodor Straub : Bavaria under the sign of the divisions and partial duchies . In: Max Spindler , Andreas Kraus (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Bayerischen Geschichte . 2nd Edition. tape II . CH Beck, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-32320-0 , p. 248-249 .
• Gerhard Schwertl: Johann II . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , Sp. 505.

Remarks

1. ↑ 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. 189 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).
2. ↑ Zander, Florian. Life and political work of Duke Stefan III., Seminar paper, 2000

predecessor	Office	successor
Stephan II	Duke of Bavaria-Munich 1375 / 1392-1397	Ernst and Wilhelm III.