Johann IV. (Bavaria)

Johann IV the Truthful (born October 4, 1437 in Munich , † November 18, 1463 in Harthausen ) was the eldest son of Duke Albrecht the Pious of Bavaria-Munich and his wife Anna of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen . From 1460 to 1463 he was Duke of Bavaria-Munich.

Life

According to his father's will, Johann took over the government of Bavaria-Munich together with his brother Siegmund at the end of February 1460 . His father had stipulated that the deceased duke should be succeeded by the two oldest surviving sons. The second son of his father, Ernst, had already died on the day of his death in Straubing and was buried there in the Carmelite monastery, so that Siegmund succeeded him. Was taken over by Albrecht III. including the learned counselor, doctor and well-known writer and translator Johannes Hartlieb .

Johann's first endeavor was to take care of his numerous siblings. Johann traveled to Rome with his younger brothers, Albrecht and Wolfgang , who were intended for the clergy , where they met Pope Pius II as well as Nicolaus Cusanus and other cardinals. Later, the younger brothers and Christoph attended the high schools in Pavia, Rome and Siena. His two older sisters Margarete and Elisabeth got married under Johann's rule, the third, Barbara von Bayern , was entrusted to a monastery.

Johann was considered a passionate hunter and ruled in a time of constant aristocratic unrest and quarrels with the cities. The two dukes issued the first known truce letter for Munich as early as 1460. The Munich truce , i.e. the area outside the city but under the jurisdiction of the city, was re-measured and marked by border pillars. In the Bavarian War of Landshut Duke Ludwig IX. The two Munich dukes did not allow themselves to be involved, despite an alliance concluded with Ludwig on December 5, 1461. Instead, they pushed for peace from June 1462. Johann's style of rule was described as quite energetic, which earned him the nickname "Verax" ( the true one ) in addition to " the black one " .

At the end of 1463 there was a particularly serious epidemic of the plague , at that time thousands of Munich residents made a pilgrimage to Andechs seeking help. Duke Johann had withdrawn to the remote Schwaige Harthausen , but was still infected and died there. Like all of his brothers, Johann was still unmarried at the time. The third oldest surviving son, Albrecht, then returned home from Pavia , where he should have pursued a spiritual career, and enforced his co-government against Siegmund. Johann IV. Is buried next to his father in the Andechs monastery church .

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. 205–210 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).

predecessor	Office	successor
Albrecht III.	Duke of Bavaria-Munich 1460–1463	Siegmund and Albrecht IV.