Ludwig II (Thuringia)

Epitaph of Ludwig the Iron on the Wartburg

Ludwig II, the Iron , (* 1128 - † October 14, 1172 in Neuchâtel near Freyburg / Unstrut) from the Ludowinger family was Landgrave of Thuringia from 1140 to 1172 .

Life

In 1128 he was born as the first son of Ludwig I , who became the first Thuringian Landgrave in 1131, and his wife Hedwig von Gudensberg . When the landgrave died in 1140 , King Conrad III enfeoffed. the twelve-year-old with the Landgraviate. Good relations existed between the Staufers and the Ludowingers, as the Landgrave had supported the Staufer Konrad in the election of a king in 1138. Ludwig was therefore betrothed to Jutta , a niece of the king and sister of his successor Friedrich Barbarossa . Until Konrad's death, the young landgrave stayed mostly at the royal court and received an education from the archbishop ofMainz and the Bishop of Merseburg . In 1150 he married Jutta; probably a year later his son and successor Ludwig III. born.

During Ludwig's rule, the population of Thuringia was often bullied and harassed by the nobility. Thereupon he began to take tough action against these conditions, which finally earned him his nickname. There is also a legend about these deeds of Ludwig, which was recorded by Johannes Rothe in 1421 . Then one evening the Landgrave found a night's camp in a forge in Ruhla, unrecognized . The blacksmith cursed his sovereign and the conditions in the country violently and finally shouted: “Landgrave, get hard!” These words finally moved the landgrave to take action against robber barons. According to legend, he is said to have harnessed the wrongdoers to a plow and digged up a field.

Probably under Ludwig II, the Gotha mint was established as the second mint of the Landgraves of Thuringia.

Ludwig was allied with his brother-in-law Friedrich Barbarossa , who became king in 1152 and emperor in 1155, throughout his life. Together they fought the Guelphs with Heinrich the Lion and the Archbishops of Mainz (to which Erfurt belonged, among others ). A spicy episode from the long dispute over Erfurt is the so-called Erfurt latrine fall of 1184.

The Wartburg was expanded under Ludwig's rule : the construction of the three-storey palace began in 1157/58. Ludwig II also founded the Runneburg in Weißensee in 1168 and the Creuzburg in 1170 .

In 1170 Ludwig undertook a campaign against Poland with the emperor . After his return he fell ill and died on October 14, 1172. He was - like almost all Thuringian landgraves - buried in the Reinhardsbrunn monastery.

progeny

Ludwig II married Jutta von Schwaben , half-sister of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in 1150 .

• Ludwig III. , the mildness (1151–1190)
• Heinrich Raspe III. , Count of Gudensberg (* around 1155, † July 18, 1180)
• Friedrich , Count of Ziegenhain (* around 1155, † 1229)
• Hermann I. (* around 1155, † 1217)
• Jutta, married to Hermann II , Count von Ravensberg
• Mathilde, married to Dietrich von Werben , Count von Werben, sixth son Margrave Albrechts the Bear.

The grave slabs of the Landgrave House of Thuringia can be found in the Georgenkirche in Eisenach.

literature

• Steffen Raßloff , Lutz Gebhardt : The Thuringian Landgraves. History and legends . Ilmenau 2017, ISBN 978-3-95560-055-6 .
• Heinrich Wolfgang Behrisch: Life of Conrad the Great, Margrave of Meissen and Ludwig of the Iron, Landgrave in Thuringia. Hilscher, Dresden 1776 ( digitized version )
• Walter Heinemeyer :  Ludwig II. The Iron, Landgrave of Thuringia. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 420 ( digitized version ).
• Helga Wäß: Grave slab for Landgrave Ludwig II, the Iron. in: Form and Perception of Central German Memory Sculpture in the 14th Century. A contribution to medieval grave monuments, epitaphs and curiosities in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, North Hesse, East Westphalia and South Lower Saxony (in two volumes), Volume 2: Catalog of selected objects from the High Middle Ages to the beginning of the 15th century, Berlin (Tenea Verlag) 2006, vol. 2, cat. No. 795 with ill. / All grave slabs of the Landgrave House of Thuringia described and illustrated, pp. 531–542, ISBN 3-86504-159-0 .
• Karl Robert Wenck:  Ludwig II. (Landgrave of Thuringia) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 591 f.

Web links

Commons : Louis II of Thuringia  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

predecessor	Office	successor
Ludwig I.	Landgrave of Thuringia 1140–1172	Ludwig III.