Ludwig III. (Palatinate)

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Elector Ludwig III. von der Pfalz, contemporary depiction on the choir ceiling of the collegiate church (Neustadt an der Weinstrasse) .
Ludwig III. von der Pfalz (with standard) is enfeoffed anew in 1411 by King Sigismund with the Fahnlehen of the Pfalz. Konstanz Chronicle of the Council by Ulrich Richental , around 1430
Ludwig III. von der Pfalz (right with standard and electoral hat) oversees the execution of Jan Hus . Konstanz Chronicle of the Council by Ulrich Richental , around 1430
Ludwig III. von der Pfalz (with standard) supervises the execution of Jerome of Prague . Konstanz Chronicle of the Council by Ulrich Richental , around 1430

Ludwig III. , also Ludwig the Bearded ; (* January 23, 1378 ; † December 30, 1436 in Heidelberg ) from the House of Wittelsbach was from 1410 to 1436 Count Palatine and Elector of the Palatinate .

family

His parents were Elector Ruprecht III. von der Pfalz (also Roman-German King ) and Elisabeth von Hohenzollern-Nuremberg .

Life

Even during the reign of his father as the German King and Elector of the Palatinate, Ludwig was drawn to government duties. So he officiated 1401-1402 as imperial vicar when the father was on a train to Italy. In 1402 Ludwig III married. Princess Blanca of England , who died on May 22, 1409, before her husband came to power. As a marriage good she brought u. a. the so-called " Palatinate Crown " into the Wittelsbach family property, which is still in the treasury of the Residenzmuseum in Munich today. It is the oldest surviving English crown and was believed to have been the bridal crown of Queen Anne of England .

After the father's death, his kingdom was divided among the four sons. The widowed Ludwig became his main heir in the Electoral Palatinate and successor in the electoral dignity on October 3, 1410 . The rest of the country fell to his brothers. Johann received Pfalz-Neumarkt , Otto the rule Pfalz-Mosbach and Stefan took over Pfalz-Simmern . Stefan's descendants were to rule the Palatinate from 1559 after Ludwig's line had died out.

Elector Ludwig was highly educated and very committed to religion. At Heidelberg University , it was important to him that the subjects of the theological, philosophical and law faculties should be promoted and that their positions should not be a reward for inferior professors. In 1413 he completed the conversion of the Heiliggeistkirche, begun by his father, into a collegiate monastery for fourteen members of the university. In 1421 he bequeathed his own books to the university for the free use of the students and was a passionate collector of precious manuscripts. Both book collections formed the basis of the later famous Bibliotheca Palatina .

Despite his powerful position in the empire, Ludwig refrained from running for royal office. Instead, he supported the election of Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1411 , who saw him as the most loyal of his followers and in return confirmed the pledges of the empire to the Palatinate. King Sigismund appointed the Palatine as imperial vicar, whereby he was his deputy in the absence of the monarch. At the Council of Constance, Elector Ludwig played a key role in the success of the negotiations that led the Roman Pope Gregory XII. moved to abdicate. This seemed to remove the main obstacle to ending the Western schism . The king appointed Ludwig III. then to the imperial judge, who was responsible for the enforcement of imperial judgments, and to the deputy council protector, i.e. the patron who had to ensure security and peace at the council.

In his capacity as imperial vicar and imperial judge, Ludwig III. to enforce in the absence of the king the execution of the judgment imposed by the council and valid as imperial law against Johannes Hus for heresy . This was therefore publicly burned on July 6, 1415 under his supervision. The same task fell to his colleague Hieronymus of Prague on May 30, 1416, who was initially pardoned because of his revocation, but executed when he reaffirmed his old theses. He was also commissioned by King Sigismund, the Pisan (counter) Pope John XXIII. who agreed to resign, but who had probably fled from Constance on March 20, 1415 to restore his power , to arrest him and keep him pending the election of a new Pope. At the end of April, the Palatinate Elector was able to bring the fugitive into his custody and arrested him at Heidelberg Castle . There he received his deposition pronounced by the council on May 31 of that year, which he agreed to and formally renounced his papal office. In the spring of 1416 a liberation plot was discovered, which is why John XXIII. In the course of the summer came to the safer Eichelsheim Castle , which was located in what is now Mannheim's urban area. On November 11, 1417, Pope Martin V was elected in Constance and the schism was considered over. Therefore one lifted the imprisonment against John XXIII. on; he gained his freedom, however, only in the spring of 1419, since Elector Ludwig III. made him liable for the costs resulting from his escape from the council and only let him go after they had been paid.

1415 joined Ludwig III. of the parakeet society directed against Ludwig VII of Bavaria-Ingolstadt , and he remained its member even after the conversion to the Konstanz League . In 1417 he married Princess Mechthild (Matilde) of Savoy for the second time. In 1422/23 the ruler of the Palatinate undertook a trip to Prussia . In terms of imperial politics, in 1424 he was part of the opposition of the electors, who formed the Binger Kurverein against King Sigismund .

On May 5, 1426, his son Ruprecht (from his first marriage), called "Ruprecht the English", died on May 5, 1426, whom he regarded as heir to the throne and who had already been incorporated into the business of government. The elector was so shocked by this death that he decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he began in 1427, from which he however returned seriously ill. His piety and religious commitment had increased, so that he was given nicknames such as "the godly pious" or "the priest's comfort". Since 1430 he was almost blind. In 1435 his own wife and her councilors deposed him. He died in Heidelberg in 1436 and was buried in the Heiliggeistkirche there.

He was succeeded as Elector of the Palatinate by his eldest son Ludwig IV (1424–1449), who died at the age of 25 and left his one-year-old child Philipp (1448–1508) as heir. His uncle Friedrich the Victorious (1425–1476), the second eldest son of Elector Ludwig III, ruled for this until his own death .

On the choir ceiling of the collegiate church in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , which was founded as a memoria by the House of Wittelsbach , is a depiction of the Last Judgment from around 1420, with large figures of Elector Ludwig III, his parents and his first wife Blanca of England kneeling in front of Christ . The latter is also buried there and it is assumed that Ludwig III. had the splendid paintings made to decorate the grave of his first wife, whom he greatly mourned.

Marriages and offspring

Elector Ludwig III. with his two wives. In the middle, with crown, Blanca of England .

Elector Ludwig III. married on August 15, 1401 in Cologne, the Princess Blanca of England (1392-1409), daughter of King Henry IV and his wife Mary de Bohun . The marriage produced a son:

  • Ruprecht the English (born May 22, 1406, in Heidelberg; † May 20, 1426, there, buried in the Heiliggeistkirche in Heidelberg). Until his death he was the presumptive successor of his father in the electorate.

In the second marriage Ludwig III married. on November 30, 1417 in Pignerol Princess Mechthild (Matilde) of Savoy (1390-1438), sister of Blessed Margaret of Savoy , daughter of Amadeus of Savoy, titular prince of Achaia and lord of Piedmont, and Catherine of Geneva.

  1. ⚭ 1436 Count Ludwig I of Württemberg (1411 / 1412–1450);
  2. ⚭ 1452 Archduke Albrecht VI. of Austria (1418–1463);
  1. engaged to Elisabeth of Bavaria (Elisabeth married Count Ulrich V of Württemberg-Stuttgart in 1445 ),
  2. ⚭ 1462 Clara Tott ; the descendants of this connection are the counts or princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim ;

literature

Web links

Commons : Ludwig III. von der Pfalz  - collection of pictures

Remarks

  1. ^ The "Bohemian or Palatinate Crown" from Princess Blanka in the treasury of the Munich residence
  2. ↑ About the history of the “Bohemian or Palatinate Crown” from Princess Blanca’s dowry
  3. ↑ Ludwig Häusser: History of the Rhenish Palatinate according to its political, ecclesiastical and literary conditions . 1st edition. First volume. Mohr, Heidelberg 1845, p. 310 ( digitized version [accessed March 12, 2013]).
  4. ^ Werner Paravicini: The Prussian journeys of the European nobility . Part 1 (=  supplements of the Francia . Volume 17/1 ). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1989, ISBN 3-7995-7317-8 , pp. 150 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Website about Elector Ludwig III. von der Pfalz ( Memento of the original dated August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gen.heinz-wember.de
  6. ↑ Photo of the “Last Judgment” in the choir of the Neustadt / Weinstrasse collegiate church (Ludwig III. Kneeling on the right)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.stiftskirche-nw.de  
  7. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke, European Family Tables, Volume 2, 1984, Plate 191
predecessor Office successor
Ruprecht III. Elector Palatinate
1410–1436 		Ludwig IV.
personal data
SURNAME Ludwig III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ludwig the Bearded
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Elector Palatinate
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1378
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1436
Place of death Heidelberg