Ludwig V (Bavaria)

Monument in Berlin's Siegesallee by Ernst Herter , 1899

Ludwig the Brandenburger (* May 1315 ; † September 18, 1361 in Zorneding near Munich ) was Margrave of Brandenburg (since 1323, as Ludwig I or Ludwig the Elder ), regent of the County of Tyrol (since 1342, as Ludwig I ) and Duke of (Upper) Bavaria (since 1347, as Ludwig V ). He was the eldest son of Duke, King and Emperor Ludwig IV of Bavaria from his first marriage to Beatrix von Schlesien-Schweidnitz .

Contemporary history background

With Ludwig's father Ludwig IV. The Bavarian , the Wittelsbachers established the Roman-German king for the first time in 1314. Ludwig the Bavarian, 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 the Mark Brandenburg and Tyrol as well as Holland , Zealand and Hainaut . After his death in 1347, these areas fell to his six sons Ludwig V 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 one speaks of the time in which Ludwig was born, also of the crisis of the late Middle Ages .

Life

Early years as Margrave of Brandenburg

Ludwig was enfeoffed by his father with the Mark Brandenburg in 1323 , which ended the Brandenburg Interregnum . His guardian became Count Berthold VII von Henneberg , since he was only eight years old. First of all, the various parts of the mark were newly acquired by various princes with diplomatic means and large payments that they had brought under their control after the Ascanians of the Mark died out . In 1324 Ludwig V married Princess Margaret of Denmark (1305-1340) to further strengthen the position of the Wittelsbach family in the north. Nevertheless, the Wittelsbach government over Brandenburg was marked by severe tensions from the start. Around 1325 citizens of Berlin and Cölln killed provost Nikolaus von Bernau , who appeared as a supporter of the Pope against the Wittelsbachers, whereupon the Pope imposed an interdict on both cities . As a result, the Pomeranian-Brandenburg War broke out . After the lost battle at Kremmer Damm in 1332, Ludwig was moved by his father to accept the peace and to drop his claims to Pomerania.

From 1333 Ludwig himself ruled the market of age. In 1335/36 and 1346/47 he made trips to Prussia . In 1338 Ludwig participated in the Kurverein von Rhense , which strengthened his father's position in the struggle with the papacy. With the help of Johann III. Ludwig von Holstein brought his brother-in-law Waldemar IV. Atterdag to the Danish throne in 1340 . Even after Margarete von Denmark's death in the same year, Ludwig maintained good relations with the Danish court, in 1347 Ludwig personally knighted his former brother-in-law .

From 1342 Ludwig stayed mostly in Bavaria and Tyrol and let governors rule the march. One of them (1345) was the Nuremberg burgrave Johann II , who was later referred to as the first Hohenzoller in Brandenburg .

Regency in the County of Tyrol

After the death of his first wife Margarete of Denmark, Ludwig married Margaret of Tyrol on February 10, 1342 in Meran , although she had not yet divorced her previous husband Johann Heinrich von Luxemburg . So the county of Tyrol should be acquired for the Wittelsbacher . Margarete had expelled her Luxembourgish husband Johann Heinrich from Tyrol in November 1341 . Pope Clement VI did not recognize the marriage because Margarete and Ludwig were related to each other in the third degree. For these reasons they were banned and an interdict was imposed on the state of Tyrol. Marsilius of Padua and William of Ockham , however, defended this “civil marriage” in tracts, which was a scandal on everyone's lips in Europe, but in contrast to Margarete's first marriage, it was blessed with children.

Ludwig the Brandenburger nevertheless prevailed as regent in Tyrol against the resistance of the local nobility and the bishops of Brixen and Trento . In the so-called Great Tyrolean Freedom Letter in 1342, Ludwig and his father, Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian, had confirmed their rights and freedoms to the Tyroleans.

In the throne dispute between his father Ludwig the Bavarian and the new Luxembourgish rival King Charles IV. From 1346 onwards, Ludwig's wife Margarete succeeded in repelling an attack by Charles IV on Tyrol Castle in the spring of 1347 while Ludwig was on a journey to Prussia. While retreating from the failed war campaign, Karl had the cities of Meran and Bozen burned down in revenge before Ludwig successfully drove the Luxembourger from Tyrol.

Duke of Bavaria and fighting in Brandenburg

In October 1347, Ludwig followed his late father as Duke of Bavaria, which was reunified in December 1340, together with his five brothers. In addition, the brothers held the Dutch counties of Holland , Zeeland and Hainaut .

Due to the ban of the Pope, Ludwig could not apply for the imperial crown himself after the death of his father and first tried to get Eduard III. to win of England as an opposing king, with whom his father had already allied himself. On January 10, 1348 King Edward III. elected the rival king in Lahnstein , but already renounced the Roman-German crown on May 10th. Negotiations with Ludwig's brother-in-law Friedrich von Meißen about a candidacy were also unsuccessful. Even if the kingship of Günther von Schwarzburg , who was elected by the Wittelsbach party, failed as early as 1349, Ludwig ultimately succeeded in defending the Wittelsbach interests against Charles IV and was able to maintain all of the possessions his father had acquired for the Wittelsbach family until his death.

In Brandenburg, however, the “ false Woldemar ” was enfeoffed with the Mark Brandenburg in 1348 by the new King Charles IV , which exacerbated the Wittelsbacher conflict with the Luxemburgers. There was fighting and severe devastation in Brandenburg. 36 Brandenburg cities paid homage to the false Woldemar in 1349 in the Spandau citadel . But after Ludwig, strengthened by his alliance with Denmark and Pomerania, had regained ground in Brandenburg, Charles IV gave way in February 1350, so that an agreement was reached (Treaty of Bautzen). In return, the Wittelsbachers recognized Karl as the new king and committed themselves to delivering the imperial regalia to him. Finally, around 1350, Woldemar was officially exposed as a fraud, but he retained his followers.

The Bavarian heritage was divided in the Landsberg Treaty in 1349 ; Ludwig V and his half-brothers Ludwig VI. and Otto V. received Upper Bavaria, Stephan II. , Wilhelm I and Albrecht I. Lower Bavaria and the Netherlands. When Ludwig V ruled alone in Upper Bavaria from 1351, he united the court chancelleries of Bavaria and Tyrol and resided alternately in Munich and Meran.

In the years 1349 and 1352, Ludwig issued two economic orders that were supposed to help overcome the consequences of the Black Death , and also proved to be a capable administrator. Charles IV did not intervene in the bloody expulsion of the Jews from Nuremberg at the end of 1349 during the plague epidemic. On June 18, 1352, Ludwig V permitted the resettlement of Jews in Upper Bavaria and placed them under his protection. Almost the entire Jewish community of Munich at that time was murdered in a pogrom in 1285.

Surrender of the Mark Brandenburg and dispute over electoral dignity

In December 1351 Ludwig, who was already in conflict with the Brandenburg nobility, finally gave the mark to his younger half-brothers Ludwig VI in the Luckau Treaty . the Römer and Otto V from in order to be able to rule Upper Bavaria alone in return. After ceding the Mark Brandenburg to his brothers, Ludwig retained the right to vote, which was to be exercised jointly with his two brothers Ludwig the Roman and Otto V, as well as the office of treasurer . In 1356, however, the electors stipulated that these offices were inextricably linked to the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its electoral dignity and that Ludwig's brother Ludwig the Roman was due.

Also, with the Golden Bull of 1356, the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbach family was not given the electoral dignity , which went to the Palatinate cousins, which led to the complete divergence of the two lines and revived the conflict between Ludwig and Emperor Charles IV. The Golden Bull ignored the in- house regulations of the Wittelsbachers to participate in the royal election. The Count Palatinate near Rhine also obtained the electoral vote and the office of Archbishopric because his territory was in the old Franconian settlement area. Ludwig V and his brother Stephan II stayed away from the Nuremberg Court Days where the Golden Bull was discussed and proclaimed.

Alliance with the Habsburgs

Ludwig, on the other hand, always had good relationships with the Habsburgs, who also received nothing when they were awarded the electoral dignity in 1356. Ludwig even pledged parts of Upper Bavaria to the Habsburgs to settle debts. After the second siege of Zurich by the Habsburg Duke Albrecht II , Ludwig's mediation between the conflicting parties resulted in the peace agreement named after him on September 1, 1352. In the Brandenburg Peace the Lucerne Association with the Waldstätten and Zurich was also formally recognized by Austria. On the other hand, through the mediation of the Habsburgs Ludwig V and his wife Margarete were finally 1359 on the occasion of the marriage of their son Meinhard III. with a Habsburg woman released from the ban by the Freising Bishop Paul von Jägerndorf . Ludwig's marriage to Margarete and the matrimonial nature of her children were now also recognized by the curia after Margarete had been legally divorced from her first husband ten years earlier in July 1349. Ludwig's full title at this time (1357) was: "Ludweig marggraf ze Brandenburg vnd ze Lusitz, hertzog in Beyern vnd in Kernten, count ze Tyrol vnd ze Gœrtz" .

Death and succession

In September 1361, Ludwig V died unexpectedly on a ride from Tyrol to Munich in Zorneding , Bavaria , which therefore still bears its coat of arms today. He was buried in the Frauenkirche in Munich . His son Meinhard was his successor in Upper Bavaria and Tyrol. As the latter soon died, the state of Tyrol fell back to Margarete, who then committed it to the Habsburgs in 1363. Stephan II did not accept this solution, so that there was an armed conflict for many years.

Marriage and offspring

Duke Ludwig V married Princess Margaret of Denmark (1305-1340), daughter of King Christoph II and his wife Princess Eufemia of Pomerania on November 30, 1324 in Denmark . There is only one daughter from the marriage, Elisabeth Beatrix (* / †?).

On February 10, 1342, he married the Tyrolean Countess Margarete (1318-1369) in his second marriage at Castle Tyrol . The marriage had four children:

• Hermann (1343– 1360 at the latest);
• Meinhard (1344–1363 at the earliest) ⚭ 1359 in Passau, Duchess Margarete of Austria (1346–1366), daughter of Duke Albrecht II and the Countess Johanna von Pfirt ;
• Daughter (* / †?);
• Daughter (* / †?).

Countess Margarete married Margrave Johann Heinrich von Moravia in Innsbruck in mid-September 1330. This marriage was declared void (not consummated) by the emperor in 1341 and annulled by the pope in 1359.

monument

Statue of Ludwig von Ernst Herter in Berlin's Siegesallee with the two busts of Johann von Buch the Younger and Johann II, Burgrave of Nuremberg , unveiled on November 7, 1899 as monument group 10 .

literature

• Flamin Heinrich Haug: Ludwigs of the fifth of the Brandenburg government in Tyrol 1342-1361 (=  research and communications on the history of Tyrol and Vorarlberg . Volume 3.4 / 4.1 ). Innsbruck 1906 (also dissertation, University of Munich 1905).
• Julia Hörmann: The registries under Margrave Ludwig of Brandenburg in Tyrol and Bavaria in the years 1342 to 1352 . Dissertation, University of Innsbruck 1998.
• Karl Lohmeyer :  Ludwig the Elder, Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg, Duke of Baiern . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, pp. 529-538.
• Roland Pauler: The rehabilitation of Ludwig the Brandenburger in the context of the papal imperial policy . In: Journal for Bavarian State History . tape 60 , 1997, pp. 317-328 (on- line ).
• Helmut Schmidbauer: Duke Ludwig V of Bavaria (1315-1361). Notes on his biography . In: Journal for Bavarian State History . tape 55 , 1992, pp. 77-87 ( online ).
• Alois Schütz:  Ludwig the Brandenburger. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , pp. 382-385 ( digitized version ).
• Friedrich Wilhelm Taube: Ludwig the Elder as Margrave of Brandenburg 1323-1351 . Kraus, Vaduz 1965 (reprint of the Berlin 1900 edition).

Remarks

1. ↑ Johannes Schultze : The Mark Brandenburg. 2nd volume. The mark under the rule of the Wittelsbachers and Luxembourgers (1319–1415) . In: The Mark Brandenburg . 5 volumes, 4th edition, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-428-13480-9 , I. The mark under the Wittelsbach house. 1. The dispute about the inheritance (1319–1323), pp. 9–24, here p. 24.
2. ^ 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. 147-148 ( digitized version ).
3. ^ Manfred Heim :  Paul von Jägerndorf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 107 ( digitized version ).
4. ^ Hannes Obermair : Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 1 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2005, ISBN 88-901870-0-X , p. 335, No. 678 (with Fig. 31) .
5. ↑ On Ludwig'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. 88–89 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).

predecessor	Office	successor
Brandenburg interregnum	Margrave of Brandenburg 1323–1351	Ludwig II.
Johann Heinrich (Luxembourg)	Regent (Count) of Tyrol ⚭  Margarete 1342–1361	Meinhard (III.)
Ludwig IV. The Bavarian	Duke of Upper Bavaria 1347-1361	Meinhard (I.)