Louis VI. (Bavaria)

The Elector of Brandenburg from the House of Wittelsbach kept the seal of the founder dynasty - the Askanier principle at. This should be the legitimacy of the succession symbolize their status as rulers consolidate. But they also introduced new types of seals (eagle shield secret, court court seal). A detailed description of the great seal of Ludwig the Roman is available from Wikimedia.

Louis the Roman (* May 7, 1328 in Rome , † between November 11, 1364 and February 27, 1365) was known as Ludwig VI. from 1347 to 1351 Duke of (Upper) Bavaria and as Ludwig II. from 1351 Margrave of Brandenburg . As the Margrave of Brandenburg, he is also known as Ludwig the Younger . In 1356 he was also made elector and arch chamberlain of the Holy Roman Empire .

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 Brandenburg and Tyrol as well as Holland , Zealand and the Hainaut . After his death in 1347 these areas fell to his six sons Ludwig V the Brandenburger , Stephan II. , Ludwig VI. 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

Ludwig the Roman was the first son from the second marriage of the Roman-German Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria with Margaret of Holland . He was born in Rome in 1328 when his parents were there for his father's coronation as emperor.

On September 7, 1346, Ludwig the Bavarian ordered that Margaret's second son Wilhelm should follow his mother in the case of her death in the Dutch counties, and that after Wilhelm, if he died childless, Margaret's third son Albrecht would come next . In return, Ludwig the Roman, as Margaret's eldest son, renounced his mother's inheritance, the Dutch counties , although the background has not been clarified. However, Ludwig was chosen at an early stage to represent the interests of the Wittelsbach family in northeastern Germany together with Ludwig the Brandenburger, because as early as 1335, in view of the increasing tensions between Ludwig the Bavarian and the Luxembourg King John of Bohemia, he was the groom of the Polish princess Elisabeth considered. Since his engagement to her sister Kunigunde - a daughter of King Kasimir III. of Poland , Ludwig even hoped to get the Polish crown. Later inheritance claims in the Dutch counties could not be enforced against Wilhelm and Albrecht.

Beginning of government as Duke of Bavaria

Ludwig the Bavarian died in October 1347 and Ludwig the Roman followed him together with his five brothers as Duke of Bavaria. Initially, the brothers continued their father's imperial policy. It was not until February 1350 that the Wittelsbach family recognized Charles IV as the new king and undertook to deliver the imperial regalia to him .

In the conflict over rule in Holland from 1350, Ludwig supported his mother against Wilhelm, who, however, emerged victorious. However, Ludwig was able to secure the claim to the lordship of Voorne and the Burggfschaft Zealand, which was later replaced with money.

During the division of the Duchy of Bavaria with his brothers in the Landsberg Treaty in 1349, he received Upper Bavaria with his brothers Ludwig V and Otto . In December 1351, Ludwig received the Brandenburg and Lusatia brands together with Otto in the Luckau Treaty ; in return, control over Upper Bavaria fell to the older Ludwig. As early as autumn 1348, Ludwig had supported his older brother of the same name in the conflict over Brandenburg, but his stay in Holland had delayed the new division of power in the end. Ludwig and Otto remained contractually entitled to inherit in Upper Bavaria.

Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg

In the Mark, Ludwig finally forced the False Woldemar to renounce Brandenburg, but the high debt of the state as a result of the chaos of war in previous years led Ludwig to pawn parts of the Mark. He also had to finally renounce Brandenburg feudal rights in Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Ludwig ruled in a time of great legal uncertainty and violent feuds of a rebellious nobility, whose dependence Ludwig became temporarily dependent, and the Margraviate of Brandenburg was visibly impoverished.

In January 1356 Ludwig became the Elector dignity and the Erzamt of archgentleman confirmed, the Emperor Charles IV. By the Golden Bull firmly to the Margrave of Brandenburg joined dignity.

When his brother Albrecht had accepted the reign in the Netherlands in place of the sick Wilhelm, Ludwig finally renounced the counties in June 1358 after another family dispute. In 1358, after his return from the Netherlands, Ludwig was freed from the papal ban with the support of the emperor, into which the sons of Ludwig of Bavaria had fallen.

After his wife Kunigunde died in 1357, he married Ingeborg in 1360, a daughter of Duke Albrecht II of Mecklenburg .

In order to return the favor against his Bavarian brothers Stephan II. And Albrecht, with whom he again had a dispute about the cure and then because of the Bavarian succession after the death of his nephew Meinhard , he stepped down with his brother Otto on the occasion of March 1363 his engagement to a daughter of the emperor in a hereditary brotherhood with Charles IV, which assured him the Mark Brandenburg after his and Otto's childless death. Ludwig then had the Brandenburg estates pay homage to the emperor. With the support of the Upper Bavarian estates, Stephan had previously assumed power in Upper Bavaria, although according to the Wittelsbach treaties only the brothers Ludwig and Otto, who had meanwhile become alien to the land, were entitled to inheritance. However, despite the hereditary brotherhood and promises to the contrary, Charles IV did not give them any effective help. On May 8, 1364 Ludwig even concluded an alliance in Bautzen with the Austrian Habsburgs who fought against Stephan II for Tyrol.

When Ludwig died at the age of 36 without leaving any children, his brother Otto became his successor. Like his first wife Kunigunde, Ludwig was buried in the Gray Monastery in Berlin.

monument

Statue of Ludwig by Emil Graf Görtz zu Schlitz in Berlin's Siegesallee with the two busts of the knights Hasso the Red von Wedel and Friedrich von Lochen, unveiled on November 14, 1900 as monument group 11 .

literature

Karl Lohmeyer : Ludwig the Roman . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, pp. 538-540.
Alois Schütz: Ludwig the Roman. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 385 f. ( Digitized version ).

Remarks

^ Hermann Bier: The seal types of the margraves and electors of Brandenburg . In: Erich Kittel (Hrsg.): Brandenburg seal and coat of arms. Festschrift of the Association for the History of the Mark Brandenburg to celebrate the 100th anniversary. 1837-1937 . Commission publisher von Gsellius, Berlin 1937, Wittelsbacher, pp. 21–22.
↑ In older literature May 17, 1365 is also mentioned as the date of death.
↑ Cf. Alexander Begert: The origin and development of the Kurkolleg. From the beginning to the early 15th century. Duncker & Humblot, 2010, ISBN 342813222X , p. 139.
↑ 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. 93–94 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).

predecessor	Office	successor
Ludwig IV. The Bavarian	Duke of (Upper) Bavaria 1347–1351	Ludwig V the Brandenburger
Ludwig I.	Margrave of Brandenburg from 1356 also Elector 1351–1365	Otto V.

personal data
SURNAME	Louis VI.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Louis the Roman; Ludwig II.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Duke of Upper Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg
DATE OF BIRTH	May 7, 1328
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rome
DATE OF DEATH	between November 11, 1364 and February 27, 1365

[1] Hermann Bier: The seal types of the margraves and electors of Brandenburg . In: Erich Kittel (Hrsg.): Brandenburg seal and coat of arms. Festschrift of the Association for the History of the Mark Brandenburg to celebrate the 100th anniversary. 1837-1937 . Commission publisher von Gsellius, Berlin 1937, Wittelsbacher, pp. 21–22.

[2] In older literature May 17, 1365 is also mentioned as the date of death.

[3] Cf. Alexander Begert: The origin and development of the Kurkolleg. From the beginning to the early 15th century. Duncker & Humblot, 2010, ISBN 342813222X , p. 139.

[4] 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. 93–94 (also dissertation, University of Munich 2004).