Emperor Louis IV of the Holy RomanEmpire

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
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Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.Louis IV of Bavaria of the House of Wittelsbach (born 1282) was duke of Bavaria from 1294/1301 together with his brother Rudolf I, also count of the Palatinate until 1329 and, German king since 1314 and crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in 1328. Louis died on October 11, 1347 when he suffered a stroke during a bear-hunt in Puch near Fürstenfeldbruck. He is buried in the Frauenkirche in Munich.

Louis was the son of Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria, and Mechthild, a daughter of King Rudolph I.

Contents [hide]
1 Early reign
2 Conflict with the Pope
3 Dynastic policy
4 Family and children

[edit]
Early reign
Though Louis was partly educated in Vienna and became co-regent of his brother Rudolf I in Bavaria in 1301 with the support of his Habsburg mother Mechthild and her brother King Albert I, he quarrelled with the Habsburgs from 1307 over possessions in Lower Bavaria. The war against his brother Rudolf due to new disputes on the partition of their lands was ended in 1313, when peace was made at Munich.

After the death of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII the Luxemburg party among the prince electors set aside Henry's son, John of Luxembourg, because of his youth and chose Louis as rival king to the Habsburg Frederick the Handsome in 1314. Short before this election Louis had defeated his cousin Frederick in the battle of Gammelsdorf. In 1316 Louis reckognized the independence of Switzerland from Habsburg. In the battle of Mühldorf 1322 Frederick was beaten again and arrested but soon released and accepted as co-regent until he died in 1330.

[edit]
Conflict with the Pope

Golden Bull of Louis IV 1326Despite this victory, Pope John XXII still refused to ratify Louiss election and in 1324 he excommunicated Louis. In opposite to previous disputes between the emperor and the papacy the ban did not longer react. After the reconciliation with Habsburg in 1326 Louis marched to Italy and was crowned Italian king in Milan in 1327. In January 1328 he entered Rome and had himself crowned emperor by the aged senator Sciarra Colonna, called captain of the Roman people. Three months later Louis published a decree declaring "Jacque de Cahors" (Pope John XXII) deposed on grounds of heresy. He then installed a Spiritual Franciscan, Pietro Rainalducci as Antipope Nicholas V, who was deposed after Louis left Rome in early 1329.

Philosophers like Michael of Cesena, Marsilius of Padua and William of Ockham were protected at the emperor's court in Munich. The failure of later negotiations with the papacy led 1338 to the declaration at Rhense by six electors to the effect that election by all or the majority of the electors automatically conferred the royal title and rule over the empire, without papal confirmation. Louis also allied in 1337 with Edward III of England against Pope Benedict XII in Avignon and his protector Philip VI of France. But in 1341 Louis deserted Edward and came finally to terms with Philip.

Louis IV himself was a protector of the Teutonic knights. In 1337 he bestowed the Teutonic Order a privilege to conquer Lithuania and Russia. Later he forbade the Order to stand trial before foreign courts in their territorial conflicts with foreign rulers.

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Dynastic policy
In 1323 Louis acquired Brandenburg for his eldest son Louis V and in 1329 the emperor returned the Palatinate to his nephews. The duchy of Carinthia was also released to his Habsburg relatives in 1335. Then Louis inherited Upper Bavaria in 1340 and re-united the duchy of Bavaria. In 1342 he also acquired Tyrol by voiding the first marriage of Margarete Maultasch and marrying her to his own son Louis V, thus alienating the house of Luxemburg.

In 1345 Louis further antagonized the lay princes by conferring Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland and Friesland upon his wife Margaret of Holland. The acquisition of these territories and his restless foreign policy had provided Louis with many enemies among the German princes. In 1346 the Luxemburg Charles IV was elected rival king with support of Pope Clement VI. Louis himself obtained much support from the Imperial Free Cities and the knighthood and was successfully resisting Charles, who was widely regarded as a papal puppet ("rex clericorum").

Louis' sudden death the following year avoided a longer civil war. The sons of Louis supported Günther von Schwarzburg as new rival king but joined the Luxemburg party after Günther's early death in 1349 and divided the Wittelsbach possesions among each other again.

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Family and children
He was first married to Beatrix von Silesia-Glogau. Their children were:

Mathilde (aft. June 21, 1313 July 2, 1346, Meißen), married at Nürnberg July 1, 1329 Friedrich II, Markgraf of Meißen (d. 1349)
a child (b. September 1314)
Anna (c. 1316 January 29, 1319, Kastl)
Louis V the Brandenburger (13161361), duke of Upper Bavaria, margrave of Brandenburg, count of Tyrol
Agnes (b. c. 1318)
Stephen II (13191375), duke of Lower Bavaria
In 1324 he married Margaret of Holland, countess of Hainaut and Holland. Their children were:

Margarete (13251374), married:
in 1351 in Ofen Stephen, Duke of Slavonia (d. 1354);
1357/58 Gerlach von Hohenlohe.
Anna (c. 1326 June 3, 1361, Fontenelles) married Johann of Lower Bavaria (d. 1340)
William V of Holland (13271388), as William I duke of Lower Bavaria, as Wiliam V count of Hainaut and Holland
Elisabeth (1329 August 2, 1402, Stuttgart), married with:
Cangrande II della Scala, Lord of Verona (d. 1359) in Verona on November 22, 1350;
Count Ulrich of Württemberg (d. 1388) in 1362.
Louis VI the Roman (13301365), duke of Upper Bavaria, elector of Brandenburg.
Albert I of Holland (13361404), duke of Lower Bavaria, count of Hainaut and Holland
Otto V the Bavarian (13401379), duke of Upper Bavaria, elector of Brandenburg
Beatrix (1344 December 25, 1359), married bef. October 25, 1356 Eric XII of Sweden
Agnes (Munich, 1345 November 11, 1352, Munich)
Louis (October 1347 1348)

Preceded by:
Rudolf I Duke of Upper Bavaria
13011340 Succeeded by:

Preceded by:
John I Duke of Lower Bavaria
1340 Succeeded by:

Preceded by:
Duke of Bavaria
13401347 Succeeded by:
Louis V the Brandenburger jointly with Stephen II, Louis VI, William I, Albert I, Otto V
Preceded by:
Rudolf I Count Palatine of the Rhine
13191329 Succeeded by:
Rudolf II
Preceded by:
Waldemar Margrave of Brandenburg
13191323 Succeeded by:
Louis V the Brandenburger
Preceded by:
William IV, Count of Holland Count of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland
13451347 Succeeded by:
Margaret of Holland
Preceded by:
Henry VII King of Germany
Also King of the Romans
Also Holy Roman Emperor
13141347 Succeeded by:
Charles IV