Louis I, Duke of Bavaria

Duke Ludwig I of Bavaria
Painting of Ludwig in Scheyern Abbey
Spouse(s)	Ludmilla of Bohemia
Issue Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
Noble family	House of Wittelsbach
Father	Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
Mother	Agnes of Loon
Born	23 December 1173 Kelheim
Died	15 September 1231 (aged 57) Kelheim

Duke Ludwig I of Bavaria (German: Ludwig I der Kelheimer, Herzog von Bayern, Pfalzgraf bei Rhein) (English: Louis) (Kelheim, 23 December 1173 – 15 September 1231 in Kelheim) was the Duke of Bavaria in 1183 and Count Palatine of the Rhine in 1214. He was a son of Otto I and his wife Agnes of Loon. Ludwig was married to Ludmilla, a daughter of Duke Frederick of Bohemia.

Life

Early Years

Soon after his father's death in 1183, Ludwig was appointed under the guardianship of his uncle Conrad of Wittelsbach and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.^[1] His mother, Agnes, an energetic and enterprising leader, had taken over the regency of Bavaria in the mean time, securing her son's inheritance. Upon his coming-of-age, in 1189, at sixteen years old, he had, with his reigning entry, already fallen in the midst of a conflict which triggered the nearly simultaneous extinction of the Burgrave of Regensburg and the Count of Sulzbach in the years 1188 and 1189.^[2] This allowed Barbarossa to expand his royal domains within the Empire to include Regensburg and Sulzbach, at Ludwig's expense. When the Emperor died on Crusade, and his son, Henry VI had ascended the throne on 15 April 1191 in Rome, he had immediately found a princely opposition on Ottokar I of Bohemia and his brother-in-law Count Albert III of Bogen who demanded a revision of the Staufen imperial land policy. Using that justification, Albert had designs to seize the Sulzbach domains from Emperor Henry's royal territory. Ludwig immediately attempted to mediate and called for a Hoftag in Laufen, which caught the attention of many great men within the Empire, to settle the dispute. Yet he could not stop the Count of Bogen and the Sulzbach land was taken. When Duke Ludwig turned against that, it came to war. Ludwig's forces were pushed back by the combined might of Count Albert and Duke Ottokar. Even when the vicious counter-attack of Leopold V, Duke of Austria and Berthold, Duke of Merania were not able to change the situation. And Ludwig had vowed to never stop until Count Albert was without Sulzbach.

It was in the summer of 1192 at Worms where he received the German tradition of knighting, which was the handing of sword and belt, in the presence of Emperor Henry VI and many other Princes.^[3] By 1193, Emperor Henry became involved in-person over the affair and seized Sulzbach and Albert and declared a standstill of arms; Albert was to be banished and Ottokar of Bohemia deprived of his duchy. In exchange for this service, Ludwig was to remain, for the next decade and a half, on the side of the Staufen. Ludwig would demonstrate his partisanship at the Hoftag at Würzburg, Mainz and his attendance of the Imperial retinue to Apulia and Sicily, where he would stand with the Emperor on securing Emperor Henry's inheritance of southern Italy.

Until the death of the emperor, Ludwig remained a loyal supporter of Henry VI and accompanied the Hohenstaufen in 1194 also to Italy on his second expedition for the conquest of the kingdom of Sicily, which was entitled Henry's wife Constance as sole heir. In the struggle for the throne after the death of Henry VI, he remained one of the main supporters of the Hohenstaufen Philip of Swabia. His continued support, however, had a price. When the Landgrave of Stefling died without an heir in 1196, instead of including the region over to his royal domain, Henry enfeoffed it to Ludwig instead. Suddenly, Eberhard, Archbishop of Sazlburg and Conrad, Bishop of Regensburg, falling at variance, declared war on Duke Ludwig and spared no sacred nor profane structures. It was only through Ludwig's character that peace was restored.^[3]

The following year, in 1197, Ludwig went with the Emperor to Sicily to prepare for their departure for the German Crusade of 1197. But Henry had died of an illness; possibly Malaria, suddenly. And the journey was canceled. Henry's death thus began a most difficult epoch in German history.

Staufen-Welf Throne Dispute

The northern and western German Princes demanded a new Emperor, choosing Otto of Brunswick, mainly under the encouragement of Pope Celestine III, while the southern and eastern German Princes remained loyal to the Staufen. While it was true that Emperor Henry was still alive when young Frederick was elected king at two years of age, he had no way of knowing his son would become challenged by such a force. The only force that could counter the north and west German's choice was Henry's brother, Philip of Swabia, whom had initially considered being regent, but was refused that right, as the south and east Germans needed an acting king. And Frederick was too young. Because of that, in 1198, it came to the double-election. This same year, Ludwig's old nemesis, Albert of Bogen, had died. Thus leaving him with one less problem and one great opportunity.

Ludwig took to wife the widowed Ludmilla of Bohemia in 1204, to gain the alliance of her uncle Ottokar I of Bohemia. This also gave him claim to the house of Bogen's lands, if at least not directly.

An old story goes that the Duke made her acquaintance with affection and she fearing he did it to delude her, hid three persons she trusted behind a curtain and gave them three pictures to hold up. This done, she begged of him to see her no more unless he promised to marry her before witnesses. The Duke hesitated and she pointed to the three pictures saying,"Those said persons should be witnesses to your promises." Ludwig, thinking those persons could never rise in judgement against him, made her all the protestations she could desire, so she drew back the curtains and revealed the three living witnesses. He was so taken with the contrivance that he solemnly married her afterwards.^[4]

That same year saw the Margraves of Cham die without heirs. While major areas were given by King Philip to Ludwig, the March of the Nordgau was left as an Imperial fief, and with the new wealth, Ludwig founded Landshut.

Among the cities he founded were Landshut in 1204, Straubing in 1218 and Landau an der Isar in 1224.

After Philip's murder he supported the Welf Emperor Otto IV, who therefore confirmed the everlasting reign of the Wittelsbach family in Bavaria in 1208.

But in 1211 Ludwig joined the Hohenstaufen party again; Emperor Frederick II rewarded him with the Palatinate of the Rhine in 1214: His son Otto was married to Agnes of the Palatinate, a granddaughter of Duke Henry the Lion and Conrad of Hohenstaufen. With this marriage, the Wittelsbach inherited the Palatinate and kept it as a Wittelsbach possession until 1918. Since that time also the lion has become a heraldic symbol in the coat of arms for Bavaria and the Palatinate.

In 1221 Ludwig participated in the Fifth Crusade and was imprisoned in Egypt by Al-Kamil but later released. In 1225 Ludwig took over the guardianship for the young king Henry. Subsequently, however, the ratio of Ludwig deteriorated to both, his ward and to the emperor. With the latter, there were differences in matters of church policy, during the conflict with Henry (Ludwig intrigued with the Pope against the Staufer) in 1229 he even fought with military means, but the Bavarian Duke was defeated. Thus under pressure he moved in 1230 back to Kelheim Castle.

Final Years

Ludwig was murdered in 1231 on a bridge in Kelheim. The crime was never cleared up since the murderer was immediately lynched. Due to the following aversion of the Wittelsbach family the city of Kelheim lost its status as one of the ducal residences. His son and successor, Otto the Illustrious, let break down the bridge in the following year and changed its gate to a chapel. Ludwig was buried in the crypt of Scheyern Abbey.

References

Citations

1. Stevens 1706, pp. 55
2. Holzfurtner 2005, pp.23
3. Stevens 1706, pp. 56
4. Stevens 1706, pp. 56-57

Bibliography

• Holzfurtner, Ludwig (2005). Die Wittelsbacher: Staat und Dynastie in acht Jahrhunderten (Urban-Taschenbucher). Kohlhammer. ISBN 978-3170181915.
• Hubensteiner, Benno (2013). Bayerische Geschichte. Munich: Rosenheimer Verlagshaus. ISBN 978-3475537561.
• Stevens, John (1706). The History of Bavaria: From the First Ages, to This Present Year.
• Peltzer, Jörg (2013). Die Wittelsbacher und die Kurpfalz im Mittelalter: Eine Erfolgsgeschichte?. Schnell & Steiner. ISBN 978-3795426453.
• Powell, James M. (1986). Anatomy of a Crusade 1213-1221. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1323-8.
• Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim (2013). Die Wittelsbacher am Rhein. Die Kurpfalz und Europa: 2 Bände. Schnell & Steiner. ISBN 978-3795426446.
• Schmid, Gregor M. (2014). Die Familie, die Bayern erfand: Das Haus Wittelsbach: Geschichten, Traditionen, Schicksale, Skandale. Munich: Stiebner. ISBN 978-3830710608.
• Vogel, Susanne (2012). Die Wittelsbacher: Herzöge - Kurfürsten - Könige in Bayern von 1180 bis 1918. Biografische Skizzen. Staackmann. ISBN 978-3886752485.