Albert IV of Bavaria

Albert IV Wise the (born the December 15th 1447 with Munich; † the March 18th 1508 in this same city) was the last duke of Bavaria of Munich and, as from 1503, the first duke of reunified Bavaria.

His/her father, the duke of Bavaria Albert the Piles, intended it for the ecclesiastical career. But when his/her older brother Jean IV died, it returned of Pavia, where it studied, and disputed with his younger brother Sigismond the division of the duchy. The two brothers youngest children, Christophe and Wolfgang asserted to them-even a share of the capacity. Albert IV seized the power but had to fight Christophe the Fort which recruited its partisans in the area of Straubing and in the knighthood of the Forêt of Bavaria. Sigismond was withdrawn in its castle in 1467 and of this moment, Albert could only reign.

In 1485 Albert associated the strongholds of the lords of Abensberg whose line was extinct; in 1486 it attached to its duchy the town of Empire Ratisbon; in 1487 he married Cunégonde of Austria, the girl of the emperor Frederic III and finally inherited his cousin Simon the Rich person all Souabe Habsbourgeoise (High-Austria), so that its power became enormous. This situation worried not only the emperor, but also the lords of Souabe and the states of Straubing, as well as the middle-class of the towns of Empire: they federated in Ligue of Souabe. The emperor Frederic III struck consequently Albert IV and the town of Ratisbon of Interdit. Albert IV finally decided to restore all his heritages and peace was signed in Augsburg (1492).

The war however burst since 1503 with dead of the duke of Bavaria-Landshut George the Rich person with the war of succession of Landshut. The late duke of Bavaria-Landshut had tried to break the oath of Wittelsbach by bequeathing his duchy to his Elisabeth daughter, who had married the Elector Palatine Ruprecht. This time, Albert had the support of the Ligue of Souabe and the king d' Autriche Maximilien, while Ruprecht was supported by Bohemia and Palatinat. With died of Ruprecht and Elisabeth in 1504, the war of succession was completed in blood, then the High one and Low Bavaria were again reunified for the first time since two centuries and half. To guarantee the future unit of the duchy, Albert IV promulga in 1506 the Right of seniority, at the end which the duchy should from now on fall to the first male descendant of the line.

Descent

Albert IV had married on January 3rd, 1487 with Innsbruck the archduchess Cunégonde of Austria (1465-1520), girl of the emperor Frederic III and the Infante Aliénor of Portugal. He had eight children of this union.

Sidonie (1488-1505), died whereas it was only promised in marriage to the voter Louis V of Palatinat
Sibille (1489-1519) ∞ the 1511 voter Louis V of Palatinat (1478-1544)
Sabine of Bavaria (1492-1564) ∞ the 1511-1515 duke Ulrich VI of Wurtemberg (1487-1550)
Guillaume Constant the (1493-1550) ∞ 1522 margravess Jacobée Maria de Bade (1507-1580)
Louis X of Bavaria-Landshut (1495-1545)
Susanne (1499-1500)
Ernest of Bavaria (1500-1560), curator of Passau and the archbishop's palace of Salzburg
Susanne II of Bavaria (1502-1543)

∞ 1518 margrave Casimir de Brandebourg-Kulmbach († 1527)

∞ 1529 Count Palatine Otto Heinrich (Ottheinrich) of Pfalz-Neuburg († 1559)

References

Thomas Feuerer: Herzog Albrecht IV. von Bayern und the Seine Klosterpolitik. Statistische und prosopographische Studien zum vorreformatorischen landesherrlichen Klosterregiment im Herzogtum Bayern von 1465 (a) 1508 . 2 vol., Diss., Ratisbon 2005.
Maren Gottschalk: Geschichtsschreibung im Umkreis Friedrichs I. of Siegreichen von der Pfalz und Albrechts IV. of Weisen von Bayern-München . Diss., Munich 1989.
Hans-Josef Krey: Herrschaftskrisen und Landeseinheit. Die Straubinger und Münchner Landstände unter Herzog Albrecht IV. von Bayern-München . ED. Shaker, Aachen 2005, ISBN 3-8322-3937-5.

External bonds

Portrait and biography (Gallery of portraits, house of history of Bavaria)

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