Jean III of Bavaria

Jean of Bavaria (1375 - 1425): Prince-bishop of Liege of 1390 to 1418, then duke of Bavaria-Straubing of 1417 with 1425. Authoritative, it was scrambled quickly with its subjects. It was driven out by those and was deposited in 1406. But his/her brother-in-law, Jean without Fear, Duc of Burgundy went to his help and crushed the militia inhabitants of Li2ege with Othée in 1408. Following this victory, the Paix of the winners removed all the communal institutions inhabitants of Li2ege and Jean of Bavaria exerted a power without limits consequently.

For recall, he was the son junior by Albert of Bavaria, count de Hainaut, of Holland and of Zealand, the grandson of the emperor Louis IV of Bavaria as well as the brother of Guillaume IV of Hainaut,…. Hardly 17 years old, it was selected to succeed Arnould de Hornes in the évêché of Liege and was established in large pump in July 1390. It accepted then, realizing pontifical exemption, the subdiaconate, the only order which was ever conferred to him.

At the beginning of its reign, it attracted itself the hostility of its subjects inhabitant of Li2ege, anxious to maintain their privileges and habits. Moreover, the elected official refused to enter front the orders to become bishop. At the end of a few years of an agitated reign, it had to be withdrawn with Maastricht (1402) whereas the other cities chose Henri de Perwez, lord de Hornes, like mambour. Encouraged by the inaction of Jean of Bavaria, his opponents persecuted its partisans and proclaimed even his forfeiture in 1406. The son of the mambour, Thierry de Perwez, was selected as bishop and its troops besieged Maastricht in the winter 1407 - 1408. The house of Bavaria could not tolerate these humiliations: the elected official was helped by his brother, Guillaume IV of Hainaut, and per his brother-in-law, Jean without Peur, Duc of Burgundy. The battles decisive took place close to Tongres, in the plain of Othée, in September 1408. The rebels were crushed, eight thousand Inhabitants of Li2ege perished in the battle, of which the mambour and his/her son. After his restoration, Jean of Bavaria ordered terrible reprisals which were worth to him the nickname of Jean without Pitié. The widow of the mambour was even precipitated in the Meuse.

The elected official controlled then the principality as an absolute master until his/her brother, Guillaume IV of Hainaut, dies in 1417 without male heir. Jean of Bavaria conceived the project then to seize the heritage of his niece (Jacqueline of Bavaria). He abdicated évêché of Liege and managed to be made recognize as count de Hainaut, of Holland, of Zealand and Plank by the Sigismond emperor of which he married the niece, Elisabeth de Görlitz, widow of Antoine of Burgundy (Duke of the Brabant) and engagist of the duchy of Luxembourg. He got along then with Jean IV of the Brabant (wire of the precedent), husband of Jacqueline of Bavaria, which yielded to him, in spite of the opposition of his wife and of the States of the Brabant, Holland, Zealand and the Plank (1420). Jacqueline of Bavaria, which preserved Hainaut, separated then from her husband and sought the alliance of king d' Angleterre by marrying his brother, the duke of Gloucester. It returned then on the continent to the head of an English army to try to reconquer its heritage (October 1423). Jean of Bavaria, which still held Holland, died on these entrefaites in Delft, without heir (January 1424).

See too

List of the prince-bishops of Liege

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