Louis III, Elector Palatine
Ludwig III, also Ludwig the Bearded. ; (* January 23, 1378, † December 30, 1436 in Heidelberg) was from 1410 to 1436, Count Palatine and Elector of the Palatinate.
Family
His parents were Prince Elector Ruprecht III. of the Palatinate (also Roman- German King ) and Elisabeth von Hohenzollern -Nuremberg.
Life
Even during the reign of his father as German King and Elector Palatine Ludwig pulled one approach to government tasks. So he served 1401-1402 as imperial vicar, as the father was on a expedition to Italy. 1402 married Louis III. Princess Blanca of England, but on May 22, 1409 died, before her husband came to the government.
After the death of the father was told his empire among the four sons. The widowed Ludwig was dated October 3, 1410 his principal heir and successor in the Palatinate in the electoral dignity. The rest of the country fell to his brothers. Johann was Palatinate - Neumarkt, Otto the rule Pfalz- Mosbach and Stefan took over Pfalz- simmering.
Elector Ludwig was highly educated and religiously very involved. At the University of Heidelberg, it came to him that the subjects of theological, philosophical, and the Law School have been promoted and their jobs meant no reward less capable professors. In 1413 he completed the transformation begun by his father, the Holy Ghost Church in a collegiate fourteen members of the University. In 1421 he bequeathed the College his own books for free use of the students and was a passionate collector of precious manuscripts. Both books collections formed the basis for the later famous Bibliotheca Palatina.
Ludwig looked despite his powerful position from the empire out of a bid for the kingship. Instead, he supported the 1411 election of Sigismund of Luxembourg, who was seen as the most faithful of his followers and confirmed the pledges of the empire to the Palatinate in return. King Sigismund sat the Palatinate as an imperial vicar, which he perceived his deputy in the absence of the monarch. Elector Ludwig had at the Council of Constance considerably to the success of the negotiations that the Roman Pope Gregory XII. persuaded to abdicate. Thus, the main obstacle to end the Western Schism seemed eliminated. The king appointed Ludwig III. then the kingdom of judge upon whom the enforcement of judgments Empire, as well as deputy council protector, so the protector of the had to wear for security and peace at the council concern.
In his capacity as imperial vicar and poor Richter Ludwig III had. , To enforce in the absence of the king, the implementation of the measures imposed by the Council and in force as imperial law judgment against John Hus for heresy. This was therefore publicly burned on July 6, 1415 under his supervision. The same task fell to him at his comrades Jerome of Prague on 30 May 1416 which is first pardoned because of his revocation, but hinrich tete, as he reiterated his old theses again. Likewise, King Sigismund, the Pisan Pope John XXIII. , Although it agreed to a withdrawal commissioned him, but was probably fled in order restoration of his power on March 20, 1415 secretly from Constance to arrest and hold him until the election of a new pope. End of April, the Elector Palatine bring the fugitive in his custody and put him firmly on the Heidelberg Castle. There he received on 31 May of the year his outspoken dismissal by the council, which he agreed and formally renounced his papal office. In the spring of 1416 they uncovered a plot liberation, which is why John XXIII. Over the summer, came to the castle safer Eichelsheim, which was located on the site of the present city of Mannheim area. Took place on November 11 1417 in Konstanz, the election of Pope Martin V and the schism was considered finished. Therefore, one raised against the detention of John XXIII. now on; He gained his freedom, however, until the spring of 1419, as Elector Ludwig III. made him liable for the costs incurred by his escape from the council and let them go only after their settlement.
1415 joined Ludwig III. the opposite Louis VII of Bavaria -Ingolstadt addressed to Parakeet Society, its member he remained even after the conversion into the League of Constance. In 1417 he married in second marriage to Princess Matilda ( Matilde ) of Savoy. 1422/23 undertook the Palatinate rulers Prussia a ride. In national politics he belonged in 1424 to the opposition of the electors, who joined forces against King Sigismund in Binger Kurverein.
On May 5, 1426, his son died Ruprecht ( from the first marriage ), called " Ruprecht the Englishman ," which he saw as heir to the throne and had been in the business of government can be incorporated. The Elector, he was shocked by this death case so that he decided to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he took up in 1427, of which he, however, seriously ill returned. His piety and his religious commitment had increased so that he was given the nickname as God Fromm or the Pfaff consolation. Since 1430 nearly blinded, deposed him in 1435 his own wife and their councils. He died in 1436 in Heidelberg and was buried in the local Church of Holy Spirit.
Successor as the Elector Palatine was his eldest son Louis IV (1424-1449), who has died at age 25 and his one year old child Philipp ( 1448-1508 ) left as heir. In this ultimately ruled to own death, his uncle Frederick the Victorious (1425-1476), second son of the Elector Ludwig III.
At the choir ceiling of the Wittelsbach founded as Memoria of the house collegiate church at Neustadt on the Wine Route, is a representation of the Last Judgment from the period around 1420, . Having kneeling before Christ large figures of Elector Ludwig III, his parents and his first wife, Blanche of England. The latter is also buried there and it is believed that Ludwig III. finished the magnificent painting made to decorate the tomb of his very mourned by him first wife.
Marriages and descendants
Elector Ludwig III. married on August 15, 1401 in Cologne, the Princess Blanche of England ( 1392-1409 ), daughter of King Henry IV and his wife Mary de Bohun. The marriage went forth a son:
- Ruprecht of the British ( May 22nd 1406 in Heidelberg; † on 20 May 1426 just there, buried in the Holy Ghost Church in Heidelberg). Until his death he was the pretender to the throne and declared his father's successor.
His second wife married Ludwig III. on 30 November 1417 when Pignerol Princess Matilda ( Matilde ) of Savoy ( 1390-1438 ), the sister of the Blessed Margaret of Savoy and daughter of Duke Amadeus and his wife Countess Catherine of Geneva.
- Mechthild (1419-1482)
- Louis IV (1424-1449) ∞ 1445 Princess Margaret of Savoy ( 1410-1479 ), widow of the ( titular ) King Ludwig III. of Naples from the house of Anjou;
- Frederick I (1425-1476)
- Ruprecht of the Palatinate (1427-1480), Archbishop of Cologne.