William V, Duke of Bavaria

William V the Pious ( born September 29, 1548 in Landshut, † February 7, 1626 in Schleißheim ) was from 1579 to 1597 Duke of Bavaria.

Kurprinzenzeit

William was born as the second son of Albert V. while Prince time to Trausnitz about Landshut, an old rule midpoint of the Wittelsbach family. His mother was Anne of Austria, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I in 1568, he married Renata of Lorraine. The wedding was celebrated with great effort in the residence of his father in Munich and is documented in contemporary texts and images.

Then the royal couple set up a royal household to Trausnitz where a major artistic effort has been. Renata of Lorraine was a daughter of Christina of Denmark and a niece of the Emperor Charles V. and raised on Lorraine ducal court. It thus set especially knowledge of French and Spanish court culture to Landshut. William in turn was closely related with the Habsburgs, but also the Medici, so that also the artistic centers Innsbruck, Ambras, Vienna and Florence unfolded model effects. Important suggestions received by the royal couple William 's uncle Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, from 1567 as sovereign extended the residence in Innsbruck with gardens and pleasure palaces (eg Castle peace pleasure) and 1572 einrichtete a famous art collection in Castle Ambras. A close advisor was Hans Fugger in Augsburg, who provided him not only with ideas and personal contacts, but ready to put together with other large loan amounts.

In Landshut, the fortified hill castle Trausnitz was structurally expanded and painted with extensive image cycles. In the valley of a Renaissance garden after French models, an extensive zoo with many exotic and rare animal species arose before the walls of the city and on the mountain to the Trausnitz around. The work was coordinated from 1573 in the artistic sense by the educated in Florence Dutch painter Friedrich Sustris, the various art forms presented in the novel position of art director in the service of royal self-representation and also in Munich should perform this function.

Reign

After the death of his father William V took over the government in 1579 in the Duchy of Bavaria and moved with his wife in the residence in Munich.

After his accession to the throne sat Wilhelm V of his father, the Counter-Reformation policy continued. In 1583 he sealed in Munich a concordat, which regulated the expanded authority of the sovereign in religious questions. In the same year he got involved in the Electoral Cologne War, after the Archbishop of Cologne, Gebhard Steward had converted from Waldenburg to Protestantism. The conquest of the archbishopric by his brother Ernst, he supported financially and with their own troops, which swelled the Bavarian mountain of debt by a further 700,000 guilders. As a result, provided the Wittelsbach dynasty until 1761 the Elector of Cologne and the Archbishop.

Lavishly like his father, he promoted the arts and the Catholic Church. He built the Jesuit monastery in Munich and from 1583 with the St. Michael's Church, the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps. Under Wilhelm V, the Jesuits came to Altötting, Regensburg, Biburg, Muenchsmuenster and Ebersberg.

Wilhelm suffered increasingly from the requirements to rule his financially ailing Duchy and fled to the asceticism. As an economy measure in 1589 he was the first court brewery set up as the beer for the Munich Court caused considerable costs, especially when it was imported, eg from the far Einbeck.

Abdication

From 1594 Wilhelm gradually took his eldest son Maximilian in government affairs, on October 15, 1597, he abdicated and on 4 February 1598, he gave birth to his officials and subjects from their oath of allegiance. He himself kept a Jahresapanage of 60,000 guilders and moved with his wife back to the newly built Wilhelmine Veste.

Marriage and descendants

Duke William V married on February 22, 1568 in Munich Princess Renata ( 1544-1602 ), the daughter of Duke Francis I of Lorraine and his wife Princess Christina of Denmark. The wedding was celebrated with an unusually large expense for 18 days, the hard music was composed by Orlando di Lasso. From the marriage ten children were born:

  • Christoph (* / † 1570)
  • Christine (1571-1580)
  • Maximilian I (1573-1651)
  • Maria Anna (1574-1616) ∞ 1600 Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, later emperor
  • Philipp Wilhelm (1576-1598), cardinal deacon and Prince-Bishop of Regensburg
  • Ferdinand (1577-1650), Elector of Cologne, Prince-Bishop of Liège, Münster, Hildesheim and Paderborn
  • Eleonore Magdalena (1578-1579)
  • Karl (1580-1587)
  • Albrecht VI. the lights Berger (1584-1666) ∞ 1612 Princess Matilda of Leuchtenberg ( 1588-1634 )
  • Magdalene (1587-1628) ∞ 1613 Duke Wolfgang William of Neuburg
Hans von Aachen Collar (Order of Knighthood) Order of the Golden Fleece Albert V, Duke of Bavaria Trausnitz Castle Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg Biburg Abbey Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria Francis I, Duke of Lorraine Philipp of Bavaria Albert VI, Duke of Bavaria Magdalene of Bavaria Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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