This article will address Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg, a topic that has captivated the interest of numerous scholars and specialists in different areas of knowledge. The relevance of Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg is manifested through its impact on society, culture, history and human development. Over time, Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg has sparked debates, research and reflections that have enriched the understanding of this phenomenon. From various perspectives and approaches, the multiple facets of Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg have been analyzed, revealing its complexity and its influence on various aspects of daily life. In this sense, this article aims to explore the phenomenon of Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg in a comprehensive and rigorous manner, providing a broad and updated vision of this topic.
Louis was born in Rome when his parents travelled there for his father's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor, hence his nickname "the Roman". When his father died in 1347, Louis succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria (as Louis VI) and Count of Holland and Hainaut together with his five brothers. Louis released Holland and Hainaut for his brothers William I and Albert I in 1349, since he expected to acquire the Polish crown by his in 1345 marriage with Cunigunde of Poland, a daughter of Casimir III and Aldona Ona of Lithuania.[1] Later claims against William and Albert were not successful. Hence Louis supported his mother during her war with William.
In December 1351 Louis VI received Brandenburg from his older half-brother Louis V of Bavaria in exchange for the sole rule of Upper Bavaria. Less experienced than Louis V, he was also challenged by the "False Waldemar", an impostor who claimed Brandenburg and got support from several cities and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV until the Wittelsbachs came to terms with Charles. Louis also had to abandon claims on fiefdoms in Mecklenburg and Pomerania. With the Golden Bull of 1356, Louis secured the electoral dignity. In 1358 Louis was absolved from the papal excommunication.
After Cunigunde's death in 1357, Louis married Ingeborg of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was a daughter of Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg, and Euphemia of Sweden. Louis had no children with her, either, thus his younger brother Otto V succeeded him in Brandenburg. The childless dukes Louis and Otto had already promised Charles IV the succession in Brandenburg in 1364 as revenge for a conflict with their brother Stephen II over the Bavarian succession after the death of their nephew Meinhard, the son of Louis V. Louis the Roman died in Berlin in 1365.
References
^Andrzej Pleszczynski; Grischa Vercamer (2021). Germans and Poles in the Middle Ages: The Perception of the 'Other' and the Presence of Mutual Ethnic Stereotypes in Medieval Narrative Sources. Brill. p. 216. ISBN9789004466555.
