Günther XXI von Schwarzburg (1304–1349), German king, was a descendant of the counts of Schwarzburg

Schwarzburg

Schwarzburg is a municipality in the valley of the Schwarza in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in Thuringia, Germany.First mentioned in 1071 as Swartzinburg. The castle was from the 12th century the seat of the Counts of Schwarzburg...

 and the younger son of Henry VII, count of Blankenburg.

He distinguished himself as a soldier, and rendered good service to the Emperor Louis IV on whose death in 1347 he was offered the German throne, after it had been refused by Edward III of England

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

. He was elected German king at Frankfurt on January 30, 1349 by four of the electors, who were partisans of the house of Wittelsbach

Wittelsbach

The Wittelsbach family is a European royal family and a German dynasty from Bavaria.Members of the family served as Dukes, Electors and Kings of Bavaria , Counts Palatine of the Rhine , Margraves of Brandenburg , Counts of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland , Elector-Archbishops of Cologne , Dukes of...

 and opponents of Charles of Luxemburg, afterwards the Emperor Charles IV.

Charles, however, won over many of Gunther's adherents and defeated him at Eltville

Eltville

Eltville am Rhein is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road ....

, and Günther, who was now seriously ill, renounced his claims for the sum of 20,001 marks of silver. He died three weeks afterwards at Frankfurt and was buried in the cathedral of that city, where the headstone (a masterpiece of gothic art) was erected to his memory in 1352.

Opera

Günther von Schwarzburg

Günther von Schwarzburg (opera)

Günther von Schwarzburg is a Singspiel in three acts by Ignaz Holzbauer set to a German libretto by Anton Klein. Loosely based on events in the life of the 14th century German king, Günther von Schwarzburg, the opera premiered on 5 January 1777 at the Hoftheater in the Mannheim...

is also the subject of a Singspiel

Singspiel

A Singspiel is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera...

 in three acts by Ignaz Holzbauer

Ignaz Holzbauer

Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer was a composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music, and a member of the Mannheim school. His aesthetic style is in line with that of the Sturm und Drang "movement" of German art and literature.Holzbauer was born in Vienna...

, first performed in 1777.