John III, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing
Encyclopedia
Bavaria-Straubing
Bavaria-Straubing denotes the widely-scattered territorial inheritance in the Wittelsbach house of Bavaria that were governed by independent dukes of Bavaria-Straubing between 1353 and 1432; a map of these marches and outliers of the Holy Roman Empire, vividly demonstrates the fractionalisation of...
and count of Holland and Hainaut
County of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut was a historical region in the Low Countries with its capital at Mons . In English sources it is often given the archaic spelling Hainault....
1418–1425. John was the youngest son of Duke Albert I
Albert I, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Albert I or Albrecht KG was a feudal ruler of the counties of Holland, Hainaut, and Zeeland in the Low Countries...
and Margaret of Brieg
Margaret of Brieg
Margaret of Brieg was a daughter of Ludwik I the Fair and his wife, Agnes of Sagan. She was Duchess consort of Bavaria by her marriage to Albert I, Duke of Bavaria.- Family :...
.
Biography
In 1408 a Burgundian army led by his brother-in-law John the Fearless of Burgundy went to the aid of John III against the citizens of Liège, who were in open revolt. On the field of Othée, on 12 September 1408, the men of Liège were decisively defeated, and Burgundian influence was extended over the city and over the bishopric of Liège. The ensuing executions of leading insurgents led to John's nickname "the Pitiless".John the Pitiless, rejected holy orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
and surrendered his bishopric when his niece Jacqueline
Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut
Jacqueline of Wittelsbach was Duchess of Bavaria-Straubing, Countess of Hainaut and Holland from 1417 to 1432...
became countess of Holland and Hainaut and duchess of Bavaria-Straubing in 1417. With the aid of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
John III immediately started a civil war against Jacqueline and her husband duke John IV
John IV, Duke of Brabant
John IV, Duke of Brabant was the son of Antoine of Burgundy, Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg.John IV was the second Brabantian ruler of the House of Valois....
of Brabant. John the Pitiless supported the city of Dordrecht
Dordrecht
Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
and duke Philip the Good of Burgundy. A siege of Dordrecht was no success in 1419, so John IV of Brabant agreed to start a joint administration with John III. Jacqueline herself as a woman, did not get a share in the political responsibility. John IV of Brabant finally gave up Holland and Hainaut and left the rule to John the Pitiless. John the Pitiless was poisoned in 1425.
His niece Jacqueline went to England in 1421 and married the king's brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Pembroke, KG , also known as Humphrey Plantagenet, was "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of king Henry IV of England by his first wife, Mary de Bohun, brother to king Henry V of England, and uncle to the...
. She was unable to retain control over Holland and Hainaut any longer after John's death. Bavaria-Straubing was divided between the dukes of Bavaria, the major portion of which went to Bavaria-Munich
Bavaria-Munich
-History:After the death of Stephen II in 1375, his sons Stephen III, Frederick, and John II jointly ruled Bavaria-Landshut. After seventeen years, the brothers decided to formally divide their inheritance. John received Bavaria-Munich, Stephen received Bavaria-Ingolstadt, while Frederick kept...
.
John the Pitiless was known for the rich culture of his court; among the artists he engaged was also Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
, from at least 1422–24.
In 1418, John III married Elisabeth, Duchess of Luxembourg
Elisabeth, Duchess of Luxembourg
Elisabeth of Görlitz was Duchess regnant of Luxembourg from 1411 to 1443.-Life:Elisabeth was the only daughter and heiress of John of Görlitz, the third son of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. He was Duke of Lusatia and Görlitz, and also Elector of Brandenburg for a brief period...
, who was then the widow of Antoine, Duke of Brabant. No children came from this marriage.
Ancestors
See also
- Counts of Hainaut family treeCounts of Hainaut family treeThis is a family tree of the Counts of Hainaut, sometimes spelled though not pronounced Hainault from 1055 to 1432, when the County of Hainaut and the County of Holland are incorporated in the estates of the Duchy of Burgundy, following the end of the Hook and Cod wars...