}) was

Duke of Bavaria The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and Monarch, kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic States of Germany, state in th ...

from 1347 until his death. He was the second son of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian by his first wife

Beatrice of Silesia Beatrice of Silesia (also known as Beatrice of Świdnica; pl, Beatrycze świdnicka, german: Beatrix von Schweidnitz ; 1290 – 24 October 1322) was a Polish princess member of the House of Piast in the Silesian branch of Jawor-Świdnica and by m ...

and a member of the

Wittelsbach dynasty The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

Biography

During the reign of Emperor Louis IV his son Stephen served as

vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

and

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. The Emperor had acquired

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

and Hainaut for his House but he had also released the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...

for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. When his father died in 1347, Stephen succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria and Count of

and Hainaut together with his five brothers. Louis IV had reunited Bavaria in 1340 but in 1349 the country was divided for the emperor's sons again into

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

, Lower Bavaria-Landshut and

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 (''illustration'') of these marches and outliers ...

. Stephen II ruled from 1349 to 1353 together with his brothers

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

and Albert I in

and Lower Bavaria-Landshut, since 1353 only in Lower Bavaria-Landshut. After the temporary reconciliation of the Wittelsbach with

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV ( cs, Karel IV.; german: Karl IV.; la, Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charle ...

, who had finally confirmed all Wittelsbach possessions, Stephen joined Charles' expedition to Italy in 1354. But soon the

Golden Bull of 1356 The Golden Bull of 1356 (, , , , ) was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg and Metz ( Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by the Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the con ...

caused a new conflict since only the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach and his brother

Louis VI the Roman Louis the Roman () (7 May 1328 – 17 May 1365) was the eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor, Louis IV the Bavarian, by his second wife, Margaret II, Countess of Hainaut, and a member of the House of Wittelsbach. Louis was Duke of Upper Bavaria as L ...

as margrave of Brandenburg were invested with the electoral dignity. Stephen II was the last son of Emperor Louis IV who was in 1362 absolved from excommunication. When Duke

Meinhard Meinhard is a municipality in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The community lies in the North Hesse Low Mountain Range landscape on the edge of the Werra valley, 3 km from the district seat of Eschwege. Near ...

, the son of his older brother

Louis V the Brandenburger Louis V, called the Brandenburger (May 1315 – 18 September 1361), a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Margrave of Brandenburg from 1323 to 1351 and as Duke of Bavaria from 1347 until his death. From 1342 he also was co-ruling Coun ...

died in 1363, Stephen II succeeded also in Upper Bavaria and invaded

. To strengthen his position against

Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria Rudolf IV (1 November 1339 – 27 July 1365), also called Rudolf the Founder (german: der Stifter), was a scion of the House of Habsburg who ruled as duke of Austria (self-proclaimed archduke), Styria and Carinthia from 1358, as well as count ...

he confederated with

Bernabò Visconti Bernabò or Barnabò Visconti (1323 – 19 December 1385) was an Italian soldier and statesman who was Lord of Milan. Along with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo II, he inherited the lordship of Milan from his uncle Giovanni. Later in 1355, he an ...

. Stephen finally renounced Tyrol to the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

s with the Peace of Schärding for a huge financial compensation after the death of

Margarete Maultasch Margaret, nicknamed ''Margarete Maultasch'' (1318 – 3 October 1369), was the last Countess of Tyrol from the House of Gorizia (''Meinhardiner''), and an unsuccessful claimant to the Duchy of Carinthia. Upon her death, Tyrol became united with th ...

in 1369. His conflict with his brother Louis VI the Roman on the Bavarian heritage of Meinhard finally caused also the loss of

by the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate o ...

dynasty since Louis then made Charles IV his contracted heir. However, Stephen accepted his brother

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

, the last Wittelsbach regent of Brandenburg, as his nominal co-regent when he returned to Bavaria in 1373. Due to the loss of Brandenburg the Bavarian dukes received a financial compensation one more time. Stephen was succeeded by his three sons. He is buried in the Frauenkirche in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Family and children

He was married twice. First, 27 June 1328 to Elisabetta of Sicily, daughter of King

Frederick III of Sicily Frederick II (or III) (13 December 1272 – 25 June 1337) was the regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1291 until 1295 and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the W ...

and

Eleanor of Anjou Eleanor of Anjou (August 1289 – 9 August 1341) was Queen of Sicily as the wife of King Frederick II of Sicily. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou by birth. She was the third daughter of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungar ...

. Second, he was married 14 February 1359 to

Margarete of Nuremberg Margarete is a German feminine given name. It is derived from Ancient Greek ''margarites'' (μαργαρίτης), meaning "the pearl". Via the Latin ''margarita'', it arrived in the German sprachraum. Related names in English include Daisy, Gre ...

, daughter of

John II of Nuremberg John II of Nuremberg ( 1309 – 1357) was a Burgrave of Nuremberg from the House of Hohenzollern. He was the elder son of Frederick IV of Nuremberg and Margarete of Görz. Life He succeeded his father in 1332. He attained his name "the Acquir ...

and Elisabeth of Henneberg. All his children were from his first marriage, including three sons, who finally divided Bavaria among themselves in 1392 and one daughter: # Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt (1337–September 26, 1413, Niederschönfeld). # Frederick of Bavaria-Landshut (1339–December 4, 1393, Budweis). # John II of Bavaria-Munich (1341–1397), married Katherina of Gorz # Agnes (b. 1338), married c. 1356 King

James I of Cyprus James I (french: Jacques de Lusignan; 1334 – September 9, 1398) was the youngest son of King Hugh IV of Cyprus and by 1369 held the title "Constable of Jerusalem." When his nephew Peter II died in 1382, James became King of Cyprus. James was als ...

. Two of Stephen's sons (Stephen III and Frederick) and one grandson (John's son

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...

) were married to daughters of his ally Bernabò Visconti. In 1447 Bavaria-

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

was united with Bavaria-

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

, which was seized by Bavaria-

in 1503.

Ancestors

References

Sources

External links

*
Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1347
, - , - , - {{Authority control 1319 births 1375 deaths 14th-century dukes of Bavaria House of Wittelsbach Burials at Munich Frauenkirche Sons of emperors Children of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor Sons of kings