Louis IV of Legnica ( pl, Ludwik;

Brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...

, 19 April 1616 – Legnica, 24 November 1663) was a duke of Brzeg from 1633 (together with his brothers until 1654), of

Wołów Wołów (german: Wohlau, cz, Volov) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Wołów County and Gmina Wołów. It lies approximately north-west of the regional capital Wrocław. , the town has a popul ...

(during 1653–1654 with his brothers) and of Legnica from 1653 (until 1654 with his brothers, after this alone). He was the fifth but second surviving son of John Christian, Duke of

- Legnica-

Oława Oława (pronounced , , szl, Oława) is a historic town in south-western Poland with 33,029 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975–1998 it was in the former Wrocław Voivodeship), within the Wrocław ...

, by his first wife, Dorothea Sibylle, daughter of

John George, Elector of Brandenburg John George of Brandenburg (german: Johann Georg von Brandenburg; 11 September 1525 – 8 January 1598) was a prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1571–1598). Early life Born as a member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was th ...

Life

After the death of their father in 1639, Louis IV and his younger brother Christian inherited Brzeg and Oława together with their oldest brother George III, who had been appointed administrator of the Duchies by the Emperor six years before. After the death of their uncle George Rudolf in 1653 without issue, the brothers inherited his lands of Legnica and Wołów. In 1654, they decided to a division of their domains: Louis IV obtained Legnica, George III retained Brzeg, and Christian received the small towns of

and

Marriage and issue

In Brzeg on 8 May 1649, Louis IV married Anna Sophie (Harzgerode, 29 September 1628 - Prochowice, 10 February 1666), daughter of John Albert II, Duke of

Mecklenburg-Güstrow Mecklenburg-Güstrow was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in Northern Germany, that existed on three occasions ruled by the House of Mecklenburg at Güstrow. History A first short-lived predecessor existed after the death of Henry IV, Duke of M ...

by his third wife, Eleonore Maria of Anhalt-Bernburg, first cousin of Louis IV's father John Christian; thus, the spouses were

second cousins Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

. They had one son: *Christian Albert (b. 7 November 1651 - d. 20 January 1652). After his death without surviving issue, Louis IV was succeeded by his brothers George III and Christian. George III died soon thereafter, and Christian reunited all their lands under his rule.

References

* *
Genealogical database by Herbert Stoyan
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Louis 04 of Legnica 1616 births 1663 deaths Dukes of Brzeg Dukes of Legnica