John IV, Landgrave of Leuchtenberg (1470 in Pfreimd – 1 September 1531 in Grünsfeld) was Landgrave of

Leuchtenberg Leuchtenberg is a municipality in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria, Germany, essentially a suburb of nearby Weiden in der Oberpfalz, and a larger historical region in the Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also know ...

from 1487 until his death. He was the son and heir of Landgrave Frederick V of Leuchtenberg (d. 19 May 1487 in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

) and his wife Dorothea of Rieneck. During the

Landshut War of Succession The War of the Succession of Landshut (''Landshuter Erbfolgekrieg'' in German) resulted from a dispute between the Duchies of Bavaria-Munich (''Bayern-München'' in German) and Bavaria-Landshut (''Bayern-Landshut''). Background George, Duk ...

, John fought on the side of Elector Palatine

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

. After the war, he was briefly expelled by Emperor Maximilian I. Nevertheless, he was hired by Duke

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

of Bavaria and later by Elector Palatine

Louis V Louis V may refer to: * Louis V of France (967–987) * Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor and V of Germany (1282–1347) * Louis V, Duke of Bavaria (1315–1361) * Louis V, Elector Palatine (ruled 1508–1544) * Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (r ...

. Between 1513 and 1518, he served as governor of Amberg, earning an annual salary of 1000 guilders. This additional income allowed him to lend money to Elector Palatine Otto Henry and his brother

and to Margrave Frederick I "the Elder" of Brandenburg-Ansbach. However, most of the money was never repaid. In 1515, he sold Neuhaus to Waldsessen Abbey. In 1530, he purchased Luhe and Wernberg from Hans Adam Wißpeck zu Volburg and granted city status to the town of Pfreimd, where he lived. He also introduced the

primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...

in Leuchtenberg.

Marriage and issue

He married Margaret of Schwarzburg (d. 1518) and had five children with her: *

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

(1502–1555), Landgrave of Leuchtenberg from 1531 * Anna (1506–1555), married Count Martin of Oettingen (d. 1549) * Elisabeth (1508–1560), married Count Charles Wolfgang of Oettingen (d. 1549) * John (1511–1572), who was mentally challenged * Christopher of Leuchtenberg (d. 1554)

External links

Genealogy of the landgraves of Leuchtenberg
at manfredhiebl.de Landgraves of Leuchtenberg House of Leuchtenberg 1470 births 1531 deaths 15th-century German nobility 16th-century German nobility {{Germany-noble-stub