He studied theology and canon law at the University of Paris, for his family was on good terms with the Capetian court of France.

He quickly became one of the most influential princes in Germany, influencing the election that year of his brother Henry VII as King and Holy Roman Emperor.

[5] In 1328, he was captured on the Moselle by troops of Loretta of Sponheim, regent for her son, Johann III, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg, and held at Starkenburg castle.

[6] Likewise in that year, he was put forward by his own cathedral chapter as a candidate for the vacant Mainz archdiocese, but the Pope appointed Henry III of Virneburg [de].

He died in a monastic cell in the local Charterhouse and was buried in the west choir of Trier Cathedral.