Louis I, Duke of Bavaria
Soon after his father's death in 1183, Louis was appointed under the guardianship of his uncle Conrad of Wittelsbach, Archbishop of Mainz, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
[3] His mother, Agnes, an energetic and enterprising leader, had taken over the regency of Bavaria in the meantime, securing her son's inheritance.
[4] This allowed Barbarossa to expand his royal domains within the Empire to include Regensburg and Sulzbach at Louis's expense.
When the Emperor died on Crusade, and his son, Henry VI had ascended the throne on 15 April 1191 in Rome, he had immediately found a princely opposition in Ottokar I of Bohemia and his brother-in-law Count Albert III of Bogen who demanded a revision of the Staufen imperial land policy.
Louis immediately attempted to mediate and called for a Hoftag in Laufen, which caught the attention of many great men within the Empire, to settle the dispute.
It was in the summer of 1192 at Worms where he received the German tradition of knighting, which was the handing of sword and belt, in the presence of Emperor Henry VI and many other Princes.
Suddenly, Eberhard, Archbishop of Salzburg and Conrad, Bishop of Regensburg, falling at variance, declared war on Duke Louis and spared no sacred nor profane structures.
An old story goes that the Duke made the acquaintance of Ludmilla of Bohemia with affection and she fearing he did it to delude her, hid three persons she trusted behind a curtain and gave them three pictures to hold up.
Louis, thinking those persons could never rise in judgement against him, made her all the protestations she could desire, so she drew back the curtains and revealed the three living witnesses.
[6] The margraves of Cham died without heirs in 1204 which resulted in major areas given to Louis by King Philip; however, the March of the Nordgau was left as an imperial fief.
The ceremony was headed by Ekbert, Bishop of Bamberg of the House of Andechs (brother of the groom Otto) and Henry II, Margrave of Istria who also was in attendance.
After the ceremony, King Philip retired to his quarters, where he was murdered by Otto VIII, Count Palatine of Bavaria, Louis's first cousin.
Whether they had a hand in it directly is under debate, but that it happened under their watch is not; they were at least guilty of connivance, with Louis suspecting Henry II of Istria the most.
In May 1221, Louis sailed on with his Bavarian army with Ulrich II, Bishop of Passau, Herman V, Margrave of Baden-Baden, John of Brienne and many other nobles.
On 6 July, the Legate had ordered a three-day fast and carrying the banner of Christ barefoot, planted it where the river rises.
The legate had been generous in wages to the knights and their attendants, armed ships sparing neither body nor wealth to finish the task, along with the help of Duke Louis, King John, the bishops, archbishops and the grand masters of the orders.
With the latter, there were differences in matters of church policy, during the conflict with Henry in 1229 he even fought with military means, but the Bavarian duke was defeated.
The crime was never cleared up since the murderer - reportedly an Assassin - was immediately lynched, though many suspected Emperor Frederick II to be behind the deed.
