Mathilde von Habsburg

Matilda of Habsburg

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Matilda of Habsburg or Melchilde (Rheinfelden, ca. 1252-Munich, Bavaria, 23 December 1304) was the eldest daughter of Rudolph I of Germany and Gertrude of Hohenburg. Her siblings included: Judith of Habsburg, Klementia of Habsburg and Albert I of Germany.

Biography

On the 24 October 1273, Matilda married Louis II, Duke of Bavaria in Aachen, she was his third and final wife. There was a large age difference, Louis was twenty three years older than Matilda but they still had four children. Their children were:

Agnes (ca. 1267/77–1345), married to:

1290 in Donauwörth Landgrave Henry II of Hesse;

1298/1303 Heinrich I "Ohneland" ("Lackland"), Margrave of Brandenburg.

Rudolf I (4 October 1274, Basle–12 August 1319).

Mechthild (1275–28 March 1319, Lüneburg), married 1288 to Duke Otto II of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.

Ludwig IV (1 April 1282, Munich–11 October 1347, Puch bei Fürstenfeldbruck).

On her husband's death in 1294, Matilda acted as regent for her young son Rudolf. A decision was made for Matilda to take part of the duchy and her son to take the other part. Matilda took a large part of Upper Bavaria while her son took the cities such as: Ingolstadt, Neuberg, Langenfeld and Rietberg. Within a couple of years her son came of age and ruled the kingdom by himself.

[edit]Family

Matilda was the forth of nine children, her younger sister, Judith married Wenceslaus II of Bohemia was the mother of ten children, among them were Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, Anna I of Bohemia, duchess of Carinthia and Elisabeth I of Bohemia, duchess of Luxembourg. Klementia's daughter Clemence was the mother of John I of France, the baby king. John I died when he was only five days old so was succeded by his paternal uncle Philip.

Her mother, Gertrude was born to Burchard V, Count of Hohenberg (d. 1253) and his wife Mechtild of Tübingen.

Her paternal grandparents were Burchard IV, Count of Hohenberg and his unnamed wife. Her maternal grandparents were Rudolph II, Count palatine and his wife, a daughter of Henry, Margrave of Ronsberg and Udilhild of Gammertingen.Burchard IV was a son of Burchard III, Count of Hohenberg.

Burchard III was one of two sons of Burchard II, Count of Hohenberg. He was co-ruler with his brother Frederick, Count of Hohenberg. His brother had no known descendants and the two brothers consequently had a single successor.

Burchard II was one of five known sons of Frederick I, Count of Zollern and his wife Udachild of Urach.

[edit]Louis IV's early reign as Duke of Upper Bavaria

Though Matilda had her younger son, Louis partly educated in Vienna and became co-regent of his brother Rudolf I in Upper Bavaria in 1301 with the support of Matilda and her brother King Albert I, he quarrelled with the Habsburgs from 1307 over possessions in Lower Bavaria. A civil war against his brother Rudolf due to new disputes on the partition of their lands was ended in 1313, when peace was made at Munich.

In the same year Louis defeated his Habsburg cousin Frederick the Handsome. Originally, he was a friend of Frederick, with whom he had been raised. However, armed conflict arose when the tutelage over the young Dukes of Lower Bavaria (Henry XIV, Otto IV and Henry XV) was entrusted to Frederick. On November 9, 1313, Frederick was beaten by Louis in the Battle of Gamelsdorf and had to renounce the tutelage.