Matilda of Habsburg

Matilda of Habsburg
Duchess consort of Bavaria
Tenure	1273–1294
Spouse	Louis II, Duke of Bavaria
Issue
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I, Duke of Bavaria Agnes, Margravine of Brandenburg Matilda, Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg
House	House of Wittelsbach (by marriage) House of Habsburg (by birth)
Father	Rudolph I of Germany
Mother	Gertrude of Hohenburg
Born	1253
Died	23 December 1304 Munich, Bavaria

Matilda of Habsburg or Melchilde (Rheinfelden, 1253^[1] – Munich, Bavaria, 23 December 1304) was the eldest daughter of Rudolph I of Germany and Gertrude of Hohenburg. She was regent of Bavaria in the minority of her son.

Family

Matilda was the fourth 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 and Elisabeth, Queen of Bohemia. Her sister Clementia married Charles Martel of Anjou and was mother of Charles I of Hungary.

Matilda's maternal grandparents were Burchard V, Count of Hohenberg and his wife Mechtild of Tübingen. Her paternal grandparents were Albert IV, Count of Habsburg and his wife Hedwig of Kyburg.

Biography

Marriage

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.

Matilda and Louis had the following children:

1. Agnes (d.1345), married to:
   1. 1290 in Donauwörth Landgrave Henry II of Hesse;
   2. 1298/1303 Heinrich I "Ohneland" ("Lackland"), Margrave of Brandenburg.
2. Rudolf I (4 October 1274, Basle–12 August 1319).
3. Mechthild (1275–28 March 1319, Lüneburg), married 1288 to Duke Otto II of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.
4. Ludwig IV (1 April 1282, Munich–11 October 1347, Puch bei Fürstenfeldbruck).

Widowhood and Regency

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.

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.

Matilda and Rudolf continued to be at odds and in 1302 Matilda was arrested by Rudolf and brought to München, where she signed an agreement promising never to interfere in the government again, but as soon as she was outside the boarders of Bavaria, Matilda declared the agreement null and void, and got the support of her brother, Albert, Louis the Bavarian and others.^[2]

Matilda's son, 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.^[3][4]

Matilda died on 23 December 1304 at Munich, Bavaria.

Ancestry

References

1. ^ "Austria, Medieval Lands". fmg.ac. updated 13 March 2008. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/AUSTRIA.htm#Mechtilddied1304. 
2. ^ "Matilda of Habsburg's entry at Women in power 1250-1300". guide2womenleaders.com. http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/womeninpower/Womeninpower1250.htm. 
3. ^ Matylda Habsburská, Translation from Czech Wikipedia
4. ^ A listing of descendants of Rudolph I of Germany.

Preceded by Anna of Glogau

Duchess of Upper Bavaria 1273–1294

Succeeded by Mechtild of Nassau

Persondata
Name	Matilda Of Habsburg
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1252
Place of birth
Date of death	23 December 1304
Place of death	Munich, Bavaria