Louis IV the Bavarian (oct 12, 1314 – oct 11, 1347)

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son of Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria, and Matilda of Habsburg, a daughter of King Rudolf I.
Louis was partly educated in Vienna and became co-regent of his brother Rudolf in Upper Bavaria in 1301 with the support of his Habsburg mother and her brother, King Albert I. He then quarrelled with the Habsburgs from 1307 over possessions in Lower Bavaria.
The death of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII in August 1313 necessitated the election of a successor. Henry's son John, King of Bohemia since 1310, was considered by many prince-electors to be too young, and by others to be already too powerful. One alternative was Frederick the Fair, the son of the assassinated Albert I of the House of Habsburg. In reaction, the pro-Luxembourg party among the prince electors settled on Louis as its candidate to prevent Frederick's election, and he was crowned at Aachen. However, Frederick and his faction (including his younger brother Leopold, who ruled Austria) remained in opposition and began several years of bloody war. Frederick was finally defeated in the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322. Louis marched to Italy and was crowned Emperor in 1328.
Louis's rampant acquisition and reassigning of various territories and his restless foreign policy (including an alliance with Edward III of England) earned him many enemies among the German princes. In the summer of 1346 the Luxembourg Charles IV (son of his rival John of Bohemia) was elected rival king, with the support of Pope Clement VI. Louis himself obtained much support from the Imperial Free Cities and the knights and successfully resisted Charles, who was widely regarded as a papal puppet. Also the Habsburg dukes stayed loyal to Louis. In the Battle of Crécy Charles' father John was killed; Charles himself also took part in the battle but escaped.
Louis' sudden death in 1347 avoided a longer civil war.

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