Baldwin of Luxembourg (part 1) ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** By Jan Tomášek In the imperial environment, the Luxembourgian house was a good example of a family that m top positions in the society within a single generation. The ascent of the Luxembourg hous the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century heralded the golden age of the reign IV. The improvement of the family prestige was the result of the strategic alliance with t cooperation of the sons of the Luxembourgian Earl Henry VI, but primarily the skillful pol son Baldwin of Luxembourg, then one of the most powerful men in the whole Empire. In the start, things didn’t look very good for the Luxembourg house. The final years of He were marred by the dispute over the vacant Limburg Dukedom. After the disastrous defeat in of Worringen in 1288, the house suffered from serious crisis. In this single battle, not o Luxembourgian knights were killed but also Henry VI himself, together with his younger bro Baldwin, and stepbrother Henry of Hauffaliz. Earl Henry left three sons: Henry VII, Walram, and Baldwin, all bearing traditional house of Baldwin’s birth is still uncertain; most probably he was born in the middle of the 1280 older brothers Henry and Walram, Baldwin was heading for the career in church from the ear prepared himself thoroughly. He gained very good education at the University of Paris, hav canonic law and theology since 1298. Baldwin spent quite a lot of time at the French royal court, which helped him to the posit Archbishop of Trier pretty soon – he was only 22 at the time. His young age and lack of ex could make his position rather difficult; since the times of John I (1190–1212), the first Trier with the rights of the imperial elector, all his successors had assumed their positi the elderly age (often older than 50), or, at least, with some experience in ecclesiastica However, the Trier chapter elected Baldwin on December 7, 1307, and in March of the follow obtained the archbishop’s ordination from Pope Clemens V in Poitiers, in the presence of h brothers. The position at one of the most important archiepiscopates in the whole empire was crucial Luxembourg house, especially as it was so close to Luxembourg. On the other hand, it shoul the financial situation of the Trier diocese wasn’t exactly good at the time of Baldwin’s predecessor Diether z Nassau pawned most of the archiepiscopate property due to lack of mo administration of the diocese wasn’t working properly either; in some areas, no written do available at all. That’s why Baldwin started collecting and archiving important documents the material claims and rights of his predecessors. And the good cooperation between the L brothers paid from the start – Henry VII lent his brother much-wanted 40,000 tornesels (To to lift his financial distress. In 1310, Baldwin began to pay the lease back to Henry’s so the money to strengthen his ruling position in Bohemia. To some point, Baldwin can be considered the founder of the Trier ecclesiastical state. Hi efforts include, for example, the archiepiscopate castles. In the start of his office, Bal use about twenty of them, near Trier and Koblenz. Gradually, the vigorous archbishop devel of more than ninety castles – in some cases he paid off the lease, or else he had them rec newly built. The new castles included Balduinstein, Balduinseck or Baldenau, with a new to nearby. Nine months after his installation, Baldwin used his elector’s vote for the first time, du of the Roman King in Frankfurt. He voted for his oldest brother, Henry VII, who – though h speaking halting German – won the votes of all six electors present, including the Mainz a z Aspelt. Later on, the latter played an important role when Henry negotiated the future o Bohemia with Bohemian ambassadors. Baldwin also escorted his imperial brother on his unhappy Roman journey in 1310.  During t the imperial diadem, Baldwin first lost his middle brother Walram of Luxembourg, and a few Margaret of Brabant, wife of Henry VII, died in Genua. Henry did make it to Rome and to th imperial coronation, but he never returned from Italy either. The story of Baldwin’s early life is documented by the collection of important documents c (Codex Balduini Trevirensis). It includes, for example, the illustrated manuscript describ aforementioned unhappy Roman journey of King Henry VII. The manuscript was probably writte 1330s or early 1340s. The introduction depicts the main events of 1308–1310, preceding the especially Baldwin’s ordination and Henry’s election, followed by Roman-German coronation. depicts, among other things, the wedding of John of Luxembourg and Elisabeth of Bohemia, i chapter in Baldwin’s successful diplomacy and wedding policy, for which he laid a firm fou 1307 aad 1313. Bibliography: HEYEN, Franz-Josef (ed.). Balduin von Luxemburg: Erzbischof von Trier – Kurfürst des Reich Mainz: Verlag der Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1985. HOENSCH, Jörg Konrad. Lucemburkové: pozdně středověká dynastie celoevropského významu 1308 Argo, 2003. MARQUE, Michel – PAULY, Michel – SCHMID, Wolfgang, a kol. Der Weg zur Kaiserkrone: Der Rom VII. in der Darstellung Erzbischof Balduins von Trier. Trier: Kilomedia, 2009. SPĚVÁČEK, Jiří. Jan Lucemburský a jeho doba. Praha: Svoboda, 1994.