Baldwin of Luxembourg (part 2) ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** By Jan Tomášek In 1313, Baldwin returned to his archdiocese he had left three years before to accompany h on their quest for the imperial crown. The Roman journey, also co-funded by Baldwin, was a the life of the archbishop, then 28 years old. He lost both brothers and the sister-in-law made him head of the Luxembourg house. All the hopes of the house now depended on him and old nephew John, the King of Bohemia since 1310, whom Baldwin began to support. John coope uncle until the last years of his life when he was overshadowed by his own son, who suited better. Until 1316, Baldwin helped his nephew manage his Luxembourg estates, as the latter Bohemia. Due to the votes of Trier and Bohemian electors, the influence of the Luxembourg house on of the new Roman monarch was rather big. The last election of the Luxembourgian Earl Henry place only six years ago, and the new fight for the Roman throne broke out, attended also Luxembourg and his nephew John. There were two favorites in the contest for the Roman thro – the first was John of Luxembourg (aka John of Bohemia), supported not only by his uncle the Mainz archbishop Peter of Aspelt, the former chancellor of Wenceslas II; the second wa of Habsburg, aka Frederick the Fair. Both pretenders were sons of former Roman kings. Howe Luxembourg house wasn’t lucky in the half of 1314. Frederick of Habsburg gained the suppor archbishop Henry II, Rudolph of Bavaria and Henry of Carinthia, still using the vacant tit of Bohemia. Under these circumstances, John’s position was too risky, and Peter of Aspelt support. Together with Baldwin, they started negotiations with Louis of Bavaria of the Wit September 1314, and after some consideration, Louis agreed to contest. The vote was less t and the conflict between Louis and Frederick of Habsburg seemed inevitable. The Luxembourgian representatives kept supporting Louis and finally their candidate won. I September, Louis of Bavaria issued numerous documents promising various gifts to the archi Mainz and Trier, and also to John of Luxembourg who, upon the agreement with his uncle, al candidate from the Wittelsbach house. Louis gave John ten thousand talents, insured by the region and the castles of Floss and Parkstein in upper Bavaria. Later in 1322, after Louis John obtained the Cheb region for good. He remained true to the Wittelsbach monarch in the even though it led to problems in relationships with the papal office. In the early 1320s, Baldwin saw new opportunities to strengthen his power. In 1320, the Ma Peter of Aspelt died, and the Mainz chapter elected Baldwin of Luxembourg the new archbish will of the pope (who sided with the Habsburg in the ongoing dispute over the imperial thr Baldwin never became the archbishop; he decided to keep his influence in the Mainz archdio its administrator, and remained in this position, with some breaks, until 1336. Just like became the administrator of Worms and Speyer episcopates (probably in 1331), and used this mediate the disputes with the papal court. During these years, Baldwin could pay full attention to the issues in his archdiocese. The years of some of his famous foundation work. He was very fond of the Carthusian order, for convents in Trier and Koblenz. He even kept his own special cell in the Trier convent to m clearly favored both these towns and initiated, for example, the reconstruction of the Tri and the building of a similar bridge in Koblenz, still bearing Baldwin’s name to this day. project involved the completion of gothic eastern towers of the Trier cathedral. The difficult relationships between the Emperor Louis of Bavaria and the Pope John XXII br back to the top level of the imperial politics in late 1330s. The pope tried to get Baldwi he made several promises in favor of the archbishop’s nephew John. One of the most importa successes at the papal court involved the promotion of the Prague episcopate in 1344. Bald gave up on Louis of Bavaria, but he started planning the candidacy of his grand nephew Cha Luxembourg. In 1345, young Charles promised to follow Baldwin’s advice and refund all his costs for el coronation, up to 6,000 talents. A year later, Baldwin required another confirmation of hi Charles obliged on May 22, 1346. The agreement primarily involved the confirmation of priv Trier archiepiscopate, full refund of all costs related to the election, and promise of fr the Trier archiepiscopate in case Charles would become the Luxembourgian earl. This is ano Baldwin’s foresight. Of course he kept the wealth of his house in mind, but on the other h his archdiocese, the situation of which also depended on the relationships with neighborin earls. And we can clearly see that pragmatic Charles suited Baldwin better than John, in t political style. Though John was of similar age as Baldwin, he probably objected to the ag refused to add his seal. Baldwin however considered the agreement sufficient, and sent a l May 24, officially withdrawing his support. Charles’s ascent to the imperial throne and the tragic death of Louis of Bavaria marked an diplomatic success. Though Charles was crowned the Roman king in Bonn in November 1346, th in Aachen, traditional coronation town of Roman royals, could only take place once the con Louis’s heirs had been achieved. In May 1349, Charles completed his victory by the coronat where the Cologne archbishop Walram, seriously ill, was replaced by Baldwin of Luxembourg. 1346, the new Roman king confirmed the payment of his granduncle’s costs, which reached 25 1349 (about 885 kg of gold), and granted him the domains Echternach, Bitburg, Remich and G all income they generated. The uncle-nephew relationships were correct until Baldwin’s dea When Baldwin of Luxembourg died, the Luxembourg house lost an outstanding diplomat and one influential men in the empire. He witnessed the rapid growth of his family and then the lo keep the achieved position. He outlasted all his brothers, affected the election of three laid the foundation of centralized Trier Electorate, and, above all, managed all the time balance between his personal ambitions, family interests, and well-being of his archdioces is indicated by his noble grave, finished around 1362 in French style in the western part cathedral. 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.