The imperial election of 20 October 1314 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt.
Like the previous day's election, the meeting was called to elect the successor of Emperor Henry VII, who had died while in Italy on 24 August 1313. Henry's son John, King of Bohemia since 1310, was considered by many prince-electors to be too young, [1] and by others to be already too powerful. While one day before three of the seven electors had elected Frederick the Fair, son of the late German king Albert I, the result was claimed to be invalid, due to the absence of the other four electors and the presence as fourth elector of Henry of Carinthia, the deposed King-Elector of Bohemia who still claimed the title against John. [2]
The election was presided over by Peter of Aspelt, Archbishop of Mainz and member of the pro-Luxembourg party. Of seven electors only five attended the meeting, one of whom was disputed:
As a result of the election, Louis IV, Duke of Bavaria was elected Holy Roman Emperor. [2] However, due to the unrecognized claim of John II of Lauenburg, the election was considered invalid by the electors who supported Frederick the Fair.
The two contested elections caused the eruption of a civil war inside the Holy Roman Empire, fought between pro-Luxembourg and pro-Habsburg parties. Louis was successfully crowned at Aachen - the customary site of coronations - by the Archbishop of Mainz, while Henry II of Virneburg, who as the Archbishop of Cologne had the customary right to crown the new "King of the Romans," crowned Frederick at Bonn. In the following conflict between the kings, Louis recognized the independence of Switzerland from the Habsburg dynasty in 1316.
After several years of bloody war, victory finally seemed within the grasp of Frederick, who was strongly supported by his brother Leopold. However, Frederick's army was decisively defeated in the Battle of Mühldorf [3] on 28 September 1322 on the Ampfing Heath, where Frederick and 1300 nobles from Austria and Salzburg were captured. Louis was finally crowned Emperor in Rome on 17 January 1328 by Senator Giacomo Colonna. At the time, the Pope resided in Avignon.
John the Blind or John of Luxembourg, was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting in the Battle of Crécy at age 50, after having been blind for a decade. In his home country of Luxembourg, he is considered a national hero. Comparatively, in the Czech Republic, Jan Lucemburský is often recognized for his role as the father of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, one of the more significant Kings of Bohemia and one of the leading Holy Roman Emperors.
Louis IV, called the Bavarian, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 until his death in 1347.
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Romano-German Emperor since the early modern period, was the ruler and head of state of the Holy Roman Empire. The title was held in conjunction with the title of King of Italy from the 8th to the 16th century, and, almost without interruption, with the title of King of Germany throughout the 12th to 18th centuries.
Frederick the Fair or the Handsome, from the House of Habsburg, was the duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 as well as the anti-king of Germany from 1314 until 1325 and then co-king until his death.
The House of Luxembourg or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kings of Germany and Holy Roman emperors as well as kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Their rule was twice interrupted by the rival House of Wittelsbach. The family takes its name from its ancestral county of Luxembourg which they continued to hold.
Rudolf I of Bavaria, called "the Stammerer", a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1294 until 1317.
The Battle of Mühldorf was fought near Mühldorf am Inn on September 28, 1322 between the Duchy of (Upper) Bavaria and Austria. The Bavarians were led by the German king Louis of Wittelsbach, while the Austrians were under the command of his cousin, the anti-king Frederick of Habsburg.
The Declaration of Rhens or Treaty of Rhens was a decree or Kurverein of the Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire issued in 1338 and initiated by Baldwin of Luxembourg, the Archbishop of Trier and brother of the late Emperor Henry VII.
The Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire centered at Wittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. The Ascanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxon electoral dignity until their duchy was finally elevated to the Electorate of Saxony by the Golden Bull of 1356.
Peter of Aspelt was Archbishop of Mainz from 1306 to 1320, and an influential political figure of the period. He brought the archbishopric to its peak of power.
Rudolf I, a member of the House of Ascania, was Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg from 1298 until his death. By the Golden Bull of 1356 he was acknowledged as Elector of Saxony.
In the Holy Roman Empire, the Great Interregnum was a period of time, from approximately 1254 until 1273, following the throne dispute of Frederick II where the succession of the Holy Roman Empire was contested and fought over between pro- and anti-Hohenstaufen factions. Starting around 1250 with the death of Frederick II, the conflict over who was the rightful emperor and King of the Romans would continue into the 1300s until Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected emperor and secured succession for his son Wenceslaus. This period saw a multitude of emperors and kings be elected or propped up by rival factions and princes, with many kings and emperors having short reigns or reigns that became heavily contested by rival claimants.
In the years 1410 and 1411 saw three royal elections in the Holy Roman Empire. The elections were prompted by the death of previous King Rupert in 1410 and, after two contested elections in 1410, resulted in Sigismund of Hungary being recognized as the new king in 1411.
The imperial election of 1440 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt on February 2.
The imperial election of 1519 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt on the 28th of June.
An imperial election was held in Cologne on 5 January 1531 to select the King of the Romans of the Holy Roman Empire. As the current emperor, Charles V, had not yet died nor abdicated, this election was conducted so as to determine his successor.
The imperial election of 1658 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt on July 18.
The imperial election of 1742 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt on January 24. The result was the election of Charles Albert of Bavaria, the first non-Habsburg emperor in three hundred years.
The imperial election of 1273 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt on October 1.
The imperial election of 19 October 1314 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Sachsenhausen, near Frankfurt.