In 1327, the Emperor felt himself strong enough to undertake an expedition to Italy, his object being to relieve Lombardy from the aggressions of Naples, and to be crowned Emperor in Rome in spite of the Pope. In this, he was tolerably successful. He defeated the Guelphs and was crowned in Milan the same year, then marched to Rome, and was crowned Emperor early in 1328, under the auspices of the Colonna family, by two excommunicated Bishops. He presided at an assembly of the Roman people, at which John XXII. was declared a heretic and renegade, and a Franciscan monk elected Pope under the name of Nikolaus V. Ludwig, however, soon became as unpopular as any of his predecessors, and from the same cause—the imposition of heavy taxes upon the people, in order to keep up his imperial state. He remained two years longer in Italy, encountering as much hate as friendship, and was then recalled to Germany by the death of Frederick of Austria.
The Papal excommunication, which the Hohenstaufen Emperors had borne so easily, seems to have weighed sorely upon Ludwig's mind. His nature was weak and vacillating, capable of only a limited amount of endurance. He began to fear that his soul was in peril, and made the most desperate efforts to be reconciled with the Pope. The latter, however, demanded his immediate abdication as a preliminary to any further negotiation, and was supported in this demand by the king of France, who was very ambitious of obtaining the crown of Germany, with the help of the Church. King John of Bohemia acted as a go-between, but he was also secretly pledged to France, and an agreement was nearly concluded, of a character so cowardly and disgraceful to Ludwig that when some hint of it became known, there arose such an angry excitement in Germany that the Emperor did not dare to move further in the matter.
1338.
John XXII. died about this time (1334) and was succeeded by Benedict XII., a man of a milder and more conciliatory nature, with whom Ludwig immediately commenced fresh negotiations. He offered to abdicate, to swear allegiance to the Pope, to undergo any humiliation which the latter might impose upon him. Benedict was quite willing to be reconciled to him on these conditions, but the arrangement was prevented by Philip VI. of France, who hoped, like his father, to acquire the crown of Germany. As soon as this became evident, Ludwig adopted a totally different course. In the summer of 1338 he called a Diet at Frankfort (which was afterwards adjourned to Rense, near Coblentz), and laid the matter before the Bishops, princes and free cities, which were now represented.
The Diet unanimously declared that the Emperor had exhausted all proper means of reconciliation, and the Pope alone was responsible for the continuance of the struggle. The excommunication and interdict were pronounced null and void, and severe punishments were decreed for the priests who should heed them in any way. As it was evident that France had created the difficulty, an alliance was concluded with England, whose king, Edward III., appeared before the Diet at Coblentz, and procured the acknowledgment of his claim to the crown of France. Ludwig, as Emperor, sat upon the Royal Seat at Rense, and all the German princes—with the exception of king John of Bohemia, who had gone over to France—made the solemn declaration that the King and Emperor whom they had elected, or should henceforth elect, derived his dignity and power from God, and did not require the sanction of the Pope. They also bound themselves to defend the rights and liberties of the Empire against any assailant whatever. These were brave words: but we shall presently see how much they were worth.
The alliance with England was made for seven years. Ludwig was to furnish German troops for Edward III.'s army, in return for English gold. For a year he was faithful to the contract, then the old superstitious fear came over him, and he listened to the secret counsels of Philip VI. of France, who offered to mediate with the Pope in his behalf. But, after Ludwig had been induced to break his word with England, Philip, having gained what he wanted, prevented his reconciliation with the Pope. This miserable weakness on the Emperor's part destroyed his authority in Germany. At the same time he was imitating every one of his Imperial predecessors, in trying to strengthen the power of his family. He gave Brandenburg to his eldest son, Ludwig, married his second son, Henry, to Margaret of Tyrol, whom he arbitrarily divorced from her first husband, a son of John of Bohemia, and claimed the sovereignty of Holland as his wife's inheritance.
1347. DEATH OF LUDWIG THE BAVARIAN.
Ludwig had now become so unpopular, that when another Pope, Clement VI., in April, 1346, hurled against him a new excommunication, expressed in the most horrible terms, the Archbishops made it a pretext for openly opposing the Emperor's rule. They united with the Pope in selecting Karl, the son of John of Bohemia (who fell by the sword of the Black Prince the same summer, at the famous battle of Crecy), and proclaiming him Emperor in Ludwig's stead. All the cities, and the temporal princes, except those of Bohemia and Saxony, stood faithfully by Ludwig, and Karl could gain no advantage over him. He went to France, then to Italy, and finally betook himself to Bohemia, where he was a rival monarch only in name.
In October, 1347, Ludwig, who was then residing in Munich, his favorite capital, was stricken with apoplexy while hunting, and fell dead from his horse. He was sixty-three years old, and had reigned thirty-three years. In German history, he is always called "Ludwig the Bavarian." During the last ten years of his reign many parts of Germany suffered severely from famine, and a pestilence called "the black death" carried off thousands of persons in every city. These misfortunes probably confirmed him in his superstition, and partly account for his shameful and degrading policy. The only service which his long rule rendered to Germany sprang from the circumstance, that, having been supported by the free cities in his war with Frederick of Austria, he was compelled to protect them against the aggressions of the princes afterwards, and in various ways to increase their rights and privileges. There were now 150 such cities, and from this time forward they constituted a separate power in the Empire. They encouraged learning and literature, favored peace and security of travel for the sake of their commerce, organized and protected the mechanic arts, and thus, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, contributed more to the progress of Germany than all her spiritual and temporal rulers.