duchy · Germany and Central Europe
Duchy of Lower Bavaria
Origins
In the partition of the Duchy of Bavaria in 1255, Henry XIII received Lower Bavaria, the lands along the lower Isar, the Danube and the Inn, with Landshut as residence. His brother Louis II the Strict took the Duchy of Upper Bavaria. The two lines were often hostile.
Rule and society
The dukes ruled from Burg Trausnitz above Landshut, relying on the estates, whose charter of 1311, the Ottonian Handfeste, gave them taxation rights. Henry XIII's son Otto III was elected King of Hungary in 1305 but could not hold the throne. The duchy was repeatedly divided among co-rulers, and Louis IV of Upper Bavaria acted as guardian of its young dukes, defeating the Austrians at Gammelsdorf in 1313.
Decline and legacy
When the last Lower Bavarian duke, John I the Child, died in 1340, Emperor Louis IV inherited the duchy and reunited Bavaria. Lower Bavaria later re-emerged as Bavaria-Landshut and is now a district of Bavaria.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Duchy of Bavaria-Straubing split from Duchy of Lower Bavaria1353 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Duchy of Lower Bavaria. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-lower-bavaria
- MLA
- “Duchy of Lower Bavaria.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-lower-bavaria. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Duchy of Lower Bavaria.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-lower-bavaria.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Duchy of Lower Bavaria’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-lower-bavaria (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻