Duke Henry XIII. of Bavaria

1250

Marriage with Elisabeth of Hungary

1253

Death of his father. Henry and his older brother Ludwig agree to reign together, which only lasts for a short period of time because of permanent disputes.

1255

Division of the Wittelsbach domain: Ludwig receives the Rhine palatinate and the upper part (upper land) of the duchy of Bavaria, Henry receives the Bavarian lower land, which means the fertile area along the Danube, and he chooses the castle Trausnitz in Landshut as residence – creation of Upper and Lower Bavaria as political terms. However, these areas do not correspond to today´s Upper and Lower Bavaria.
Several wars are the consequence of this territorial division as Henry feels wronged.
Henry`s disadvantage: the four bishop´s seas of Lower Bavaria (Freising, Regensburg and particularly Salzburg and Passau), whose owners are independent as princes of the empire and are wooed by Austria and Bohemia, have the support of King Ottokar of Bohemia in disputes between the duke and the church.

1257

The bishop of Passau, Otto of Lohnsdorf, quarrels with Duke Henry about the circulation of the Bavarian coins in the Passau region, the jurisdiction in Passau and its surrounding areas as well as the Bogen- and Ortenburg fiefs. King Ottokar of Bohemia sees Henry as an obstacle to the reconquest of Styria. Therefore Ottokar of Bohemia and Otto of Lohnsdorf build a formal alliance against Henry.
Ottokar then attacks Lower Bavaria, with Passau as the troops´ starting point. With his brother´s help Henry defeats Ottokar at Mühldorf.
Despite the danger of Ottokar, who has an alliance with Salzburg and Passau, the agreement between the brothers disappears. From this time on Henry must defend himself alone.
In the Salzburg Church Dispute between Philipp of Carinthia and Ulrich of Seckau another war between Ottokar (on Philipp´s side) and Henry, supporting Ulrich, breaks out.
As Henry´s brother Ludwig also fights against him, Ottokar cannot only claim possession of Austria and Styria, but also actual reign of the Bavarian dioceses, with the result that Passau and Salzburg come under the influence of the King of Bohemia.

1262

Contract with the bishop of Passau: essentially it includes the renunciation of the bishop of an expanding his territory to the West of the city. From that time on Passau has no opportunity to develop further.

1262/63

Henry attacks Salzburg twice and is defeated.

1264

Henry succeeds in occupying Salzburg. However, very soon the pope forces him to give up the territory.

1266

Ottokar, strengthened by his success, by the protection of the curia, of the bishops of Passau and Salzburg and by his new position in the empire, prepares a major offensive on Bavaria, which, however, fails.
As response, on October 30^th Henry occupies the city of Passau for a few hours, plunders it and sets it on fire, which was possible because of treason. The citizens themselves succeed in driving the Bavarian troops out.

1267

Temporary reconciliation of Henry and Ottokar

1273

Peace: Ottokar distances himself from the Bavarian bishops for the first time.
Henry forms an alliance with Ottokar, who is in a dispute with Rudolph of Habsburg. Later Henry is involved in Ottokar´s defeat and loses Upper Austria to the Habsburg empire. Again his brother Ludwig was on the opposite, the Habsburg, side.

1289

Henry loses because of the lack of Ludwig’s support the electoral vote of Bavaria to the king of Bohemia. As a consequence, Bavaria is excluded from the election of the king and has lost an important influence on the policy of the empire.