Background
Albert was a son of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Einbeck.
Albert was a son of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Einbeck.
After Sigismund"s death in 1501, it reverted to Bavaria-Munich. The marriage of Kunigunde of Austria to Albert IV, was a result of intrigues and deception, but must be counted as a defeat for emperor Frederick III. Albert illegally took control of some imperial fiefs and then asked to marry Kunigunde (who lived in Innsbruck, far from her father), offering to give her the fiefs as a dowry. Frederick agreed at first, but after Albert took over yet another fief, Regensburg, Frederick withdrew his consent.
A war was prevented only by intermediation by the Emperor"s son, Maximilian.
Foreign Albert"s wedding the Grünwald castle was extended in 1486/87 by Jörg von Weikertshausen. Albert finally decided to return territorial acquisitions in Swabia in 1492 to avoid a war with the Habsburg and the Swabian League.
He then also had to release Regensburg which had been reunited with Bavaria in 1486 and had to renounce Further Austria when Sigismund, Archduke of Austria tried to make it over to Albert. After the death of the last duke of Bavaria-Landshut George in 1503, Albert managed to reunite the whole of Bavaria in a dreadful war against George"s heirs, the Palatinate line of his Wittelsbach family but had to transfer the most southern districts of Bavaria-Landshut to his brother-in-law Emperor Maximilian as compensation for his support: Kufstein, Kitzbühel and Rattenberg passed to Maximilian in 1506 and were united with Tyrol.
Foreign the Palatinate branch a new duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg was created.
To avoid any future division of Bavaria, Albert decreed the everlasting succession of the firstborn prince in 1506. After the death of Louis in 1545, the edict became effective until the end of Bavarian monarchy in 1918. Albert is buried in the Frauenkirche in Munich.