Joanna of Bavaria

Joanna of Bavaria
Queen consort of Germany and Bohemia
Tenure	1378–1386
Spouse	Wenceslaus, King of the Romans
House	House of Wittelsbach (by birth) House of Luxembourg (by marriage)
Father	Albert I, Duke of Bavaria
Mother	Margaret of Brieg
Born	c. 1362
Died	31 December 1386 (aged 23–24)
Burial	Prague Castle

Joanna of Bavaria (c. 1362–1386) was the second child of Albert I, Duke of Bavaria, by his first wife Margaret of Brieg. Her siblings included William VI, Count of Holland, Johanna Sophia of Bavaria and Margaret of Bavaria. Her paternal grandparents were Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV and Margaret II, Countess of Hainault.

Contents 1 Marriage 2 Death 3 Ancestors 4 References and Sources

Marriage

Joanna married on 29 September 1370 to Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his second wife, Anna of Swidnica. At the time of the wedding, Johanna was eight years' old, and Wenceslaus was nine.

Joanna was not the first choice of a bride for Wenceslaus; Charles IV had planned for him to marry Elisabeth of Nuremberg, but the marriage never happened, since Elisabeth married Rupert of Germany instead.

On Charles's death in 1378, Wenceslaus inherited the kingdom of Bohemia. In the cathedral of Monza there is preserved a series of reliefs depicting the coronations of the kings of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. The seventh of these depicts Wenceslaus being crowned in the presence of six electors, he himself being the seventh. The depiction is probably not accurate and was likely made solely to reinforce the claims of the cathedral concerning the custody of the Iron Crown. With Wenceslaus' accession, Joanna became Queen of Bohemia, Germany, Rome and she also became Electress of Brandenburg, succeeding Wenceslaus' half-sister Katharine of Bohemia.

Death

The marriage lasted for sixteen years, however the couple had no children and Joanna died in 1386, at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four. It is said that Wenceslaus was infertile.^[1]

Wenceslaus gave Johanna a magnificent funeral, which took place at Žebrák castle. According to custom, Joanna's body was exposed for a few days in Prague churches and was later buried in Prague Castle.

Wenceslaus later married Joanna's cousin, Sofia of Bavaria, but this marriage also bore no issue. Wenceslaus was deposed from the throne of Germany and was succeeded by Elisabeth of Nuremberg's husband, Rupert.

Ancestors

Louis II, Duke of Bavaria

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Matilda of Habsburg

Albert I, Duke of Bavaria

William I, Count of Hainaut

Margaret II, Countess of Hainault

Joan of Valois

Joanna of Bavaria

Bolesław III the Generous

Ludwik I the Fair

Margaret of Bohemia

Margaret of Brieg

Henry IV the Faithful

Agnes of Głogów

Matilda of Brandenburg

References and Sources

• Translated article from Czech Wikipedia
• Jeanne von Wittelsbach

German royalty
Preceded by Elizabeth of Pomerania	Queen consort of Germany 10 June 1376 – 31 December 1386	Vacant Title next held by Sofia of Bavaria
	Queen consort of Bohemia 29 November 1378 – 31 December 1386
German nobility
Preceded by Katharine of Bohemia	Electress consort of Brandenburg 2 October 1373 – 29 November 1378	Succeeded by Mary of Hungary
Preceded by Joanna of Brabant	Duchess consort of Luxembourg 29 November 1378 – 31 December 1386	Vacant Title next held by Agnes of Opole

Persondata
Name	Joanna Of Bavaria
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1362
Place of birth
Date of death	31 December 1386
Place of death