Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia

Ludwig IV or Louis IV (28 October 1200 – 11 September 1227) was the Landgrave of Thuringia from 1217 to 1227.

Louis was born in Creuzburg to Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Duchess Sophia, daughter of Otto of Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria. Upon his father's death in 1216, Louis ascended the Thuringian throne at the age of sixteen. On the Feast of St. Kilian in 1218 at age eighteen, he was armed as a knight in the Church of St. George in Eisenach.

At Wartburg Castle in 1220 at age twenty, Louis married 14-year-old Elisabeth of Hungary, with whom he had three children: Hermann II, Landgrave of Thuringia, Sophie of Thuringia, and Gertrud, later abbess at Altenberg. He set up court in Eisenach.

In 1226, Louis was called to the Diet in Cremona, where he promised Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, to take up the cross and accompany him to the Holy Land. He embarked for the Sixth Crusade in 1227, partly inspired also by the tales of his uncle, who had been to the Levant with the Holy Roman Emperor. Fellow-travellers were five counts, Louis von Wartburg, Gunther von Kefernberg, Meinrad von Mühlberg, Heinrich von Stolberg, and Burkhard von Brandenberg; Louis left his pregnant wife behind, who had a premonition that they would never meet again.

In August 1227 Louis transversed the mountains between Thuringia and Upper Franconia, through Swabia and Bavaria, crossing the Tyrolian Alps. He fell ill of a fever after reaching Brindisi and Otranto. He received Extreme Unction from the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Bishop of Santa Croce. He died in Otranto in 1227. A few days after his death, his daughter Gertrud was born. Louis's remains were buried in Reinhardsbrunn in 1228.

Ludwig's wife Elisabeth died young only a few years later, at the age of 24, after spending the remainder of her life dedicated to a life of penance and serving the poor. She was officially proclaimed a saint only four years after her death. While Louis was never formally canonized, he became known among the German people as Louis the saint (German: Ludwig der Heilige). He is known elsewhere as Blessed Louis of Thuringia.

Family and children

He and Elisabeth of Hungary had the following children:

1. Hermann II, Landgrave of Thuringia (1222–1241/42).
2. Sophie of Thuringia (20 March 1224 – 29 May 1275).
3. Gertrud (1227–1297), abbess at Altenberg near Wetzlar.