Albert III of Bavaria-Munich (Albrecht), called the Pious

ALBERT III OF BAVARIA-MUNICH (Albrecht), called the Pious. - Died on 1 March 1460 at Munich. The firstborn son of Duke Ernest, he was very warlike in his youth and distinguished himself first in the struggles waged against his cousin Louis the Bearded, Duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt, and against the nobility, running serious dangers as well; and then, above all, in the struggle against the Hussites, who were threatening the Upper Palatinate and had penetrated into the province of Straubing. He took part in the great crusade promoted against them in 1427 and was in that army, which fled so ignominiously before the enemy, and in which Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini was also present. Much has been debated whether a relationship of his with the daughter of a barber of Augsburg, Agnes Bernauerin, was legitimized by a clandestine marriage: what is certain is that his father, Duke Ernest, envious that the line of Bavaria-Munich would die out with his son, freed him from her, having her drowned in the Danube. Later, having married Anna of Brunswick (1436) and become duke (1438), he came close to succeeding Albert II in the kingdom of Bohemia and Hungary, having been elected by the Estates of Bohemia to succeed him on that throne; but he took time to reflect and finally renounced in favor of the posthumous son of the deceased king. For this act of magnanimity, Albert is much praised by Enea Silvio Piccolomini. Turning to the government of his State, he showed himself prudent and moderate. He was an excellent prince: he founded churches and monasteries (the famous Andechs, a Benedictine monastery, with the burial place of the ducal house), and attended to the monastic reform of Tegernsee, in collaboration with the pontifical legate, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa.