ALBERT III of BAVARIA-MUNICH (ALBRECHT),
known as the Pious. Died 1 March 1460 at Munich. Eldest son of Duke Ernest, in his youth he was very warlike and distinguished himself first in the struggles waged against his cousin Louis the Bearded, Duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt, and against the nobility, running serious risks; and then, above all, in the struggle against the Hussites, who threatened 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 discussed whether his relationship with the daughter of a barber of Augsburg, Agnes Bernauer, was legitimized by a clandestine marriage: it is certain that his father, Duke Ernest, jealous lest the line of Bavaria-Munich should die out with his son, freed himself from her by having her drowned in the Danube. Later, married to Anna of Brunswick (1436) and duke (1438), he nearly succeeded Albert II in the kingdoms 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 highly praised by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini. Turning to the government of his
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