LUDOVICO IV of Bavaria, emperor. — At the death of Henry VII (24 Aug. 1313) the imperial electors were divided between L. of Bavaria, grandson through his mother of Rudolph I of Habsburg, and Frederick the Fair, duke of Austria, son of Albert I also of Habsburg. L. defeated his opponent at Gammelsdorf and on 25 Nov. 1313 was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, but Frederick had himself crowned at Bonn. War then flared up again and was ended only by the battle of Mühldorf (28 Sept. 1322) in which Frederick was defeated and taken prisoner by L.
From the long conflict the pope John XXII (1316–34) drew profit to assert the supremacy of the papacy over the Empire: already in 1317, in accordance with a decretal of Clement V, he declared the imperial throne vacant and entrusted its vicariate to King Robert of Naples of the house of Anjou. When after Mühldorf L. of Bavaria sent an imperial vicar to Italy to aid the leaders of the Ghibelline party, Matteo Visconti and Cangrande della Scala, the Pope reaffirmed the right of the Holy See to decide on the validity of imperial elections and ordered L. to submit to papal judgment under pain of excommunication. L. of Bavaria, who had become the protector of the Spiritual Franciscans rebelling against the Pope over the bulls on the poverty of Christ, in the protest of Frankfurt on 5 Jan. 1324 accused John XXII of heresy. The Pope, after a two-month delay, launched the sentence of excommunication against L. (23 March 1324), and confirmed it on 11 July 1324.
The papal excommunications stirred up the enemies of L., but he reached an agreement with his prisoner Frederick of Austria (who however died already in 1326), and decided to descend into Italy to assume the imperial crown. He was influenced by Marsilius of Padua, who in the famous work Defensor pacis had reasserted the independence of the Empire from the Holy See.
After taking the crown of King of Italy at Milan (31 May 1327) L. went to Rome accompanied by a retinue of anti-papal innovators (7 Jan. 1328). To combat the papacy it was asserted that the Empire was of popular origin, and on 11 Jan. 1328 an assembly of the Roman people gathered on the Capitol conferred the imperial crown upon L. He was crowned in St. Peter’s on 17 Jan. by bishops in rebellion against the Pope. To new bulls of John XXII that declared him deprived of his dominions (3 Apr. 1327) and a heretic (23 Oct.), L. replied by summoning an assembly of laity and clergy (14–18 Apr. 1328) that deposed John XXII and substituted for him Peter Rainalducci of Corvara, a Franciscan friar, who took the name Nicholas V. He was consecrated and crowned on 22 May 1328. L. of Bavaria sought to help his antipope to establish a loyal hierarchy, but with little success. Already in Aug. 1328 L. left Rome, followed by Nicholas V; the latter however remained at Pisa while the Emperor returned to Germany. The antipope hastened to abjure his errors and to humble himself at the feet of John XXII (1330).
Returning to Germany, L. continued the struggle with the Pope: the latter had the support of the kings of France and Naples, while L. had the aid of the king of England. The papal-imperial question thus became linked with the grave Anglo-French conflict.
Pope Benedict XII (1334–42), desirous of reconciliation, resumed negotiations with L., but the French court intervened to frustrate them. In 1338 the electors at Rhense declared that their consent alone was sufficient title for imperial election; L. then met at Coblenz in conference with Edward III of England and named him imperial vicar.
In 1341 L. finally reached an agreement with the king of France and a reconciliation with Avignon seemed near, but the new pope Clement VI resumed the anti-imperial policy and ordered L. to abdicate within three months (1343). L., alarmed, offered to resign and spoke of abdicating, but the conditions set by the Pope were rejected by the electors. Clement VI however succeeded in creating in Germany a movement against L. and in favor of Charles, king of Bohemia; in 1346 L. was declared by the Pope deposed and four electors chose Charles of Bohemia, who was crowned at Bonn.
Civil war loomed when L. died suddenly during a hunt, on 11 Oct. 1347.