Ludwig III, Graf von Sachsen Herzög von Thüringen

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_III._(Thüringen)

Wikipedia english translation Ludwig III, called the Pious, or clemency (* 1151/1152; † 16 October 1190 in Eastern Mediterranean Cyprus ) from the family of Ludowinger was Landgrave of Thuringia 1172-1190.

He was the son of Landgrave Ludwig II. and his wife Jutta . 1172 he followed this in the country earldom. His brother Heinrich Raspe III. (not to be confused with the later last Landgrave and anti-king Heinrich Raspe IV. ) He left there Hesse and the Rhine possessions as part of independent rule.

Broadly put Landgrave Ludwig III. the policy of his predecessors on. He fought the noble houses of Thuringia and the neighboring countries (such as the Black Burger and Askanier ) and against the archbishopric of Mainz . As a nephew of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa , he supported his policies and thus stood at the beginning of his reign on the side of the Guelph Duke Henry the Lion until this 1179 with the Swabians fell out, which has since supported the Saxon opponents. For this allegiance he received from the emperor the county palatine of Saxony . 1181 he left this to his brother Hermann , who later became his successor. Ludwig crashed on Erfurt Latrinensturz 1184 even with in depth, survived this disaster, however.

He participated in the Third Crusade in part. Emperor Barbarossa was with the main army by land through the Balkans and Asia Minor road when Ludwig with his contingent of Brindisi by Tyrus embarked. In the Holy Land arrived, he joined the siege of Acre in. Even before the German main army -or what it remain warm arrived in Acre, he entered, marked by illness, 1190 and returning to, but died on 16 October at the crossing to Cyprus . There his entrails were buried, his bones were to the monastery Reinhardsbrunn converted in the 14th century in the Church of St. George to Eisenach reburied.

Ludwig was first married to Margaret of Cleves, with whom he had a daughter Jutta. He later divorced her because the relationship was supposed to close. His second wife he married in 1184 to Sophia , the Danish King's widow Waldemar I. . They, too, he repudiated after a short time. This marriage was childless.

The grave slab of Louis III. of Thuringia

Grave plate Ludwig III. The Picture of Landgrave Ludwig III. is shown to us in his posthumous grave plate. It dates from the period after the fire of Reinhardsbrunner monastery church - that emerged after 1292 - and can be dated stylistically 1330. Today, she finds herself along with the other monuments of the grave lay the Landgraf house in George Eisenach placed.

The longer inscription speaks of the burial "Anno Domini MC NONAGESIMO. SEPTIMO DECIMO Kalendas NOVE ... [O. LVDEVICVS PIVS TERT] VS; ThVRINGOR ° LANTGRAVIUS ET HIC SEPVLTVS + ". In a recessed niche there is frontally directed a male figure whose head sinks into a pillow. In the above the right shoulder closed (with four clasps jewelry) jacket is also found (on the chest) a scallop attached that characterizes the Landgrave as pilgrims. With his right hand holds the Ludwig III. a pole that stands up next to the sink and the banner between head and pillow. With the other hand shield and sword are pushed to the hip. It is mapped together with the other monuments of the house and are described in aq 2006, Vol. 2, S. 532 et seq.