Louis II, emperor of the West

Louis II, d. 875, emperor of the West (855–75), king of Italy (844–75), son of Emperor of the West Lothair I. In 844, Lothair I designated him king of Italy and in 850 he was crowned emperor of the West in Rome. He became sole emperor when his father died; the title had little meaning, however, since he ruled only in Italy. Throughout his reign, his power there was challenged by the independent Lombard dukes and by the Arab invaders of S Italy. In the dispute between his brother Lothair Lothair, sometimes called Lothair II, d. 869, king of Lotharingia (855–69), second son of Emperor of the West Lothair I. He inherited the region bounded by the Rhine, Scheldt, Alps, and North Sea, which became known as Lotharingia
..... Click the link for more information. , king of Lotharingia, and Pope Nicholas I, concerning Lothair's divorce, he supported his brother. However, the pope refused to allow Lothair to set aside his wife even after Louis occupied Rome (864). Subsequently, Louis submitted to the pope's decision. At Lothair's death (870) Louis claimed Lotharingia, but the Treaty of Mersen divided it between his two uncles, Charles the Bald (who succeeded Louis as Emperor of the West Charles II Charles II or Charles the Bald, 823–77, emperor of the West (875–77) and king of the West Franks (843–77); son of Emperor Louis I by a second marriage.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and Louis the German Louis the German, c.804–876, king of the East Franks (817–76). When his father, Emperor of the West Louis I , partitioned the empire in 817, Louis received Bavaria and adjacent territories.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Louis II, king of Bavaria

Louis II, 1845–86, king of Bavaria (1864–86), son and successor of King Maximilian II. Much was hoped from the handsome, talented, and liberal young prince at his accession, but his prodigality and eccentricity soon alienated his subjects. Louis was the patron and friend of Richard Wagner Cosima Wagner, 1837–1930, was the daughter of Liszt and the comtesse d'Agoult. From 1857 to 1870 she was the wife of Hans von Bülow . In 1870 she married Wagner. After his death she was largely responsible for the continuing fame of the Bayreuth festivals.
..... Click the link for more information. , who for many years exerted a strong influence over him. Louis aided Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) but sided with Prussia against France in 1870, and in 1871 reluctantly joined the newly created German Empire. In 1886 his insanity necessitated his confinement at his château on Lake Starnberg, Bavaria, where he drowned himself. His brother, Otto I, who was insane, succeeded him under the regency of an uncle, Luitpold.

Bibliography

See biographies by W. Richter (1939, tr. 1954), D. Chapman-Huston (1955), and W. Blunt (1970).

Louis II, French king

Louis II or Louis the Stammerer, 846–79, French king. He succeeded (877) his father, Emperor of the West Charles II, as king. On Louis's death his kingdom was divided between his sons Carloman and Louis III.

Louis II, king of Hungary and Bohemia

Louis II, 1506–26, king of Hungary and Bohemia (1516–26), son and successor of Uladislaus II. He was the last of the Jagiello Jagiello (yägyĕ`lō) or Jagello
..... Click the link for more information. dynasty in the two kingdoms. In the face of intensified attacks by Sultan Sulayman I Sulayman I (s
..... Click the link for more information. , Louis hastily sought (1526) to unite Hungary and Christendom behind him, but only the pope sent help. With a pitiful army, Louis joined battle with the Ottomans at Mohács Mohács (mô`häch), town (1991 est. pop. 20,325), S Hungary, on the Danube.
..... Click the link for more information. . The Hungarian army was destroyed, and Louis was killed. Through the marriage treaty concluded by his father (see Uladislaus II Uladislaus II (

'lä`dĭslous), Hung. Ulászló II, c.
..... Click the link for more information. ) the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia passed to Louis's brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Hapsburg (later Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I Ferdinand I, 1503–64, Holy Roman emperor (1558–64), king of Bohemia (1526–64) and of Hungary (1526–64), younger brother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V .
..... Click the link for more information. ), but Hungary fell under Ottoman rule.

Louis II, king of Naples

Louis II, 1377–1417, king of Naples (1384–1417), duke of Anjou, count of Provence, son and successor of Louis I of Naples. In 1389 the antipope Clement VII (Robert of Geneva) invested him with the kingdom, Lancelot Lancelot (lăn`sələt, –lŏt) or Ladislaus
..... Click the link for more information. , rival claimant of Naples, having been expelled in 1386. Louis took possession of Naples in 1390, but he was ousted in turn by Lancelot in 1399. In 1409, Louis liberated Rome from Lancelot's occupation; in 1410, as an ally of the antipope John XXIII (see Cossa, Baldassare Cossa, Baldassare (bäldäs-sä`rā kôs`sä), c.
..... Click the link for more information. ), he attacked Lancelot and defeated him at Roccasecca (1411). Eventually Louis lost his Neapolitan support and had to retire. His claim to Naples passed to his son, Louis III.

Louis II

or Ludwig II also known as Mad King Ludwig

(born Aug. 25, 1845, Nymphenburg Palace, Munich—died June 13, 1886, Starnberger See, Bavaria) King of Bavaria (1864–86). The son of Maximilian II of Bavaria, he supported Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). He brought his territories into the newly founded German Empire in 1871 but concerned himself only intermittently with affairs of state, preferring a life of increasingly morbid seclusion. A lifelong patron of the composer Richard Wagner, he developed a mania for extravagant building projects; the most fantastic, Neuschwanstein, was a fairy-tale castle decorated with scenes from Wagner's operas. He drowned himself three days after he was formally declared insane.

Louis II

1. known as Louis the German. ?804--876 ad, king of Germany (843--76); son of Louis I

2. 1845--86, king of Bavaria (1864--86): noted for his extravagant castles and his patronage of Wagner. Declared insane (1886), he drowned himself