Editing Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

==Dynastic policy==
[[File:Behrens 66.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Gold Gulden of Lübeck, 1341]]

In 1323 Louis gave [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] as a fiefdom to his eldest son [[Louis V the Brandenburger|Louis V]] after the Brandenburg branch of the [[House of Ascania]] had died out. With the [[Treaty of Pavia (1329)|Treaty of Pavia]] in 1329 the emperor reconciled the sons of his late brother Rudolph and returned the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]] to his nephews [[Rudolf II, Duke of Bavaria|Rudolf]] and [[Rupert I, Elector Palatine of the Rhine|Rupert]]. After the death of [[Henry of Bohemia]], the duchy of [[Carinthia (duchy)|Carinthia]] was released as an imperial [[fief]] on 2 May 1335 in [[Linz]] to his Habsburg cousins [[Albert II, Duke of Austria]], and [[Otto, Duke of Austria]], while [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]] was first placed into Luxemburg hands.<ref name="Holzfurtner2005">{{Cite book |last=Ludwig Holzfurtner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2D94DwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 |title=Die Wittelsbacher: Staat und Dynastie in acht Jahrhunderten |date= 2005 |publisher=[[Kohlhammer Verlag]] |isbn=978-3-17-023234-1 |pages=81–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=König Ludwig IV. belehnt seinen Sohn Ludwig mit der Mark Brandenburgund befiehlt, ihm zu huldigen |url=https://www.hiko-berlin.de/fileadmin/redakteur/02_Projekte/100Quellen/Belehnung-1324/Belehnung-1324.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.hiko-berlin.de/fileadmin/redakteur/02_Projekte/100Quellen/Belehnung-1324/Belehnung-1324.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |last=Michael Menzel |publisher=Historische Kommission zu Berlin |access-date=March 1, 2020}}</ref>

With the death of duke [[John I, Duke of Bavaria|John I]] in 1340 Louis inherited Lower Bavaria and then reunited the duchy of Bavaria. John's [[Margaret of Bohemia, Duchess of Bavaria|mother]], a member of the Luxemburg dynasty, had to return to Bohemia. In 1342 Louis also acquired [[German Tyrol|Tyrol]] for the Wittelsbach by voiding the first marriage of [[Margarete Maultasch]] with [[John Henry, Margrave of Moravia|John Henry of Bohemia]] and marrying her to his own son Louis V, thus alienating the House of Luxemburg even more.<ref name=hub/>

In 1345 the emperor further antagonized the lay princes by conferring [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]], [[Holland]], [[Zeeland]], and [[Friesland]] upon his wife, [[Margaret II of Hainaut]]. The hereditary titles of Margaret's sisters, [[Philippa of Hainault|one]] of whom was the queen of England, were ignored. Because of the dangerous hostility of the Luxemburgs, Louis had increased his power base ruthlessly.<ref name="Clauss2014" />