Alternative History
Louis of Nordhausen
Albrecht Dürer - Bildnis eines unbekannten Mannes
Portrait by Hans Dürer, 1510
Count of Nordhausen
Reign 1510-1540
Coronation 19 December 1510
Predecessor Title Created
Successor Conrad I
Born 3 July 1482
Erfurt, Thuringia,
Holy Roman Empire
Died 30 October 1540
Duderstadt, Golgotha,
Rätian Union
Issue Conrad I
House House of Jenagotha
Father Thin White Duke
Mother Wilhelmine Přemysl
Religion Jungism (1508-)

Roman Catholicism (-1508)

Louis of Nordhausen (3 July 1482 - 30 October 1540) was a Thuringian nobleman and Count of Nordhausen from 1510 to his death. Born a son of the Thin White Duke and his sixth wife Wilhelmine Přemysl, a daughter of Henry VIII, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1510 he was created Count of Nordhausen by his father, encompassed primarily from territory formally part of the Archbishopric of Mainz, which was acquired after the Nuremberg Crisis of the early Protestant Reformation. Nordhausen would prove to be an important border province of the later Rätian Union, eventually encompassing a major part of the province of Golgotha. Louis' first marriage to Mary of Anhalt was crucial in spreading Thuringian control over the rest of the eventual province.

After the death of the Thin White Duke, Louis supported the leadership of Henry IX over Hugh the Heir, the eventual Duke of Thuringia. As a ruler Louis of Nordhausen largely remained neutral from conflict with his extended family, and due to his position as a prominent count in the early union, was largely spared retaliation from Hugh. Despite this, Louis was a proponent of militarization of his county and province. Situated on the border of the union and neighboring the Duchy of Hesse, Louis commissioned several prominent castles along the western edge of the nation. Later in life he served as an active advocate for the Rätian governmental system, something he was initially apprehensive about.

This article is part of Merveilles des Morte.