28. Agnes Bernauer’s death inspired a war between father and son
In 1428, the heir to the Duchy of Bavaria met a young woman named Agnes Bernauer at a tournament. Albert was immediately smitten and even though Agnes was only the daughter of an Augsburg barber. Agnes, he may have secretly married her. A marriage to someone of such lowly origins could undoubtedly explain why Albert’s father, Ernst, Duke of Bavaria went to the lengths he did to remove Agnes from his son’s life. In October 1435, while Albert was hunting, the Duke had Agnes arrested, condemned for witchcraft and drowned in the River Danube. A war between the grief-stricken Albert and his father was narrowly averted. However, Albert never forgot Agnes and instituted an annual perpetual mass in her memory, which is still said annually.