How did the conflict with Pope John XXII affect Louis IV’s supporters in Germany?

The conflict between Louis IV and Pope John XXII significantly impacted Louis’s supporters in Germany by placing them in a difficult position of conscience and political instability. When the pope excommunicated Louis in 1324, the interdiction created a profound conflict of conscience for his adherents, while simultaneously providing his political enemies with a convenient justification for disobedience.1

The pope’s intransigence and his refusal to recognize Louis’s rule eventually exhausted the patience of the German people, who grew tired of the persistent quarrels over the crown. This frustration led city magistrates, representatives, and even the empire’s ecclesiastical lords to press for the legitimization of Louis’s rule and the rejection of papal interference.2

By 1338, this support culminated in the German princes declaring at Rhens that the candidate chosen by the electors was king of the Romans without requiring papal confirmation. Despite this, the ongoing charges of heresy and the unresolved conflict over the crown continued to smolder, leaving Louis’s supporters to navigate a volatile political landscape characterized by shifting alliances and the persistent threat of papal disapproval.231