Count John I 'the Pious' of Waldeck-Landau (1521 or 1522 – 9 April 1567), German: Johann I. 'der Fromme' Graf von Waldeck-Landau, was since 1539 Count of Waldeck-Landau. He was the founder of the younger cadet branch of Waldeck-Landau.
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Biography
Philip was born in 1521 or 1522 as the second son of Count Philip III of Waldeck-Eisenberg and his second wife Duchess Anne of Cleves. Since 1537 John studied with his elder brother Philip V in Marburg.
With the cooperation of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, the division of the County of Waldeck was arranged by treaty on 22 November 1538. One part was awarded to the two sons of the first marriage, Otto V and Wolrad II, the other to the sons of the second marriage, Philip V, John I and Francis II. A year later, after the death of his father, John succeeded him in Landau.
Although by 1529 the Protestant faith was widespread in most parts of the County of Waldeck, the churches and some influential citizens still remained Catholic, especially in Korbach, where the Counts of Waldeck did not manage to eliminate the religious differences. In May 1543 they brought in the Protestant Reformer Adam Krafft, who completed the Reformation in the County of Waldeck.
The two leaders of the Schmalkaldic League, Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, formed an army in the middle of 1546. The Counts of Waldeck responded to the landgrave's call for support. Emperor Charles V emerged victorious from the Schmalkaldic War on 24 April 1547 at the Battle of Mühlberg. Of the Counts of Waldeck, only Count Samuel, son of Count Philip IV of Waldeck-Wildungen, had participated; but the other Counts of Waldeck also had to come to Kassel to sign the reconciliation treaty, which the Emperor presented on 16 July 1547 to the surrendering landgrave. The subjects and servants of Hesse were also ordered to sign the treaty. John had already signed it, his relatives followed. But the Emperor did not accept the reconciliation in the case of the Counts of Waldeck. For him they were not subjects of Hesse, but Imperial Counts and therefore immediately subordinate to him. Therefore, he summoned them under threat of the imperial ban to the Diet of Augsburg in 1548, so that they would answer for their participation in the army of the Schmalkaldic League and reconcile with him. What on the one hand had the character of a humiliation for the counts, on the other hand weakened the landgraves of Hesse and their territorial claims to the County of Waldeck. Waldeck was thus explicitly immediate.