Rudolf I, Duke Of Bavaria
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Rudolf I of Bavaria, called "the Stammerer" (; 4 October 1274 – 12 August 1319), a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1294 until 1317.


Life

Rudolf was born in
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, the son of Duke Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria and his third wife
Matilda of Habsburg Matilda of Habsburg or Melchilde (1253 – 23 December 1304) was a duchess consort of Bavaria. She was regent of Upper Bavaria during the minority of her younger son, Louis IV in 1294–1301. Marriage Matilda was the eldest daughter of Rudol ...
, a daughter of King
Rudolf I of Germany Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany of the Habsburg dynasty from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's imperial election of 1273, election marked the end of the Interregnum (Holy Roman Empire), Great Interregnum whic ...
. Since the 1255 partition of the Wittelsbach territories, his father ruled over the
Electoral Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy Roman Empero ...
and Upper Bavaria with his residence at Alter Hof in Munich and Heidelberg Castle, while his younger brother Duke Henry XIII ruled over the lands of Lower Bavaria. As the eldest surviving son, Rudolf succeeded his father as Duke of Upper Bavaria upon his death in February 1294. In September he married Mechtild of Nassau, daughter of King Adolf of Germany, thereby continuing the marriage politics of his father. However, King Adolf dashed the
Princes A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in some ...
' expectations and in 1298 was declared deposed in favour of late King Rudolf's son and heir Duke Albert of Austria. In the Battle of Göllheim, Rudolf supported his father-in-law Adolf against his maternal uncle Albert. The Habsburg duke won the fight, while the king was killed in battle. Albert was elected on 27 July 1298 and Rudolf then joined the Habsburg party, however, the strong dynastic policy of the new king caused led to a resurgence of the Wittelsbach dynastic conflicts. In 1301 King Albert put pressure on Rudolf to accept his ambitious younger brother Louis IV, the future
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
, as co-regent. He broke Rudolf's remaining resistance by laying siege to his
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
residence in 1301. After Albert's assassination in 1308, both Rudolf and Louis hoped to become his successor. Nevertheless, the Princes around the mighty Archbishop of Mainz, Peter von Aspelt, arranged the candidacy of the
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count Henry VII. In the election on 27 November Rudolf voted for Henry. In 1310 he accompanied the new king on his campaign to
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. However, he had to terminate his participation when upon the death of Duke Stephen I of Bavaria new disputes on the partition of the Wittelsbach lands and the electoral dignity between Rudolf and Louis IV culminated in a civil war. Finally on 21 June 1313, peace between the brothers was made at Munich: while Rudolf retained the Electoral Palatinate, the treaty provided Louis with the opportunity to secure his election as German king when Henry of Luxembourg died on 24 August. Much to the annoyance of his brother, Louis was able to defeat his Habsburg rival Frederick the Fair at the Battle of Gammelsdorf on 9 November. After the renunciation of Henry's son King
John of Bohemia John of Bohemia, also called the Blind or of Luxembourg (; ; ; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting ...
, he finally was elected King of the Romans in
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on 20 October 1314 – against the vote of his envious brother Rudolf, who supported Frederick of Habsburg. In the following throne quarrel with the Habsburgs, Rudolf was attacked by his brother in both Bavaria and the Palatinate. Put on the defensive, Rudolf in 1317 agreed to give up his rule in favour of Louis, until the conflict with the Habsburg rival was ended. According to the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
historian Johannes Aventinus (1477–1534), Rudolf proceeded to
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where he died two years later. He later received the epithet "the Stammerer" due to his many desperate fights against his capable younger brother. Louis IV, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1328, by the 1329 Treaty of Pavia granted the Electoral Palatinate to late Rudolf's sons Rudolf II the Blind and Rupert I and Rudolf's grandson Rupert II, a son of Adolf. This way finally Rudolf I and his grandson Rupert II became the ancestors of the elder (Palatinate) line of the Wittelsbach dynasty, which returned to power also in Bavaria in 1777 after the extinction of the younger (Bavarian) line, the descendants of Louis IV.


Family and children

Rudolf was married on 1 September 1294 to Mechtild of Nassau, daughter of King Adolf of Germany. The couple had the following children: # Ludwig (1297 – before 5 April 1311) # Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (27 September 1300, Wolfratshausen – 29 January 1327), married Countess Irmengard of Oettingen (d. 1389) in 1320 # Rudolf II, Duke of Bavaria (8 August 1306, Wolfratshausen – 4 October 1353, Neustadt), married Anne of Gorizia-Tyrol (1300–1335), daughter of Duke Otto III of Carinthia, in 1328; secondly married Margaret of Aragon (1331–1377), daughter of King Frederick III of Sicily, in 1348 # Rupert I, Elector Palatine (9 June 1309, Wolfratshausen – 16 February 1390), married Elizabeth of Dampierre (1329–1382), daughter of Marquis John I of Namur, in 1328; secondly married Beatrice of Jülich (1360–1395), daughter of Duke William of Berg, in 1385 # Mathilde (1312 – 25 November 1375), married Count John III of Sponheim in 1330 # Anna (1318–1319).


References


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolf I, Duke of Upper Bavaria 1274 births 1319 deaths 13th-century dukes of Bavaria 14th-century dukes of Bavaria People from Basel-Landschaft Counts Palatine of the Rhine House of Wittelsbach