Rudolf I (Palatinate)

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The electors in the 1308 royal election: from left Peter von Mainz , Balduin von Trier and Rudolf I (illustration from 1341)

Rudolf I of the Palatinate (born October 4, 1274 in Basel ; † August 12, 1319 ), known as the Stammler , was Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1294 to 1317 . He became the progenitor of the Palatinate line of the Wittelsbach family.

Life

Early years and beginning of rule

Rudolf's father was Duke Ludwig II of Bavaria, his mother was his third wife Mathilde von Habsburg , the daughter of the Roman King Rudolf von Habsburg and the Countess Gertrud von Hohenberg .

In 1294 Rudolf succeeded his late father as Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine near the Rhine. In addition to other cities such as Amberg, Nabburg and Schwandorf, Munich was favored by Rudolf, and the Rudolfinische Handfeste was issued as early as 1294 , a collection of the rights and duties of the citizens of the city of Munich.

Imperial politics and brotherly quarrel

In the Battle of Göllheim in 1298, Rudolf, like the Lower Bavarian Duke Otto , fought on the defeated side of his father-in-law, King Adolf von Nassau . When his uncle, the Habsburg Albrecht I , was elected king , he switched to his side, but soon came into conflict with him again over questions of domestic power. Rudolf allied himself with the Rhenish archbishops against the king. A siege of Heidelberg by Albrecht in 1301 failed; Nevertheless, Rudolf had to submit to him, whereupon the remaining opposition to the king collapsed. Rudolf lost important fiefs such as Neumarkt, Donauwörth and Schongau as well as several Rhine tolls.

Rudolf was now also involved in the disputes within the Wittelsbach house . At an early age he found himself in a dispute with his younger brother, the later Emperor Ludwig IV , who, with the support of the Habsburgs and his mother, fought for his part in the rule in 1301. Mathilde was even arrested by her son Rudolf in Munich in 1302 and forced not to interfere in government affairs in the future. After she was released, she broke the promise and secured the support of her brother King Albrecht. As Duke Ludwig II the Strict had determined in his will, Rudolf now shared power in the Palatinate and in the Duchy of Upper Bavaria with his younger brother.

In 1302 the brothers reached an agreement with the Upper Bavarian nobility against any further tax collection with the Schnaitbacher deed . The guaranteed tax approval right of the estates, together with the Ottonian Handfests of the Lower Bavarian Duke of 1311, marked the beginning of parliamentarianism in Bavaria.

After King Albrecht's murder in 1308, Rudolf pursued his own plans for the throne, but then took part in the Italian expedition of Henry VII , who was elected king, in 1310 , but broke it off early. Because in 1310 another dispute broke out between the brothers Rudolf and Ludwig over the paternal inheritance in Bavaria. The Upper Bavarian division of 1310 followed . In the Peace of Munich in 1313, the brothers Rudolf and Ludwig IV were temporarily reconciled and, after the years of separation, govern Upper Bavaria together again. In the same year Ludwig then defeated the Habsburgs in the Battle of Gammelsdorf and thus recommended himself for the royal crown.

In 1314, however, Rudolf was again fighting with his brother Ludwig and in the same year even supported Friedrich the Fair , as a Habsburg now an opponent of the Wittelsbach family. Soon afterwards, Ludwig IV, who was elected king against Friedrich, was on the military offensive in the Palatinate and Bavaria.

End of rule

In the spring of 1315 the citizens of Munich prevented the outbreak of new hostilities between the brothers, but in the autumn, Rudolf's important castle Wolfratshausen was taken by Ludwig , among others . In 1317, after a series of defeats in his hopeless situation, Rudolf largely gave up his claims to rule in Bavaria and the Rhine Palatinate. Ludwig also took possession of the Rhine Palatinate on the basis of the armed force treaty concluded with his brother Rudolf on February 26, 1317. According to the treaty, Ludwig was to rule alone as long as the throne dispute with the Habsburgs lasted. In fact, as a document from the Austrian State Archives shows, Rudolf stayed temporarily in Vienna in 1318. This war did not end until August 1322, years after Rudolf's death. But only after his widow Mechthild died in Heidelberg in June 1323, whose hatred of Ludwig had made a permanent reconciliation impossible, did a reconciliation come about between him and Rudolf's three sons. Where Rudolf died far from home in August 1319 is not known for certain, according to the Younger Ebersberger Chronicle it was "Anglia", which could have been the English part of northern France.

Establishment of the Palatinate Line

In 1329 Ludwig gave the Rhine Palatinate and parts of what was now called the Upper Palatinate back to Rudolf's descendants in the Pavia house contract . As a result, the Wittelsbach dynasty split into an older Palatinate and a younger Bavarian line. The latter died out in the male line in 1777 and was inherited by Rudolf's descendants. All Wittelsbachers living today are descended from Rudolf.

Marriage and offspring

Count Palatine and Duke Rudolf I married Princess Mechthild of Nassau (1280–1323), daughter of King Adolf of Nassau and his wife Countess Imagina von Isenburg-Limburg , on September 1, 1294 in Nuremberg . The marriage had six children:

  1. ⚭ 1328 Princess Anna of Gorizia, Tyrol and Carinthia (1300–1335),
  2. ⚭ 1348 Princess Margaret of Sicily of the House of Aragon (1331–1377);
  1. ⚭ 1350 Countess Elisabeth of Flanders-Namur from the House of Dampierre (1340–1382),
  2. ⚭ 1385 Princess Beatrix von Berg (1360–1395);

literature

predecessor Office successor
Ludwig II. Duke of Upper Bavaria
1294-1317 		Ludwig IV.
Ludwig II. Count Palatine near the Rhine
1294–1317 		Ludwig IV.
personal data
SURNAME Rudolf I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rudolf the Stammler
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine near the Rhine
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1274
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1319