Rudolf II (Saxony-Wittenberg)

Rudolf II of Saxony-Wittenberg

Rudolf II. (* Around 1307; † December 6, 1370 in Wittenberg ) from the Ascanian dynasty was Duke of Saxony-Wittenberg and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1370 .

Life

Already early Rudolf II was., The eldest son of the diplomatic service of his father Rudolf I brought. On August 25, 1346 he took part in the Battle of Crécy , where he was on the side of the French King Philip VI. after the death of the Bohemian king Johann took over the leadership of the German auxiliary troops. Although the battle was lost for the French king, he gave the then electoral prince a bloody thorn , which was supposed to come from Christ's crown of thorns . In the deep worship of relics at that time, this gift was of great value. Because wherever there was a relic, pilgrims and pilgrims went to earn income. Rudolf's father had already had a basilica chapel built for his All Saints Foundation in agreement with his second wife . With the acquired relic, the collegiate church developed into a provost's seat. After the death of his father, Rudolf II reaffirmed the rights of the church and expanded its possessions.

Since Rudolf I's age forbade him from a certain point in time to take long trips to the Reichstag, etc., he gave his son Rudolf II a power of attorney to represent him at the Reichstag. After the death of his father, on December 27, 1356, Rudolf II had all the privileges of the Saxon-Wittenberg family reconfirmed at the Princely Court in Metz against the legal claims of the Saxon-Lauenburgers . It is therefore not surprising that he continued his father's policies. However, like his father, he had to defend himself against the claims of the Sachsen-Lauenburg line (in relation to the Saxon electoral dignity) and the Wettin claims of Meissen (in relation to the former Wettin county of Brehna ). When they challenged him for the possession of the von Herzberg , Prettin , Trebitz , Klöden , Pretzsch , Schmiedeberg and other places, he could only ward them off militarily. These disputes and the constant involvement in Reich politics required constant replenishment of financial resources. In 1359 he sold the city of Allstedt to Gebhard von Querfurt and exchanged the Gattersleben Castle for the Wiesenburg and Schweinitz castles with the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Dietrich .

In 1360, the Liebenwerda estate , which was to the east of Saxony-Wittenberg, came into his possession. In 1370 Rudolf received the county of Barby with Walternienburg, which he passed on to the von Barby family as a fief. At the beginning of 1370 he received the Principality of Lüneburg through his father's renewed entitlement to the Ascanian inheritance . However, with the War of the Lüneburg Succession, this endeavor became a conflict.

Domestic political activities were shaped by the endeavor to secure financial income. For example, he gave the town of Herzberg the privilege of serving salt in 1361 , and regulated the ferry routes for the salt guides from Halle via Bitterfeld to Torgau . To counter the robber barons, he concluded further protective alliances with other cities and outlawed such offenses. On this basis, Ließnitz Castle was destroyed during his tenure in 1358, on the soil of which the town of Kropstädt was later built . He settled a dispute between the castle and the town church of Wittenberg, which arose from the provost regulation of the castle church. For the first time Rudolf called himself princeps elector (Elector) in 1370 . He was entitled to this right through the confirmed Golden Bull of 1356. Due to an almost complete blindness shortly before the end of his life, Rudolf is sometimes referred to as "the blind one".

Gravestone of Rudolf II of Saxony in the Wittenberg Castle Church

Since Rudolf had no children or grandchildren capable of governing in the sense of the Golden Bull, his brother Wenzel succeeded him on the basis of imperial legislation .

In February 2009 archaeologists discovered Rudolf's grave during excavations on the site of the former Franciscan monastery in Wittenberg. The elector was buried in a wooden coffin next to his second wife and daughter. He had been given his sword and his leaden ducal seal. In October 2015, his remains and the remains of his wife and daughter were reburied in the same location. The monastery and the graves can now be viewed as "Historical City Information".

family

Rudolf II married Elisabeth († 1354), the daughter of Landgrave Otto von Hessen , in 1336 and Elisabeth († November 15, 1373), daughter of Count Ulrich II von Lindow-Ruppin . The following children were born from the first marriage:

• Beate († soon after 1373)
• Elisabeth († 1353)

From the second marriage:

• Albrecht (* beginning 1371 in Wittenberg, † 1371 in Wittenberg)

literature

• Lorenz Friedrich Beck :  Rudolf II. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 185 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Paul Braun: From the Wittenberg collegiate church . In: Leaves for home history. Supplement to the Wittenberger Zeitung , January 1929
• Georg Hirschfeld: History of the Saxon-Askanischen electors . Sittenfeld publishing house, Berlin 1884
• Friedrich Israel: The Wittenberg University Archives. Its history and its holdings . Gebauer-Schwetschke Verlag, Halle / Saale 1913
• Heinrich Kühne : The Ascanians. From the history of the Saxon-Ascanian dukes and electors of Saxony-Wittenberg . Drei-Kastanien-Verlag, Wittenberg 1999, ISBN 3-933028-14-0
• Helga Wäß: Form and Perception of Central German Memory Sculpture in the 14th Century. A contribution to medieval grave monuments, epitaphs and curiosities in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, North Hesse, East Westphalia and South Lower Saxony . Edition Tenea, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-86504-159-0 (2 volumes , plus Univ. Diss. Göttingen 2001)
  • 2. Catalog of selected objects from the High Middle Ages to the beginning of the 15th century (on the cover plate of the double dome of Rudolf II and his wife Elisabeth, pp. 603–607).
• Otto von Heinemann:  Rudolf II. In: General German Biography (ADB). Volume 29, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, p. 555.

Web links

Commons : Rudolf II. (Sachsen-Wittenberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Focus article on finding the grave
• State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt: Grave of Elector Rudolf II discovered (PDF), press release from February 26, 2009.

predecessor	Office	successor
Rudolf I.	Elector of Saxony 1356–1370	Wenceslaus