Rudolf II (Palatinate)

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Count Palatine Rudolf II, sculpture by Hubert Netzer , in the Neustadt collegiate church, 1910
The Neustadt collegiate church , in which Rudolf II is buried.
Badly damaged epitaph of Count Palatine Rudolf II, Neustadt collegiate church
The open graves of Count Palatine Rudolf II and Margaret of Sicily-Aragon, in the rear cath. Area of ​​the Neustadt collegiate church, 1906. They are partly built over by the partition wall.

Rudolf II the Blind (born August 8, 1306 in Wolfratshausen ; † October 4, 1353 in Neustadt ) was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1329 to 1353.

Life

Rudolf II. Was born the son of Count Palatine Rudolf I († 1319) and his wife Mechthild von Nassau († 1323), daughter of King Adolf von Nassau . His uncle was Emperor Ludwig IV the Bavarian († 1347).

The prince's childhood was shaped by the struggle between father and uncle within the family. After the death of his father he stood with his mother and his brothers Adolf († 1327) and Ruprecht I under the tutelage of Count Johann von Nassau, a supporter of the Austrian party. Ludwig IV the Bavarian had taken possession of the Rhine Palatinate under armed forces on the basis of the treaty concluded with Rudolf I on February 26, 1317. The war came to an end in August 1322, but it was only after Mechthild's death in June 1323, whose hatred of Ludwig IV had made a lasting reconciliation impossible, that he and the three nephews came together.

In 1328 it was decided to divide the country, which was sealed on August 4, 1329, in the Pavia house contract . Together with his younger brother Ruprecht I, Rudolf took over the government in the Rhine Palatinate and parts of the area in the Bavarian Nordgau, soon to be called Upper Palatinate . Ludwig the Bavarian and his sons received Upper Bavaria and the rest of the Upper Palatinate.

On February 18, 1338 there was a further division with the brother Ruprecht I and his nephew Ruprecht II , whereby Rudolf II received, among other things, Neustadt with the castle Winzingen . After the death of Emperor Ludwig, Rudolf II elected together with his brother in 1349 Günther von Schwarzburg as the anti-king, the candidate of all Wittelsbachers. Nevertheless, shortly afterwards he engaged his daughter Anna to his rival Charles IV. In February 1350, the Wittelsbach family also recognized Charles IV as the new king and committed themselves to delivering the imperial regalia to him .

An eye complaint of the Count Palatine led to the eponymous blindness in the last year of his life. Some time before his death he had largely handed over the business of government to his brother and successor Ruprecht I due to increasing sickness.

Wives and offspring

Rudolf was married twice.

1. 1328 ⚭ Anna of Carinthia-Tyrol (around 1300–1331), daughter of Duke Otto III.

2. 1348 ⚭ Margaret of Sicily-Aragon (1331–1377), daughter of King Frederick II.

Death and remembrance

In his will, Count Palatine Rudolf II ordered the parish church of St. Giles, his residence in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , to be converted into a memoria - a place of prayer and memorial - for the Wittelsbach house and wished to be buried there. After his death on October 4, 1353, he was buried as requested in front of the altar of the Neustadt parish church of St. Giles.

In 1356, the successor, Elector Ruprecht I , donated the Liebfrauen Collegiate Stift Neustadt as a memorial for the common family based on the will of his brother Rudolf II . To this end, he had the parish church of St. Aegidius rebuilt and expanded to the east with a magnificent choir. The choir area of ​​this new church, today's Neustadt collegiate church , was built in 1368 according to a pillar inscription.

The altar of the new church now moved a good bit to the east and the place in front of the altar of the old parish church, where Rudolf II had been buried, was now at the transition from the nave to the new choir area. Rudolf's second wife, Countess Palatine Margarete of Sicily-Aragon , was buried here in 1377 at the side of her husband. She had outlived him by 24 years.

Margaret of Sicily-Aragon received a magnificent, Gothic epitaph. The tombstone is now on the rear, northern wall of today's Catholic church area and is one of the sights in Neustadt. Her husband Rudolf II also owned a similarly valuable grave slab, which has only been severely damaged and is also in the Catholic part of the church on the rear south wall, opposite that of his wife.

The graves of Count Palatine Rudolf and Count Palatine Margarete of Sicily-Aragon are located in the rear area of ​​the Catholic church part, roughly in the middle, but are half built over by the partition wall built in 1707/1708 between the Protestant nave and the Catholic choir. They were opened in 1906, covered with modern stone slabs, but not marked on the floor.

Around 1910, city pastor Michael Glaser (1863–1915) had four large statues of the Palatinate rulers Rudolf II and Ruprecht I , who were buried here , as well as the wives Beatrix von Berg and Margarete von Sicily-Aragon who were buried at their side . They were created by the Munich sculptor Hubert Netzer from white Kelheim limestone and are located on the north and south walls of the nave of the Catholic part of the church. The figures in the style of historicism are based on old representations; the two female figures and the sculpture of Count Palatine Rudolf II are based on the images on their epitaphs in the collegiate church.

literature

predecessor Office successor
Ludwig (IV.) Count Palatine near the Rhine
1329–1353 		Ruprecht I.
personal data
SURNAME Rudolf II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rudolf the blind
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count Palatine near the Rhine
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1306
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolfratshausen
DATE OF DEATH October 4, 1353
Place of death Neustadt an der Weinstrasse