Rudolf IV (Anhalt)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rudolf IV of Anhalt (* around 1466; † September 7, 1510 ) called "the brave" from the house of the Ascanians was a prince of Anhalt-Bernburg .

Life

Rudolf was a son of Prince Georg I von Anhalt-Zerbst (1390–1474) from his fourth marriage to Anna († 1513), daughter of Count Albrecht von Lindau-Ruppin. In contrast to the Anhalt tradition, Rudolf studied at the University of Mainz instead of Leipzig.

In 1470 Sigismund's father had placed the government in the hands of his sons, who divided the country in 1471. Sigismund III. and Ernst received Anhalt-Dessau , Georg II and Waldemar VI. got Anhalt-Köthen and Rudolf, be resigned as the youngest of the brothers, was a sum of money. The part of the state of Anhalt-Bernburg, which fell to the house in 1468, was to be governed by all brothers together.

Rudolf entered the service of the Roman-German King Maximilian I in 1486 , who, however, failed to pay him. Rudolf therefore got into debt and prescribed his part of the country to Elector Friedrich von Sachsen for 3,000 guilders . Rudolf enjoyed the special favor of Maximilian I, who made him his counselor and head stable master . He attended his royal coronation, where he was made Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, and later accompanied Maximilian to the Netherlands, where both were taken prisoner. Rudolf remained hostage so that Maximilian could be freed. In return, the emperor released the House of Anhalt from complicity in the Imperial War . Rudolf had acquired the rule of Grobbendonk in the Netherlands and received from Maximilian I. Kitzbühel as a gift, which he ceded again in 1507.

In 1495 at the Diet of Worms , Rudolf received the royal feud with the Anhalt Imperial Fief on behalf of his brothers and cousins. Rudolf suppressed an uprising in Hungary on behalf of Maximilian I in 1506 and the following year he became supreme commander of the royal army in the war against Karl von Egmond . In this capacity he was also involved in the campaign against the Republic of Venice and the conquest of Padua and Vicenza . He died unmarried and childless during the siege of Verona by the Venetians of a heated fever or poison.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ferdinand Siebigk: Das Herzogthum Anhalt , Desbarats, 1867, p. 150
personal data
SURNAME Rudolf IV.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rudolf IV of Anhalt; Rudolf the Brave
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
DATE OF BIRTH around 1466
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1510