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Birth:          ABT 1025 of Schwaben, Germany
Death:          15 Oct 1080 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_of_Rheinfelden
Rudolf of Rheinfelden (c.?1025 – 15 October 1080) was Duke of Swabia from 1057 to 
1079. Initially a follower of his brother-in-law, the Salian emperor Henry IV, his election 
as German anti-king in 1077 marked the outbreak of the Great Saxon Revolt and the 
first phase of open conflict in the Investiture Controversy between Emperor and 
Papacy. After a series of armed conflicts, Rudolf succumbed to his injuries after his 
forces defeated Henry's in the Battle on the Elster.
Life[edit]

Rudolf was the son of the Swabian count (Graf) Kuno of Rheinfelden. He was first 
mentioned in a 1048 deed issued by the Salian emperor Henry III as a count in the 
Swabian Sisgau on the High Rhine (in present-day Northwestern Switzerland), an 
estate then held by the Prince-Bishopric of Basel. Rudolf's family had large 
possessions up to Sankt Blasien Abbey in the Black Forest and down to the Aargau 
beyond the border with the Kingdom of Burgundy. He probably was related to King 
Rudolph II of Burgundy (d. 937), the Dukes of Lorraine and the Ottonian dynasty.

Duke of Swabia[edit]

When Duke Otto III of Swabia died without male heirs in 1057, Empress Agnes, 
consort of late Henry III, appointed him Swabian duke and administrator of Burgundy. 
Rivalling with the Zähringen count Berthold, Rudolf according to Frutolf of 
Michelsberg had taken advantage of the minority of Agnes' son Henry IV, elected King 
of the Romans, by kidnapping his sister Matilda. Rudolf demanded, and received, 
Matilda's hand in marriage (1059). In 1061 Berthold received the Duchy of Carinthia 
instead. When Matilda died in 1060, Rudolf subsequently, in 1066, married Adelaide of 
Savoy (d. 1079), a daughter of Count Otto of Savoy and Adelaide of Susa. When 
Adelaide's sister Bertha of Savoy married Henry IV in 1066, Rudolf became brother-in-
law to the king twice over.

During Agnes' regency, the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire could further strengthen 
their position against the Imperial authority. In the 1062 Coup of Kaiserswerth, several 
princes led by Archbishop Anno II of Cologne even abducted the minor king to enforce 
the surrender of the Imperial Regalia. When Henry came of age in 1065, he continued 
the policies of his father against the reluctant Saxon nobility, sparking the Saxon 
Rebellion in 1073. While other princes like the Carinthian duke Berthold of Zähringen 
or Duke Welf of Bavaria distanced themselves, Rudolf supported Henry's campaigns 
in Thuringia, when he was a primary force in the 1075 Battle of Langensalza against 
the insurgents. However, after the joint victory, Rudolf became estranged to the king 
and rumours occurred that he was involved in adversarial conspiracies. Empress 
Agnes repeatedly had to arbitrate between the parties.

Finally when the Investiture Controversy broke out and King Henry was 
excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII in February 1076, Duke Rudolf met with 
Berthold, Welf and several other princes in Trebur in order to decide on a course of 
action and to arrange a new election. Henry, observing the proceedings from his camp 
in Oppenheim on the other side of the Rhine, had to face a massive loss of support 
among the German nobles and realized that he had to achieve the lifting of his ban. 
Pope Gregory agreed to meet with the princes at Augsburg in February 1077.

Anti-king[edit]

Already in January, Henry hastened to see the pope on his way to the Empire from 
Rome. Duke Rudolf attempted to have the Alpine passes closed, nevertheless the 
king through wintry weather made his Walk to Canossa, where Gregory, fearing an 
armed attack by Henry's forces, had found refuge with Matilda of Tuscany. By doing 
penance Henry managed to achieve absolution, buying time at the price of his 
reputation and secular authority. The rebels continued with their plans. Rudolf was 
elected anti-king on 15 March 1077 at the Kaiserpfalz in Forchheim, where already 
Louis the Child and Conrad I of Germany had been crowned. The first anti-king in the 
history of the Empire, he promised to respect the investiture solely according to canon 
law as well as the concept of the elective monarchy. Further claims raised by the 
princes were rejected as simony by the attendant papal legates.

Rudolf was supported by the Archbishops of Mainz, Salzburg and Magdeburg as well 
as by the Dukes of Carinthia and Bavaria, the Saxon rebel Otto of Nordheim and 
possibly also by Duke Magnus of Saxony. He proceeded to Mainz, where on 25 May 
he was crowned by Archbishop Siegfried I, but soon after was forced to flee to 
Saxony, when the Mainz citizens revolted. This presented a problem, since the Saxon 
duchy was cut off from his Swabian homelands by the king's Salian territory. 
Moreover, the pope avoided taking sides and adopted a waiting attitude. Rudolf was 
accused of greed, treason and usurpation by Henry's liensmen, while his own support 
crumbled.

Royalty[edit]

Rudolf gave Swabia to his son Berthold and attempted to rectify his situation by 
stalking Henry's forces near Würzburg, but to little effect. Meanwhile, he was deprived 
of Swabia by the Hoftag diet at Ulm in May, and the king gave the duchy to Frederick 
of Büren, the first Hohenstaufen ruler.

The next year Henry waged a successful campaign to Bavaria, while Pope Gregory 
rejected to excommunicate Rudolf. The Battle of Mellrichstadt on 7 August 1078 
proved indecisive: though the opposition forces under Otto of Nordheim were 
victorious, the troops of Berthold and Welf were stuck in a peasants' revolt. Rudolf 
found it difficult to convince the Saxons to fight beyond their borders; they viewed him 
as a southerner and distrusted him. He was also frustrated by the apparent reluctance 
of the pope to recognize his cause. In order to gain and maintain supporters, he was 
forced to grant large parts of the crown lands, as well as those of the church, to his 
followers. Nevertheless, things seemed to be improving in 1080. The battle of 
Flarchheim (27 January 1080) went well in his favor. On 7 March, the pope 
excommunicated Henry again and recognized Rudolf as king.

Emboldened, Rudolf's forces met Henry's at the White Elster river in the Battle of 
Elster. The battle, which took place on 14 October 1080, would have been a huge 
victory for the anti-royalists. However, Rudolf lost his right hand in the battle and was 
mortally wounded in the abdomen. He withdrew to nearby Merseburg, where he died 
the next day and was buried. The majority of the support for the rebellion against 
Henry IV soon evaporated, but the struggle continued on in effect into 1085, with a 
final flare up in 1088 under Rudolph's successor, the second anti-king, Herman of 
Luxembourg.

Rudolph's daughter Adelaide married Ladislaus I of Hungary.

Parents
____ Kuno (ABT  990 - 1027)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
OF RHEINFELDEN Rudolf (ABT 1025 - 15 Oct 1080)

Marriage To OF MAURIENNE Adelaide (ABT 1047 - 1079)
    m. ABT 1062 

Notes

Parents
OF SAVOY Otto (Odo) (Eudes) I (ABT 1020 - 19 Jan 1058)
VON SUSA Adelaide (ABT 1015 - 19 Dec 1091)

Children by OF MAURIENNE Adelaide ABT 1047 - 1079
OF RHEINFELDEN Adelaide (Adelheid) (ABT 1066 - May 1090)

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