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Rudolf IV
Rudolf IV
	The first half-frontal portrait of the Occident. It had been on display above Rudolf's grave in the Stephansdom of Vienna for several decades after his death, but can now be seen in the Museum of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna. Apart from the (invented) archducal crown, the foreshortening of which the artist did not completely master, the portrait is completely realistic. Even the duke's incipient facial palsy is shown.
Duke of Austria
Reign	1358–1365
Predecessor	Albert II
Successor	Albert III & Leopold III
Born	1 November 1339; Vienna
Died	27 July 1365 (aged 25); Milan
Burial	Ducal Crypt, Vienna
Spouse	Catherine of Luxembourg
House	House of Habsburg
Father	Albert II, Duke of Austria
Mother	Joanna of Pfirt

Rudolf IV (1 November 1339 – 27 July 1365), also called Rudolf the Founder (German: der Stifter), was a scion of the House of Habsburg who ruled as duke of Austria (self-proclaimed archduke), Styria and Carinthia from 1358, as well as count of Tyrol from 1363 and as the first duke of Carniola from 1364 until his death. After the Habsburgs received nothing from the decree of the Golden Bull in 1356, he gave order to draw up the "Privilegium Maius", a fake document to empower the Austrian rulers.

Early life

Born in Vienna, Rudolf was the eldest son of Duke Albert II of Austria and Joanna of Pfirt. One of the third generation of Habsburg dukes in Austria, he was the first to be born within the duchy. Therefore, he considered Austria his home, a sentiment that no doubt communicated itself to his subjects and contributed to his popularity. Faced with the Habsburgs' loss of the Imperial crown upon the assassination of his grandfather King Albert I of Germany in 1308, Rudolf was one of the most energetic and active rulers of Austria in the late Middle Ages, and it was said of him that as a young man he already had the air of a king.

Rule

In 1357 he was married to Catherine of Bohemia, daughter of Emperor Charles IV.^[1] Eager to compete with his mighty father-in-law, who had made the Kingdom of Bohemia and its capital Prague a radiant center of Imperial culture, Rudolf desired to raise the importance of his residence Vienna to a comparable or greater height. For more than a century, the Habsburg dukes had chafed at the popes' failure to make Vienna the seat of its own diocese, a status that they considered appropriate for the capital of a duchy. Instead the city parish was subordinate to the bishops of Passau, who had excellent connections to the pope, apparently dooming Vienna's prospects in this regard. Rudolf, however, resorted to something which could be considered imposture: He initiated the creation of a "metropolitan cathedral chapter" at the church of St. Stephen (which, according to the name, should be assigned to a bishop), whose members wore red garments as cardinals do. The provost of the chapter received the title of an "archchancellor of Austria".

Rudolf extended St. Stephen's Cathedral, with the construction of its gothic nave being started under Rudolf's rule. The construction efforts can be seen as an attempt to compete with St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Rudolf had himself and his wife depicted on a cenotaph at the cathedral's entrance.

Similarly, by founding the University of Vienna in 1365,^[2] Rudolf sought to match Charles IV's founding of the Charles University of Prague in 1348. Still known as Alma Mater Rudolphina today, the University of Vienna is the oldest continuously operating university in the German-speaking world. However, a faculty of theology, which was considered crucial for a university at that time, was not established until 1385, twenty years after Rudolf's death.

To improve the economy of Vienna, Rudolf introduced many other measures, including the supervision by the mayor of sales of real property, instituted to prevent sales to the dead hand, i.e., to prevent economically unproductive ownership by the Church. Rudolf also managed to establish a relatively stable currency, the so-called Wiener Pfennig (Vienna Penny).

Rudolf is best known for another bluff, the forgery of the Privilegium Maius, which de facto put him on par with the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire, compensating for Austria's failure to receive an electoral vote in the Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Emperor Charles IV. The title of Archduke (Erzherzog), invented by Rudolf, became an honorific title of all males of the House of Habsburg from the 16th century.

In 1363, Rudolf entered into a contract of inheritance with Countess Margaret of Gorizia-Tyrol upon the death of her only son, Meinhard III. The County of Tyrol came under Austrian rule after her death in 1369 since Margraret's brother-in-law Duke Stephen II of Bavaria had invaded the country. In 1364, Rudolf declared the Carinthian March of Carniola a duchy and the next year established the town of Novo Mesto in the Windic March (in what would later be known as Lower Carniola, in present-day Slovenia), whose German name Rudolfswert was given in his honor. In the same time, he concluded another contract of inheritance with his father-in-law Emperor Charles IV, providing for mutual inheritance between the Habsburg and Luxembourg dynasties.

Death

In spite of the high-flying and sometimes megalomaniac character of his plans, he managed to modernize his territories and his city, the prominence of which considerably increased. Rudolf died suddenly at Milan in 1365 aged 25.^[1] His and his wife's remains are buried at the Ducal Crypt underneath the Stephansdom in Vienna.^[1]

His untimely death without issue halted further progress, however. His younger brothers Albert III and Leopold III, who were to rule jointly under the Rudolfinische Hausordnung (Rudolfinian House Rules), began to quarrel ceaselessly and ultimately agreed to divide the Habsburg territories between them according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg. It was Leopold's descendant Frederick V of Austria, elected King of the Romans in 1440 and sole ruler over all Austrian lands from 1457, who reaped the fruit of Rudolf's efforts and laid the foundations of the Habsburg monarchy.

Male-line family tree

House of Habsburg^{[n 1]}

Original line

Albert
Count of Habsburg
c. 1188–1239

Rudolf I
of Germany
c. 1218–1291

Albert I
of Germany
1255–1308

Hartmann
1263–1281

Rudolf II
Duke of Austria
1270–1290

Rudolf I
of Bohemia
1281–1307

Frederick
the Fair
c. 1289–1330

Leopold I
Duke of Austria
1290–1326

Albert II
Duke of Austria
1298–1358

Henry
the Friendly
1299–1327

Otto
Duke of Austria
1301–1339

John
Parricida
c. 1290–1312/1313

Albertinian line

Leopoldian line

Rudolf IV
Duke of Austria
1339–1365

Frederick III
1347–1362

Albert III
Duke of Austria
1349–1395

Leopold III
Duke of Austria
1351–1386

Frederick II
Duke of Austria
1327–1344

Leopold II
Duke of Austria
1328–1344

Albert IV
Duke of Austria
1377–1404

William
Duke of Austria
c. 1370–1406

Leopold IV
Duke of Austria
1371–1411

Ernest
Duke of Austria
1377–1424

Frederick IV
Duke of Austria
1382–1439

Albert II
of Germany
1397–1439

Frederick III
HRE
1415–1493

Albert VI
Archduke of Austria
1418–1463

Sigismund
Archduke of Austria
1427–1496

Ladislaus
the Posthumous
1440–1457

Maximilian I
HRE
1459–1519

Philip I
of Castile
1478–1506

Spanish / Iberian line

Austrian / HRE line

Charles V
HRE
1500–1558

Ferdinand I
HRE
1503–1564

Philip II
of Spain
1527–1598

Maximilian II
HRE
1527–1576

Ferdinand II
Archduke of Austria
1529–1595

Charles II
Archduke of Austria
1540–1590

Carlos
Prince of Asturias
1545–1568

Philip III
of Spain
1578–1621

Rudolf II
HRE
1552–1612

Ernest
of Austria
1553–1595

Matthias
HRE
1557–1619

Maximilian III
Archduke of Austria
1558–1618

Albert VII
Archduke of Austria
1559–1621

Wenceslaus
Archduke of Austria
1561–1578

Andrew
Margrave of Burgau
1558–1600

Charles
Margrave of Burgau
1560–1618

Ferdinand II
HRE
1578–1637

Maximilian Ernest
of Austria
1583–1616

Leopold V
Archduke of Austria
1586–1632

Charles
of Austria
1590–1624

Philip IV
of Spain
1605–1665

Charles
of Austria
1607–1632

Ferdinand
of Austria
1609–1641

John-Charles
of Austria
1605–1619

Ferdinand III
HRE
1608–1657

Leopold Wilhelm
of Austria
1614–1662

Ferdinand Charles
Archduke of Austria
1628–1662

Sigismund Francis
Archduke of Austria
1630–1665

Balthasar Charles
Prince of Asturias
1629–1646

Charles II
of Spain
1661–1700

Ferdinand IV
King of the Romans
1633–1654

Leopold I
HRE
1640–1705

Charles Joseph
of Austria
1649–1664

Joseph I
HRE
1678–1711

Charles VI
HRE
1685–1740

Notes:

^ "Habsburg family tree". Habsburg family website. 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jaschke, Karl-Ulrich (1997). "From Famous Empresses to Unspectacular Queens". In Duggan, Anne J. (ed.). Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe. The Boydell Press. p. 102. ISBN 9780851158815.
^ Kann, Robert A. (1977). A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526–1918. University of California Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780520042063.

External links

Website of the Museum of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna

Regnal titles
Preceded by Albert II	Margrave of Carniola 1358–1364	Elevated to duchy
Preceded by Albert II	Duke of Austria, Styria and Carinthia 1358–1365	Succeeded by Albert III Leopold III
Preceded by Meinhard III	Count of Tyrol 1363–1365
New title	Duke of Carniola 1364–1365