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 When Duke
Otto III of Swabia died without male heirs in 1057, Empress
Agnes, consort of late Henry III, appointed Rudolf 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 of Swabia. 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 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, but 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. The men who elected Rudolf were Archbishops
Siegfried I of Mainz,
Werner of Magdeburg and
Gebhard of Salzburg; Bishops
Burchard II of Halberstadt,
Altmann of Passau, and
Adalbero of Würzburg; Dukes
Berthold II of Carinthia,
Welf I of Bavaria and Rudolf himself; and
Otto of Northeim, former duke of Bavaria. Duke
Magnus of Saxony and Margrave
Udo II of Stade may also have taken part. Rudolf 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.
Later life 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 Stauf, the first
Hohenstaufen ruler. The next year Henry waged a successful campaign to Bavaria, while Pope Gregory rejected excommunicating 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. ==Issue==