A member of the
Elder House of Welf, Rudolph was the son of the Upper Burgundian king
Rudolph I, and his wife
Guilla of Provence. Following his ascent to the throne in 912, Rudolph II entered into a border conflict with the neighbouring
dukes of Swabia and campaigned the
Thurgau and
Zürich estates. Duke
Burchard II of Swabia finally defeated him in the 919 Battle of
Winterthur; both rulers made peace and Rudolph married Burchard's daughter
Bertha in 922. At the same time, Rudolph was asked by several Italian nobles led by Margrave
Adalbert I of Ivrea to intervene in Italy on their behalf against
Emperor Berengar. Having entered Italy, he was crowned king at
Pavia in the
Basilica of San Michele Maggiore. On 17 July 923, he defeated Berengar at the
Battle of Fiorenzuola; Berengar was murdered the following year, possibly at the instigation of Rudolph. The king then ruled Upper Burgundy and Italy together, residing alternately in both kingdoms. However, in 926 the Italian nobility turned against him and requested that
Hugh of Arles, the regent in the
Kingdom of Lower Burgundy, rule them instead. Rudolph's father-in-law Duke Burchard II of Swabia came for his support; however, he was attacked and killed near
Novara by the henchmen of
Lambert, Archbishop of Milan. The king returned to Upper Burgundy to protect himself, assuring Hugh's coronation as King of Italy in the process. In 926 or 935, Rudolph rendered the royal symbol of the
Holy Lance to the
East Frankish king
Henry the Fowler in exchange for the Swabian
Basel estates. In 928, king
Louis the Blind of
Lower Burgundy died, and the rule over that territory was inherited by king Hugh of Italy, Rudolph's rival. In order to secure his position in Italy, Hugh agreed to cede his claims and rule over Lower Burgundy, in exchange for Rudolph's renunciation of any Italian claims. On those bases an agreement was reached, and the two Burgundian realms (Upper and Lower) were unified from 933, under Rudolph's rule. He died in 937 and was succeeded by his son
Conrad. After his death in 937, his daughter
Adelaide was married to Hugh's son
Lothair, while Hugh married Rudolph's widow Bertha. Adelaide later became the second wife of
Otto the Great, crowned
Holy Roman Emperor in 962, and the mother of
Emperor Otto II. ==See also==