in
Vienna. The text is written using the
Alphabetum Kaldeorum, a code he probably invented. In 1357 he was married to
Catherine of Bohemia, daughter of
Emperor Charles IV. 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, 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 ==