Skip to content
EntityQ156404· pop 39· linked from 203 articles

Duke of Austria

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Key facts

Reign
1358–1365
Predecessor
Albert II
Successor
Albert III & Leopold III
Born
1 November 1339, Vienna
Died
27 July 1365 (1365-07-27) (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

via Wikipedia infobox

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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. He succeeded his father Albert II, Duke of Austria (d. 1358), who was not included among the seven imperial prince-electors by the Golden Bull of 1356. In order to acquire titles and honors higher than ducal, Rudolf commissioned the "Privilegium Maius", a forged document accompanied by several other forgeries, that were divised in order to elevate Austrian dukes to various titles, rights and privileges. The Emperor Charles IV refused to recognize and confirm the validity of those claims, but in spite of that, Rudolf started to use the archducal title by the middle of 1359, and continued to assert those claims until his death.

Early life

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rudolf IV” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.