Rudolf I of Germany

Rudolf I
Seal of Rudolf I inscribed: RUDOLFUS DEI GRACIA ROMANORUM REX SEMPER AUGUSTUS ("Rudolf by the grace of God King of the Romans, ever majestic")
King of Germany
(formally King of the Romans)
Reign1 October 1273 – 15 July 1291
Coronation24 October 1273
Aachen Cathedral
Predecessor(Richard of Cornwall)
Interregnum
SuccessorAdolf of Nassau
Born1 May 1218
Limburgh Castle near Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl
Died15 July 1291(1291-07-15) (aged 73)
Speyer
Burial
Spouses
Issue
more...
HouseHabsburg
FatherAlbert IV, Count of Habsburg
MotherHedwig of Kyburg

Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death in 1291.

Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which had begun after the death of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II in 1250. Originally a Swabian count, he was the first Habsburg to acquire the duchies of Austria and Styria in opposition to his mighty rival, the Přemyslid king Ottokar II of Bohemia, whom he defeated in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld. The territories remained under Habsburg rule for more than 600 years, forming the core of the Habsburg monarchy and the present-day country of Austria. Rudolf played a vital role in raising the comital House of Habsburg to the rank of Imperial princes.