Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/65

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R U D R U D 53 Gamla Upsala, and the Gokstad mound on the Sandcfiord, the scene of the recent discovery of the viking ship. Literature. Fergusson, Rude Stone Monuments; Compte Rendu du Congres International <T Anthropologie et d' Arckeologie Pre'liistoriques; by G. do Mortillet, Let Etudes Pre'historiqtte.s; Lubbock, Prehistoric Times ; Inventaire des Monu- ments Megalithiques de France ; Bonstetten, Essai sur les Dolmens ; Proceedings, <fec., of tlie various antiquarian societies. (R- MU.) RUDOLPH I. (1218-1291), German king, eldest son of Albert IV., count of Hapsburg, was born on the 1st May 1218. By marriage and in other ways he greatly ex- tended his hereditary dominions, so that when he became king lie was lord not only of Hapsburg but of the counties of Kyburg and Lenzburg and of the landgraviate of Alsace. At different times he carried on war with the bishop of Strasburg, the abbot of St Gall, and the city of Basel. He was engaged in his second struggle with Basel in 1273 when Frederick, burgrave of Nuremberg, brought the in- telligence that he had been elected to the German crown. Basel at once submitted, and Rudolph went to Aix-la- Chapelle, where he was crowned on the 28th October 1273. The princes had become so independent during the Great Interregnum that they would have preferred to have no supreme ruler ; but Pope Gregory X. had threatened that if they did not elect a king he would himself appoint one. The pope now cordially supported Rudolph, who proved to be much more energetic than the electors had antici- pated. Having secured the friendship of the palsgrave Louis and Duke Albert of Saxony by allowing them to marry his daughters, he advanced against Ottocar, king of Bohemia, and Henry, duke of Bavaria, both of whom had refused to do him homage. Henry was soon won over to the new king's side, and then Ottocar had to sue for peace. His request was granted only on condition that he should cede Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. By and by Ottocar again rebelled, and was slain in 1278 in a battle fought on the Marchfield. Rudolph gave Bohemia and Moravia to Wenceslaus, Ottocar's son ; but Austria, Styria, and Carniola he granted to his own sons, Albert and Rudolph. Carinthia was given to Meinhard, count of Tyrol, who agreed that if his descendants in the male line died out the land should pass to Rudolph's family. Rudolph compelled Otho, count of Upper Burgundy, and other nobles, who tried to make themselves independent of the German crown, to acknowledge his supremacy ; and he recovered certain fiefs in what is now Switzerland, which had been seized by the count of Savoy. He also restored peace in Bohemia, and gave his daughter in marriage to the young king, Wences- laus. He often visited troubled parts of the kingdom, settling local disputes, and destroying the towers of robber barons. On the whole, his rule was a beneficent one, but he did not succeed in re-establishing the authority of the crown, nor did he see how great an element of strength he might have found in an alliance with the cities. The electors he was forced to confirm in the possession of important rights, which were maintained under his suc- cessors. His reign is memorable chiefly because he was the founder of the greatness of the house of Hapsburg. In 1281 his first wife died, and in 1284 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Hugo IV., duke of Burgundy. He died at Germersheim on the 15th July 1291. See Lorenz, Deutsche Gcschichte iin 13 und 14 Jahrh. (1867) ; Huher, Rudolf vor seiner Thronbesteigung (in the Almanack der kaiacrlichen Akademie, 1873) ; Hirn, Rudolf von Habsburg (1874). RUDOLPH II. (1552-1612), Holy Roman emperor, was the son of the emperor Maximilian II., and was born on the 18th July 1552. In 1572 he obtained the crown of Hungary, in 1575 that of Bohemia, with the title " King of the Romans "; and in 1576, after his father's death, he became emperor. He was of an indolent and melan- choly disposition, and preferred the study of astrology and alchemy to the responsibilities of government. He surrendered himself absolutely to the control of the Jesuits, under whose influence he had been brought up at the gloomy court of Spain ; and in his hereditary lands they laboured assiduously to destroy Protestantism. The Protestants were deprived of the right of public worship in Vienna and other towns ; their schools were closed, and many of their preachers banished. Almost all public offices, too, were placed in the hands of Roman Catholics. In the lands which Rudolph ruled, not by hereditary right, but as emperor, his advisers could exercise less authority ; but there also they did what they could to foster the Catholic reaction. In 1607 Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, was allowed to seize the imperial city Donau- worth, the Protestant inhabitants of which had quarrelled with the abbot. This and other high-handed proceedings alarmed the Protestants of Germany, and in 1608, under the leadership of Frederick IV., elector of the Palatinate, they formed a confederation called the Union for the pro- tection of their interests. The Catholic princes, guided by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, responded by forming the League. Civil war seemed inevitable, but it was postponed by the murder of Henry IV. of France, who had promised to support the Union, and by the death of the elector Frederick IV. Meanwhile, the greatest con- fusion prevailed in Hungary, due in part to religious oppression, in part to a war with the Turks. In 1604 the Hungarians rebelled, and peace was not restored until 1606, when Matthias, the emperor's brother, with the sanction of his younger brothers, who acknowledged him as head of the family, came to terms both with the Hungarians and with the sultan. Matthias allied him- self with the Protestants, and compelled Rudolph to give up to him Hungary, Moravia, and the greater part of Austria. The emperor then tried to strengthen his position by granting to the nobles, knights, and towns of Bohemia perfect religious freedom, with the right to build Protestant churches and schools on their own and on the royal lands. Even after they had obtained the letter of majesty in which these "concessions were embodied, the Bohemians did not trust Rudolph ; and, when at his request the archduke Leopold appeared in their country with an army, they invited Matthias to come to their aid. Matthias went, and the emperor had no alternative but to resign to him in 1611 the remainder of his hereditary territories. Rudolph died on the 20th January 1612. See Kurz, Gcschichte Oesterreichs unter Kaiser Rudolf (1821) ; Gindely, Rudolf 11. und seine Zeit (1863-65). RUDOLSTADT, capital of the German principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and chief residence of the prince, is situated on the left bank of the Saale, 18 miles due south of Weimar, in one of the most beautiful districts of Thuringia. The picturesque little town is a favourite summer watering-place, with pine baths, as well as a fre- quented tourist resort. Besides containing the Govern- ment buildings of the little principality, Rudolstadt is fairly well provided with schools and other institutions, including a library of 60,000 volumes. The residence of the prince is in the Heidecksburg, a palace on an eminence 200 feet above the Saale, rebuilt after a fire in 1735, and containing various show apartments. The Ludwigsburg, another palace within the town built in 1742, accommodates the natural history collections be- longing to the prince. The principal church dates from the end of the 15th century. In the Anger, a tree-shaded public park between the town and the river, is the theatre. Various memorials in and near the town commemorate the visits of Schiller to the neighbourhood in 1787 and 1788. The industries of the district include the manufacture of porcelain and of dyestuffs, wool-spinning, and bell-found- ing. The population (4100 in 1817) was 8747 in 1880.