View source for Rupert, King of the Romans

{{Short description|King of Germany from 1400 to 1410}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Rupert
| image = Rupprecht III. von der Pfalz.jpg
| caption = Contemporary painting in the collegiate church of [[Neustadt an der Weinstraße]]
| succession=[[King of the Romans]]<br />{{nobold|(informally [[King of Germany]])}}
| reign = 21 August 1400 – 18 May 1410
| coronation = 6 January 1401
| predecessor = [[Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia|Wenceslaus]]
| successor = [[Jobst of Moravia]]
| succession1 = [[Elector Palatine]]
| reign1 = 6 January 1398 – 18 May 1410
| predecessor1 = [[Rupert II, Elector Palatine|Rupert II]]
| successor1 = [[Louis III, Elector Palatine|Louis III]]
| house = [[House of Wittelsbach|Wittelsbach]]
| father = [[Rupert II, Elector Palatine]]
| mother = [[Beatrice of Sicily (1326–1365)|Beatrice of Aragon]]
| spouse = [[Elisabeth of Nuremberg|Elisabeth of Hohenzollern]]
| issue ={{plainlist|
*[[Margaret of the Palatinate|Margaret, Duchess of Lorraine]]
*[[Louis III, Elector Palatine]]
*[[John, Count Palatine of Neumarkt]]
*[[Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken]]
*[[Otto I, Count Palatine of Mosbach]]}}
| birth_date = 5 May 1352
| birth_place = [[Amberg]], [[Upper Palatinate]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1410|5|18|1352|5|5|df=yes}}
| death_place = Landskron Castle,<br>[[Oppenheim]], [[Electoral Palatinate]]
| burial_place = [[Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg]]
}}
'''Rupert of the Palatinate''' ({{langx|de|Ruprecht von der Pfalz}}; 5 May 1352 &ndash; 18 May 1410), sometimes known as '''Robert of the Palatinate''', a member of the [[House of Wittelsbach]], was [[Elector Palatine]] from 1398 (as Rupert III) and [[King of Germany]] from 1400 until his death.
==Early life==
Rupert was born at [[Amberg]] in the [[Upper Palatinate]], the son of Elector Palatine [[Rupert II, Elector Palatine|Rupert II]]{{sfn|Hlavacek|2000|p=558}} and [[Beatrice of Sicily (1326–1365)|Beatrice of Aragon]],{{sfn|Thomas|2010|p=387}} daughter of King [[Peter II of Sicily]]. Rupert's great-granduncle was the Wittelsbach emperor [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis IV]]. He was raised at the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] [[Liebenau monastery]] near [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], where his widowed grandmother [[Irmengard of Oettingen]] lived as a nun.
==Reign==
From his early years Rupert took part in the government of the [[Electoral Palatinate]] to which he succeeded on his father's death in 1398. He and the three ecclesiastical [[prince-elector]]s (of [[Electorate of Mainz|Mainz]], [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]] and [[Electorate of Trier|Trier]]) met at [[Lahneck Castle]] in [[Oberlahnstein]] on 20 August 1400 and declared their king, [[Wenceslaus, King of the Romans|Wenceslaus]], deposed. On the next day the same four electors met at [[Rhens]] to ballot for Rupert as next German king, thus the majority of the college including the Elector Palatine's own vote.{{sfn|Scott|1998|p=350}} As the [[Free Imperial City of Aachen|Imperial City of Aachen]] refused to let him enter through its gates, Rupert was crowned by Archbishop Frederick III in [[Cologne]] on 6 January 1401.
Lacking a solid power base in the Empire, his rule remained contested by Wenceslaus' family, the mighty [[House of Luxembourg]], though Wenceslaus himself did not take any action to regain his royal title. In the [[Western Schism]], Rupert backed [[Pope Boniface IX]] who, however, was reluctant to acknowledge his rule in view of the Luxembourg claims. After the king had won some recognition in [[Southern Germany]], he started a campaign to [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]], where he hoped to crush the rule of [[Gian Galeazzo Visconti]] over the thriving [[Duchy of Milan]] and to be crowned [[Holy Roman Emperor]] by the Pope.{{sfn|Law|2010|p=171–172}} In the autumn of 1401 he crossed the [[Alps]], but was defeated at [[Brescia]] and in April 1402 Rupert returned to Germany.{{sfn|Law|2010|p=171–172}}
The news of this failure increased the disorder in Germany, but the king met with some success in his efforts to restore peace. The Luxembourg resistance waned after Wenceslaus was arrested at [[Prague Castle]] by his brother [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]] in March 1402 and the next year his lordship was finally recognized by the Pope. Rupert also gained the support of [[Kingdom of England|England]] by the marriage of his son [[Louis III, Elector Palatine|Louis]] with [[Blanche of England|Blanche of Lancaster]], daughter of King [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] on 6 July 1402. In his Palatinate hereditary lands, Rupert turned out to be a capable ruler.
It was nevertheless only the indolence of Wenceslaus that prevented his overthrow. After attempts to enlarge the king's [[allodium]] caused conflicts with his former ally, the Archbishop of Mainz forging an alliance with Count [[Eberhard III, Count of Württemberg|Eberhard III of Württemberg]], the [[House of Zähringen|Zähringen]] margrave [[Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden|Bernard I of Baden]] and several Swabian cities in 1405, Rupert was compelled to make certain concessions. The quarrel was complicated by the Papal Schism, but the king was just beginning to make some headway when he died at his castle of Landskrone near [[Oppenheim]] on 18 May 1410 and was buried at the [[Church of the Holy Spirit (Heidelberg)|Church of the Holy Spirit]] in [[Heidelberg]].
On his deathbed Rupert had decreed the division of his heritage among his four surviving sons. He was succeeded as elector by the eldest surviving son, Louis III. The second surviving son, [[John of Pfalz-Neumarkt|John]], received the County Palatine of [[House of Palatinate-Neumarkt|Neumarkt]], the third surviving son, [[Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken]], and the youngest son, [[Otto I, Count Palatine of Mosbach|Otto]], the County Palatine of [[Palatinate-Mosbach|Mosbach]]. In the following imperial election on September 20, Louis III voted for Sigismund of Luxembourg, who however lost to his cousin Margrave [[Jobst of Moravia]].
==Family and children==
[[File:Ruprecht III. Pfalz.JPG|thumb|right|Rupert and his wife Elisabeth of Hohenzollern, detail from their tomb in the Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg]]
He was married in [[Amberg]] on 27 June 1374 to [[Elisabeth of Nuremberg|Elisabeth]], daughter of Burgrave [[Frederick V of Nuremberg]] and [[Elisabeth of Meissen]].
They had the following children:
# Rupert Pipan (20 February 1375, Amberg &ndash; 25 January 1397, Amberg)
# [[Margaret of the Palatinate|Margaret]] (1376 &ndash; 27 August 1434, [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]), married on 6 February 1393 to Duke [[Charles II, Duke of Lorraine|Charles II of Lorraine]]{{sfn|Bogdan|2007|p=76}}
# Frederick (c. 1377, Amberg &ndash; 7 March 1401, Amberg)
# [[Louis III, Elector Palatine]] (23 January 1378 &ndash; 30 December 1436, Heidelberg){{sfn|Thomas|2010|p=387}}
# Agnes (1379 &ndash; 1401, Heidelberg), married in Heidelberg shortly before  March 1400 to Duke [[Adolph I, Duke of Cleves|Adolph I of Cleves]]
# Elisabeth (27 October 1381 &ndash; 31 December 1408, [[Innsbruck]]), married in Innsbruck 24 December 1407 to Duke [[Frederick IV of Austria]]
# Count Palatine [[John, Count Palatine of Neumarkt|John of Neumarkt]] (1383, [[Neunburg vorm Wald]] &ndash; 13–14 March 1443)
# Count Palatine [[Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken|Stephen of Simmern-Zweibrücken]] (23 June 1385 &ndash; 14 February 1459, [[Simmern]])
# Count Palatine [[Otto I, Count Palatine of Mosbach|Otto I of Mosbach]] (24 August 1390, [[Mosbach]] &ndash; 5 July 1461)
==Legacy==
Rupert's strenuous efforts earned him the surname ''Clemens'' ("the Gentle"). He also commissioned the Ruprecht building in [[Heidelberg Castle]].
==See also==
*[[Kings of Germany family tree]]. He was related to every other king of Germany.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book |title=La Lorraine des Ducs |first=Henry |last=Bogdan |language=French |publisher=Perrin |year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=6:c.1300-1415 |chapter=The Empire:The Luxembourgs and Rupert of the Palatinate, 1347-1410 |first=Ivan |last=Hlavacek |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology |editor-first=Clifford J. |editor-last=Rogers |title=Brescia, Fight near (1401) |first=John E. |last=Law |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 }}
*{{cite book |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=7:c.1415-c.1500 |chapter=Germany and the Empire |first=Tom |last=Scott |editor-first=Christopher |editor-last=Allmand |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998  }}
*{{cite book |title=A House Divided: Wittelsbach Confessional Court Cultures in the Holy Roman Empire, c.1550-1650 |first=Andrew L. |last=Thomas |publisher=Brill |year=2010 }}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Rupert (king)}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[House of Wittelsbach]]||1352||1410}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Rupert II, Elector Palatine|Rupert II]]}}
{{s-ttl|years=1398–1410|title=[[Elector Palatine]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Louis III, Elector Palatine|Louis III]]}}
{{s-ttl|years=1398–1410|title=[[County of Zweibrücken|Count of Zweibrücken]] }}
{{s-aft|after=[[Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken|Stephen]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Wenceslaus, King of the Romans|Wenceslaus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[King of the Romans]]<br />[[King of Germany]]|years=1400–1410}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]]|after2=[[Jobst of Moravia|Jobst]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{German monarchs}}
{{Electors Palatine}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1352 births]]
[[Category:1410 deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century Kings of the Romans]]
[[Category:15th-century Kings of the Romans]]
[[Category:14th-century Prince-electors of the Palatinate]]
[[Category:15th-century Prince-electors of the Palatinate]]
[[Category:Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken]]
[[Category:House of Wittelsbach]]
[[Category:People from Amberg]]
[[Category:Burials at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg]]