The decipherment of the epitaph accompanying the cenotaph, or symbolic tomb, of Duke Rudolph IV in the Stephansdom in Vienna. The translation of the secret writing into English is "This is the sepulchre of Rudolph, by the Grace of God, Duke and Founder" and "Almighty God and great lord Jesus Christ, a shepherd." Rudolf was, in fact, never buried within the almost-solid stone structure, but in the Ducal Crypt of the Stephansdom in Vienna. The text is written using the Alphabetum Kaldeorum, a code he probably invented.Coffin of Rudolf and his wife in the Ducal Crypt, Vienna
Rudolf IV (1 November 1339 – 27 July 1365), also called Rudolf the Founder (
duke of Carniola from 1364 until his death. After the Habsburgs received nothing from the decree of the Golden Bull in 1356, he gave order to draw up the "Privilegium Maius
", a fake document to empower the Austrian rulers.
Early life
Born in
Albert II of Austria and Joanna of Pfirt. One of the third generation of Habsburg dukes in Austria, he was the first to be born within the duchy. Therefore, he considered Austria his home, a sentiment that no doubt communicated itself to his subjects and contributed to his popularity. Faced with the Habsburgs' loss of the Imperial crown upon the assassination of his grandfather King Albert I of Germany in 1308, Rudolf was one of the most energetic and active rulers of Austria in the late Middle Ages
, and it was said of him that as a young man he already had the air of a king.
Rule
Rudolph IV of Austria
In 1357 he was married to
Emperor Charles IV.[1] 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
Rudolf extended St. Stephen's Cathedral, with the construction of its gothicnave 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
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
In 1363, Rudolf entered into a contract of inheritance with Countess
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 CarinthianMarch 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
In spite of the high-flying and sometimes megalomaniac character of his plans, he managed to modernize his territories and his city, the prominence of which considerably increased. Rudolf died suddenly at
Ducal Crypt underneath the Stephansdom in Vienna.[1]
His untimely death without issue halted further progress, however. His younger brothers
Frederick V of Austria, elected King of the Romans in 1440 and sole ruler over all Austrian lands from 1457, who reaped the fruit of Rudolf's efforts and laid the foundations of the Habsburg monarchy
.JPG)
