Rudolph I of Burgundy

Rudolph I (859 – October 25, 912) was King of (Upper or Transjurane) Burgundy from his election in 888 until his death.

Rudolph belonged to the elder Welf family and was the son of Conrad, Count of Auxerre, from whom he inherited the lay abbacy of St Maurice en Valais, making him the most powerful magnate in Upper Burgundy - present-day western Switzerland and the Franche-Comté.

After the deposition and death of Charles the Fat, the nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy met at St Maurice and elected Rudolph as king. Apparently on the basis of this election, Rudolph claimed the whole of Lotharingia, taking much of modern Lorraine and Alsace - but his claim was contested by Arnulf of Carinthia, the new king of East Francia or Germany, who rapidly forced Rudolph to abandon Lotharingia in return for recognition as king of Burgundy. However, hostilities between Rudolph and Arnulf seem to have continued intermittently until 894.

Rudolph's relationships with his other neighbours were friendlier. His sister Adelaide married Richard the Justiciar, duke of Burgundy (the present day Burgundy, part of west Francia), and his daughters, another Adelaide, married Louis the Blind of Provence (Lower Burgundy), and Willa, married Boso of Tuscany.

Rudolph was succeeded as king of Burgundy by his son, Rudolph II. Rudolf I's widow, queen Guilla, married in 912 Hugh of Arles.

This Rudolph is frequently confused with his nephew Rudolph of France, who was the second duke of Burgundy and ninth king of France.

References

• Pierre Riché, The Carolingians: a family who forged Europe (trans. Michael Idomir Allen, 1993, University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1342-4)
• Timothy Reuter, Germany in the early Middle Ages (1991, Longman. ISBN 0-582-49034-0 )