Rupert of Germany

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Rupert of Germany (German: Ruprecht III "Klem", Pfalzgraf bei Rhein) of the house of Wittelsbach (5 May 1352 – 18 May 1410), he was the son of Rupert II, Elector Palatine of the Rhine and Beatrix of Sicily. Rupert was Elector Palatine from 1398 and German King from 1400 until his death.

[edit] Life

He was born at Amberg, and from his early years took part in the government of the Palatinate to which he succeeded on his father's death in 1398. He was one of the four electors who met at Oberlahnstein in August 1400 and declared King Wenceslaus deposed. This was followed by the election of Rupert as German king at Rhens on 21 August, and by his coronation at Cologne on 6 January 1401.

Winning some recognition in Southern Germany, he made an expedition to the Italian peninsula, where he hoped to receive the imperial crown, and to crush Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. In the autumn of 1401 he crossed the Alps, but his troops, checked before Brescia, melted away, and in 1402 Rupert, too poor to continue the campaign, returned to Germany.

The news of this failure increased the disorder in Germany, but the king met with some success in his efforts to restore peace, and in October 1403 he was recognized by Pope Boniface IX. It was only the indolence of Wenceslaus that prevented his overthrow, and in 1406 he 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 Landskron near Oppenheim on 18 May 1410 and was buried at Heidelberg.

[edit] Family and children

He was married in Amberg on 27 June 1374 with Elisabeth of Nuremberg, daughter of Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg and Elisabeth of Meissen. They had the following children:

1. Ruprecht Pipan (20 February 1375, Amberg – 25 January 1397, Amberg).
2. Friedrich (ca. 1377, Amberg – 7 March 1401, Amberg).
3. Louis III, Elector Palatine (23 January 1378 – 30 December 1436, Heidelberg).
4. Pfalzgraf John of Pfalz-Neumarkt (1383, Neunburg vorm Wald – 13/14 March 1443).
5. Pfalzgraf Stefan of Pfalz-Simmern-Zweibrücken (23 June 1385 – 14 February 1459, Simmern).
6. Pfalzgraf Otto I of Pfalz-Mosbach (24 August 1390, Mosbach – 5 July 1461).
7. Margarete (1376 – 27 August 1434, Nancy), married in 1393 to Charles II, Duke of Lorraine.
8. Agnes (1379 – 1401, Heidelberg), married in Heidelberg shortly before March 1400 to Duke Adolf of Kleve.
9. Elisabeth (27 October 1381 – 31 December 1408, Innsbruck), married in Innsbruck 24 December 1407 to Duke Frederick IV of Austria.

Rupert commissioned the Ruprecht building in Heidelberg castle. Today there is a Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg. He was succeeded as Count Palatine by his son Louis III.

Preceded by Rupert II	Elector Palatine 1398-1410	Succeeded by Louis III
	Count palatine of Zweibrücken 1398-1410	Succeeded by Stefan
Preceded by Wenceslaus	King of Germany 1400-1410	Succeeded by Sigismund

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.