Rudolf I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg
| Rudolf I | |
|---|---|
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Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg Elector of Saxony |
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Elector Rudolf I, 16th century woodcut
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| Reign | 1298–1356 |
| Spouse(s) | Jutta of Brandenburg Kunigunde of Poland Agnes of Lindow-Ruppin |
| Issue | |
| Noble family | House of Ascania |
| Father | Albert II, Duke of Saxony |
| Mother | Agnes of Habsburg |
| Born | c. 1284 |
| Died | 12 March 1356 |
| Buried | Franciscan church in Wittenberg |
Rudolf I (c. 1284 – 12 March 1356), a member of the House of Ascania, was Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg from 1298 until his death. By the Golden Bull of 1356 he was acknowledged as Elector of Saxony and Archmarshal of the Holy Roman Empire.
Rudolf was the eldest son of the Saxon duke Albert II (c. 1250 – 1298), who initially ruled jointly with his brother John I but gradually concentrated on the Ascanian Saxe-Wittenberg territory. Rudolf's father consolidated his position by marrying the Habsburg princess Agnes (1257–1322), a daughter of King Rudolf I of Germany, whom he had elected King of the Romans in 1273.
Upon the death of Margrave Henry III of Meissen in 1288, Duke Albert II applied at his father-in-law King Rudolf for the enfeoffment of his son and heir with the Saxon County palatine on the Unstrut river, which ensued a long lasting dispute with the eager clan of the Wettin dynasty. Albert's attempts to secure the succession in the lands of the extinct Saxon counts of Brehna were more successful: when their fiefs were reverted to the Empire in 1290, the king enfeoffed Albert's son Rudolf cum annexis.
After Rudolf of Habsburg had died, Duke Albert II on 27 April 1292 wielded the Saxon electoral vote, electing Adolf of Nassau. In 1295 he could again enlarge his Saxon territories, when he acquired the County of Gommern. In 1296 the Ascanian lands were finally divided into the duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. Upon King Adolf's deposition and death in 1298, Albert II again exercised the Saxon electoral dignity by voting for his brother-in-law Albert I of Habsburg.
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