Rudolph II, Count Palatine of Tübingen

Rudolph II, Count Palatine of Tübingen
Rudolph II of Tübingen
Spouse(s)	a daughter of Margrave Henry of Ronsberg
Noble family	House of Nagold
Father	Rudolph I, Count Palatine of Tübingen
Mother	Matilda of Gleiberg
Died	1 November 1247(1247-11-01)

Rudolph II, Count Palatine of Tübingen (died 1 November 1247) was Count Palatine of Tübingen and Vogt of Sindelfingen. He was the younger son of Rudolph I and his wife Matilda of Gleiberg, heiress of Giessen.

Rudolph II inherited the County Palatine of Tübingen when his elder brother Hugo III died in 1216. From 1224 onwards, he is described as Count Palatine in many imperial documents, while his younger brother William is merely styled as Count. Rudolph II supported Bebenhausen Abbey, which his parents had founded.

Next to his father, Rudolph II is the second most mentioned Count Palatine of Tübingen in imperial documents, mostly in documents by King Henry VII of Germany, the son of Emperor Frederick II, who had been elected King of Germany in 1220, at the age of 8. Frederick II spent much of his time in Italy, leaving his ancestral Swabia in the hands of his son. Later, in 1232, Henry revolted against his father, and did everything in his power to win the Swabian nobility over to his side. Rudolph II appears to have been among the noblemen who sided with Henry VII, at least, he is mentioned in 10 different documents of Henry VII and never by Frederick II. Considering Rudolph's energetic character, one can assume that he intended to use the conflict between Henry VII and Frederick II to expand his own power and aim at an independent position.

Swabian noblemen, including Rudolph II and his brother William, Count Hartmann I of Württemberg and a Count of Dillingen, visited Henry VII in Worms on 8 January 1224. They met Margrave Herman V of Baden was also present, as was Eberhard, Sénéchal of Waldburg and councillor and former guardian of Henry VII in Oppenheim on 5 April 1227 and in Hagenau on 1 May. In the same year, Rudolph met Duke Louis I of Bavaria, who was an imperial vicar and Conrad of Winterstetten, who was imperial cup-bearer and also a councilor of Henry VII. He met the Lords of Neuffen and the imperial marshal Anselm of Justingen in Ulm on 23 February 1228. On 31 August 1228, Rudolph II appears, together with Margrave Herman V of Baden, Count Henry of Wirtemberg, a Count of Dillingen, Conrad of Weinsperg and the councillors mentioned above, as witnesses of a deed in which King henry VII confirms the privileges of Adelber Abbey in Esslingen. Later that year, Rudolph II appeared as a witness in four deed by Duke Louis I of Bavaria and Bishop Ekbert of Bamberg, together with, among others, Margrave Herman V of Baden, Count Ulrich and Eberhard of Helfenstein, Counts Eberhard and Otto of Eberstein, Count Gottfried of Hohenlohe, and two councilors.