Rudolf I (ca. 1218-1291), or Rudolf of Hapsburg, was Holy Roman emperor-elect from 1273 to 1291. He was the first of a long line of Hapsburg emperors.

The struggle between the emperor Frederick II and Pope Innocent IV had shattered the power of the imperial office in both Germany and Italy. The "emperors" who reigned between 1250 and 1273--William of Holland, Alfonso X of Castile, and Richard of Cornwall--were powerless because of their absenteeism and the lack of cooperation they had received in Germany. When an imperial election was called in 1273, the German princes whose responsibility it was to elect the new emperor wanted neither a powerful nor an ambitious ruler, and their choice fell on Rudolf, a wealthy but not potentially dangerous German noble.

However, not only did Rudolph's reign enhance the wealth and power of the minor Hapsburg house, but it also gave his dynasty a foothold in the...