Rudolph II (died July 11, 937) was king of Upper Burgundy (912–937), Lower Burgundy (Provence) (933–937), and Italy (effective, 922–926—claim abandoned 933). He was the son of Rudolph I, king of Upper Burgundy, and it is presumed that his mother was his father's known wife, Guilla of Provence. He married Bertha of Swabia.
Following his ascent to the throne in 912, Rudolph was asked by several Italian nobles to intervene in Italy on their behalf against Emperor Berengar in 922. Having entered Italy, he was crowned King of the Lombards at Pavia. In 923, he defeated Berengar at Piacenza; Berengar was murdered the following year, possibly at the instigation of Rudolph. The king then ruled Upper Burgundy and Italy together, residing alternately in both kingdoms.
However, in 926 the Italian nobility turned against him and requested that Hugh of Arles, the effective ruler of Provence (or Lower Burgundy), rule them instead. Rudolph returned to Upper Burgundy to protect himself, assuring Hugh's coronation as King of Italy in the process. The Italians then switched sides again, declaring that they wished for Rudolph to reclaim the throne. To prevent this, Hugh and Rudolph signed a treaty in 933, granting Rudolph rule of Lower Burgundy in exchange for his renunciation of all claims on the Italian throne. He married his daughter Adelaide to Hugh's son Lothair. The two Burgundian kingdoms unified, Rudolph ruled until his death in 937. He was succeeded by Conrad.
Famous quotes containing the word rudolph:
“Sometimes it takes years to really grasp what has happened to your life. What do you do after you are world-famous and nineteen or twenty and you have sat with prime ministers, kings and queens, the Pope? What do you do after that? Do you go back home and take a job? What do you do to keep your sanity? You come back to the real world.”
—Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994)