Bavaria made a show of armed opposition to this magnificent accession to
the power of Austria, but soon found it in vain to assail Rhodolph
sustained by Margaret of Tyrol, and by the energies of the empire.
Rhodolph was an antiquarian of eccentric character, ever poring over
musty records and hunting up decayed titles. He was fond of attaching to
his signature the names of all the innumerable offices he held over the
conglomerated States of his realm. He was Rhodolph, Margrave of Baden,
Vicar of Upper Bavaria, Lord of Hapsburg, Arch Huntsman of the Empire,
Archduke Palatine, etc., etc. His ostentation provoked even the jealousy
of his father, the emperor, and he was ordered to lay aside these
numerous titles and the arrogant armorial bearings he was attaching to
his seals. His desire to aggrandize his family burned with a quenchless
flame. Hoping to extend his influence in Italy, he negotiated a
matrimonial alliance for his brother with an Italian princess. As he
crossed the Alps to attend the nuptials, he was seized with an
inflammatory fever, and died the 27th of July, 1365, but twenty-six
years of age, and leaving no issue.
His brother Albert, a young man but seventeen years of age, succeeded
Rhodolph.
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