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- BIOGRAPHY
Rudolph was born in Thiengen in 1478, the son of Alvig X, Graf von Sulz, and Verena von Brandis. After his father's death in 1493 Rudolph became his successor. On 1 May 1498 he married Margarethe von Waldburg-Sonnenberg, daughter of Eberhard II, Truchsess von Waldburg, Graf von Sonnenberg, and Gräfin Anna von Fürstenberg. Their son Johann Ludwig I and daughter Praxedis would both have progeny. Rudolph inherited the estates of the Brandis family which had been purchased by his father from the last member of that family, Johannes von Brandis, brother of Verena's father Ulrich von Brandis.
Margarethe brought a dowry of 6000 florins to the marriage, which Rudolph used to buy back the fief of Küssaburg. After the destruction of his castle of Tiengen in the Swiss War of 1499, Rudolph rebuilt it and made it his seat. Emperor Maximilian I elevated him to an imperial counsellor. In the early 1520s Archduke Ferdinand appointed him as governor of Anterior Austria (Vorderösterreich), with which he was also governor of Alsace. The peasant revolt broke out in 1525, and as governor of Anterior Austria he was responsible for putting it down. He was a tough and fearsome man of war, and he suppressed the revolt with brutal severity. He had his mountain fortress of Küssaburg refortified and greatly expanded. His deeds led to him being given the nickname 'The peasant slayer'.
Rudolph had charge of both the civil and castle rights of Zurich and was thereby committed to the Old Swiss Confederacy. At the same time he was a member of _Sankt Jörgenschild,_ the confederation of Swabian nobles that became the Swabian League from 1488. This dual allegiance placed him in a difficult position, because as a member of the League his alliance was to Austria. That he could maintain his rule in these circumstances was a remarkable achievement. He was a very shrewd, politically astute man.
Rudolph died in Vaduz in 1535 and was buried in its St.Florin Chapel, later demolished for the construction of the Cathedral of St.Florin.
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