Rudolf of Zähringen (c. 1135 – 5 August 1191) was the archbishop of Mainz from 1160 to 1161 and prince-bishop of Liège. He was the son of Conrad I of Zähringen and Clemence of Luxembourg.

After the death of Arnold of Selenhofen

Arnold of Selenhofen

Arnold of Selenhofen was the archbishop of Mainz from 1153 to his assassination in the benedictine abbey St. Jakob, where he took shelter from the raging crowd....

, the citizens of Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

 elected him archbishop, but the city had been placed under the interdict and the aristocracy and clergy had fled to Frankfurt am Main, where they elected Christian of Buch instead. Neither election was recognised by the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. At the Synod of Lodi, both archbishops-elect were deposed and Rudolf was excommunicated.

In 1167, he became bishop of Liège, a position almost as secularly important as that of Mainz. As bishop, he supported his brother, Berthold IV of Zähringen. On 11 May 1188, he arrived at the Siege of Acre with an army. He died on the way back from the Crusade, at Herdern

Herdern

Herdern is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Herdern is first mentioned in 1094 as Harderin. Originally it was under the authority of Ittingen. Until 1403 the local castle, Herden Castle, was home to the Bettler family...

. He was buried in the monastery of Saint Peter's there.

Ancestry