Rudolph called the Valiant (le Vaillant), was the Duke of Lorraine from 1329 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick IV

Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine

Frederick IV , called the Fighter, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1312 to his death.-Biography:Frederick was born in Gondreville, the son and successor of Theobald II and Isabella of Rumigny....

 and Elisabeth

Elisabeth of Austria (d.1353)

Elisabeth of Austria , also known as Isabelle, was a daughter of Albert I of Germany and his wife Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol. She was a member of the House of Habsburg.- Family :Elisabeth was the tenth of twelve children...

, daughter of Albert I of Germany

Albert I of Germany

Albert I of Habsburg was King of the Romans and Duke of Austria, the eldest son of German King Rudolph I of Habsburg and his first wife Gertrude of Hohenburg.-Life:...

, a Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

, whence his name. Though he was but nine years of age when his father died and he succeeded to the duchy under the regency

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of his mother (until 1334), he was a warrior prince, taking part in four separate wars in Lorraine

Lorraine (province)

The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, and Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

.

In 1337, Count Henry IV of Bar

Henry IV of Bar

Henry IV of Bar was count of Bar from 1336 to 1344. His aunt, Joan of Bar, Countess of Surrey, governed Bar in his name during his minority. He was the son of Edward I of Bar and his wife Marie of Burgundy. He married Yolande de Dampierre and both his children succeeded him as count....

 refused to do homage for a few seignories he held of the duke. Rudolph was forced to devastate Pont-à-Mousson

Pont-à-Mousson

Pont-à-Mousson is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.Population : 14,592 . It is an industrial town , situated on the Moselle River...

 and its environs. In a series of reprisals, Henry ravaged the west of Lorraine and Rudolph attacked the Barrois

Barrois

Barrois is a "pays" in the eastern part of France. In the Middle Ages it was part of the duchy of Bar, then bordering the duchy of Lorraine. Today Barrois is a "pays" of the present-day Région Lorraine.-External links:*...

. Only by the intervention of Philip VI of France

Philip VI of France

Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...

 was the war ended. By that time, the ties of Lorraine to France had become very strong. They were to become stronger under the half-Habsburg Rudolph. His second marriage was to the daughter of a French lord, Guy I of Blois, and niece of the king of France. He also assisted Philip with troops to lift Edward III of England

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

's Siege of Tournai (1340)

Siege of Tournai (1340)

During the Hundred Years' War, after the naval battle at Sluys on 20 June 1340, in which Edward III of England dealt the French a heavy blow, he went on to besiege Tournai. This city in Flanders was loyal to Philip VI of France....

 in the opening phase of the Hundred Years' War

Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...

.

During a brief Anglo-French peace, he journeyed to the Iberian Peninsula to aid Alfonso XI of Castile

Alfonso XI of Castile

Alfonso XI was the king of Castile, León and Galicia.He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes ensued over who would hold regency, which were resolved in 1313...

 in the Reconquista

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

. He battled the Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

 of Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

 and shone in the Battle of Gibraltar on 3 November 1340.

On his return to France, he came to the aid of his French brother-in-law, Charles of Blois

Charles, Duke of Brittany

Charles of Blois , claimed the title Duke of Brittany, from 1341 to his death.Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. He was a devout man, who took piety to the extreme of mortifying his own flesh...

, in the War of the Breton Succession. He returned to Philip's side at the Battle of Crécy

Battle of Crécy

The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...

 and was killed there, along with many illustrious French cavaliers, on 26 August 1346.

His first wife was Eleanor (Aliénor), daughter of Edward I of Bar, and Mary of Burgundy. Their marriage took place at Pont-à-Mousson in 1329, but they had no children before Eleanor's death in 1332. He was remarried to Mary (1323-1380), daughter of the aforementioned Guy and Margaret of Valois, the sister of King Philip. They had three children:

• twins (died before 31 July 1343)
• John
  John I, Duke of Lorraine
  John I was the duke of Lorraine from 1346 to his death. As an infant of six months, he succeeded his father, Rudolph, who was killed in the Battle of Crécy. His mother was Mary, daughter of Guy I of Blois....
  
  (1346-1390), his successor