Editing Rudolf I of Germany (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Rudolf von Habsburg Speyer.jpg|thumb|upright|Rudolf's cenotaph in [[Speyer Cathedral]]]]
Rudolf died in [[Speyer]] on 15 July 1291 and was buried in [[Speyer Cathedral]]. Only one of his sons survived him: [[Albert I of Germany|Albert I]]. Most of his daughters outlived him, apart from [[Catherine of Habsburg, Duchess of Bavaria|Catherine]] who had died in 1282 during childbirth and Hedwig who had died in 1285/6.

Rudolf's reign is most memorable for his establishment of the House of Habsburg as a powerful dynasty in the southeastern part of the realm. In the other territories, the centuries-long decline of Imperial authority since the days of the [[Investiture Controversy]] continued, and the princes were largely left to their own devices.

In the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', [[Dante]] finds Rudolf sitting outside the gates of [[purgatory]] with his contemporaries, characterizing him as "he who neglected that which he ought to have done".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dante|title=The Divine Comedy; Purgatorio: Canto VII|year=1892|publisher=Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company|url=https://archive.org/details/adq2306.0002.001.umich.edu|quote=He who sits highest, and the semblance bears   Of having what he should have done neglected,   And to the others' song moves not his lips, Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power   To heal the wounds that Italy have slain,   So that through others slowly she revives.}}</ref>