RUPERT

born May 5, 1352, Amberg, Rhenish Palatinate died May 18, 1410, near Oppenheim, Rhenish Palatinate also called Rupert Klem, or Clem, byname Rupert Of The Palatinate, German Ruprecht Klem, or Clem, or Ruprecht Von Der Pfalz German king from 1400 and, as Rupert III, elector Palatine of the Rhine from 1398. A member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, he was chosen king by the German ecclesiastical electors on Aug. 22, 1400, to succeed Wenceslas, who had been deposed the day before by the German princes. After being crowned at Cologne on Jan. 6, 1401, Rupert went to Italy, hoping to be crowned again by Pope Boniface IX. In alliance with the city of Florence he attacked Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan (who had given financial support to Wenceslas in the 1390s), but was defeated outside Brescia on Oct. 14, 1401, and returned to Germany. On Oct. 1, 1403, Rupert finally was recognized as German king by Boniface, who mistakenly expected that Rupert would give him effective aid against the schismatic Avignonese popes. Actually, the king devoted most of his energies to combating the adherents of Wenceslas in Germany.