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Rudolf IV der Stifter ("the Founder") was a scion of the House of Habsburg and Duke (self-proclaimed Archduke) of Austria and Duke of Styria and Carinthia from 1358, as well as Count of Tyrol from 1363 and first Duke of Carniola from 1364 until his death. After the Habsburgs got nothing from the decree of the Golden Bull in 1356, he gave order to draw up the "Privilegium Maius", a fake document to empower the Austrian rulers.
Born in Vienna, Rudolf was the eldest son of Duke Albert II of Austria and his wife Joanna of Pfirt. One of the third generation of Habsburg dukes in Austria, he was the first to be born within the duchy. Therefore, he considered Austria his home, a sentiment that no doubt communicated itself to his subjects and contributed to his popularity. Faced with the Habsburgs' loss of the Imperial crown upon the assassination of his grandfather King Albert I of Germany in 1308, Rudolf was one of the most energetic and active rulers of Austria in the late Middle Ages, and it was said of him that as a young man he already had the air of a king.
Rudolf died suddenly at Milan in 1365 aged 25. His and his wife's mortal remains are buried at the Ducal Crypt underneath the Stephansdom in Vienna. | 
