Rudolph of Lorraine

Rudolph, called the Valiant (1320–1346), became Duke of Lorraine as a boy in 1328, under the regency of his Habsburg mother Elisabeth of Austria until 1334. He grew into a warrior prince who fought in four wars, in Lorraine, France, Brittany and Iberia.

In 1337 Count Henry IV of Bar refused homage for several lordships; Rudolph ravaged the Barrois until Philip VI intervened. Lorraine's ties to France grew stronger under him, and his second wife, Marie of Blois, was the king's niece.

In 1340 he joined Alfonso XI of Castile against the Moors of Granada and distinguished himself at the Battle of Gibraltar. He later backed his brother-in-law Charles of Brittany, and was killed beside Philip VI at Crécy in 1346, leaving the duchy to his infant son John I.