He was often at court, and the emperor even condescended to present his son Rhodolph at the font for baptism.

As the child grew, he was trained to all athletic feats, riding ungovernable horses, throwing the javelin, wrestling, running, and fencing.

He early gave indications of surprising mental and bodily vigor, and, at an age when most lads are considered merely children, he accompanied his father to the camp and to the court.

Upon the death of his father, Rhodolph inherited the ancestral castle, and the moderate possessions of a Swiss baron.

He was surrounded by barons of far greater wealth and power than himself, and his proud spirit was roused, in disregard of his father's counsels, to aggrandize his fortunes by force of arms, the only way then by which wealth and power could be attained.