page_title: Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
section_title: Occult sciences
hierarchical_section_title: Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor / Occult sciences
caption_attribution_description: English: Coats of arms the Habsburg emperor (1605) Deutsch: Wappen der Habsburger Kaisers des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation (1558-1637) Italiano: Stemma di un Imperatore del Sacro Romano Impero della Nazione Germanica Русский: Герб императора Священной Римской империи из династии Габсбургов. Slovenščina: Grb cesarja Svetega rimskega cesarstva nemške narodnosti z vključenimi grbi podrejenih dežel. V smeri urinega kazalca si sledijo grbi Slovaške (napis Ungarn), Dalmacije (Dalmacia), Slavonije (Schlavonia), Burgundije, Kranjske (Crain), Tirolske (Tyrol), Štajerske (Steyr), Avstrije, Hrvaške (Croatia), Bohemije (Böheim) in Madžarske (Ungarn).
context_page_description: Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.
  Rudolf's legacy has traditionally been viewed in three ways: an ineffectual ruler whose mistakes led directly to the Thirty Years' War; a great and influential patron of Northern Mannerist art; and an intellectual devotee of occult arts and learning which helped seed what would be called the scientific revolution.
context_section_description: Astrology and alchemy were regarded as mainstream scientific fields in Renaissance Prague, and Rudolf was a firm devotee of both. His lifelong quest was to find the Philosopher's Stone and Rudolf spared no expense in bringing Europe's best alchemists to court, such as Edward Kelley and John Dee. Rudolf even performed his own experiments in a private alchemy laboratory. When Rudolf was a prince, Nostradamus prepared a horoscope which was dedicated to him as 'Prince and King'. In the 1590s Sendivogius was active at Rudolph's court.
  Rudolf gave Prague a mystical reputation that persists in part to this day, with Alchemists' Alley on the grounds of Prague Castle a popular visiting place and tourist attraction.
  Rudolf is also the ruler in many of the legends of the Golem of Prague, either because of, or simply adding to, his occult reputation.
caption: Great coat of arms, 1605
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