King Rudolph had in December 1282 vested his sons with the Austrian and Styrian duchies, which he had seized for the House of Habsburg from King Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1276.

However, in the Treaty of Rheinfelden on June 1, 1283 Rudolph II has to relinquish his share in favor of his elder brother Albert.

In compensation, his father appoints him "Duke of Swabia”—a largely honorific title, as the former stem duchy had been in long-term disarray after the last Hohenstaufen duke, the underage Conradin, was killed in 1268.

In Swabia, the former Counts of Habsburg only hold various smaller home territories, later summed up as Further Austria, of which Rudolph II will never actually obtain.