however, well defended by some Bohemian lords, so that all the efforts of Albert to obtain possession of it proved unavailing. Many of his soldiers died of various diseases, said to have been caused by drinking water from a spring that the miners had poisoned. When Václav’s army was on the march to help the besieged, Albert became alarmed, and returned back to Austria. The following year preparations were made to continue the war; but Václav was taken ill and shortly after died, being but thirty-four years of age.
VÁCLAV III.
Václav III, although already King of Hungary, at the death of his father was but sixteen years of age, yet he ascended his father’s throne without any opposition. King Albert sent messengers to Prague to negotiate for peace, which was readily granted, Václav III giving up Eger and Meissen to Albert, who at the same time agreed not to interfere in his possessions in Poland and Hungary.
King Václav III soon disappointed the hopes of the people. He had, indeed, been endowed by nature with many gifts of mind and heart, but he also possesed a natural inclination to all manner of dissipation. Surrounding himself with young men reckless as himself, he spent his nights in card-playing, drinking, wandering about the streets, and indulging in the lowest debauchery. While under the influence of liquor, he was very generous, and gave away the crown estates to his favorites, as if it were but a pastime. Shortly after making peace with Albert, he gave away the crown of Hungary to his friend Otto, the Duke of Bavaria. He doubtless would have disposed of Poland
