pendency of the empire, he could dispose of it as he saw fit; so he gave it to his son Rudolph. To enforce this claim, he invaded the country with a large army, and the Assembly, partly from choice and partly from necessity, accepted Rudolph as their king, if he would consent to marry one of the Bohemian princesses. He immediately espoused Elizabeth of Poland, the widow of Václav II. This was the beginning of the dynasty of the House of Hapsburg in Bohemia.
Rudolph reigned in Bohemia less than a year. Being surrounded by German favorites, and always consulting the wishes of his father rather than those of the native noblemen, he was hated more and more, and a revolt would doubtless have taken place but for his timely death, which took place while he was besieging the fortress of an unruly noble.
It had been agreed that, should Rudolph die without male heirs, the crown should fall to his brother Frederick. The latter had many friends in the country, among whom the most powerful was Marshal Tobias of Bechyn. But the old candidate, Duke Henry of Carinthia, also had many friends, and thus the election proved to be one of the most exciting ever known in the country. Although Marshal Tobias was ill at the time, he was so zealous for the Austrian succession that he had himself carried into the hall, and there defended the claims of the house of Austria with so much yehemence that he incurred the wrath of most of the Bohemian lords. He charged the noblemen with having the interests of the country so little at heart that they would elect a weak ruler, who could not cope with the enemies of the country. When the lords ordered him to be silent, and not insist upon the
