Then came the house of Luxembourg, possessing the wide-spread and opulent realms of Bohemia.

The house of Austria had now vast possessions, but these were widely scattered; some provinces on the banks of the Danube and others in Switzerland, spreading through the defiles of the Alps.
John of Bohemia was an overbearing man, and feeling quite impregnable in his northern realms beyond the mountains, assumed such a dictatorial air as to rouse the ire of the princes of Austria and Bavaria.

These two houses consequently entered into an intimate alliance for mutual security.

The Duke of Carinthia, who was uncle to Albert and Otho, died, leaving only a daughter, Margaret.

This dukedom, about the size of the State of Massachusetts, a wild and mountainous region, was deemed very important as the key to Italy.