Regarding himself as one of the fraternity, he called himself brother Albert, and left William untrammeled in the cares of state.

His life was short, for he died the 14th of September, 1404, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, leaving a son Albert, seven years old.

William, who married a daughter of the King of Naples, survived him but two years, when he died childless.
A boy nine years old now claimed the inheritance of the Austrian estates; but the haughty dukes of the Swiss branch of the house were not disposed to yield to his claims.

Leopold II., who after the battle of Sempach succeeded his father in the Swiss estates, assumed the guardianship of Albert, and the administration of Austria, till the young duke should be of age.

But Leopold had two brothers who also inherited their father's energy and ambition.