capable of appreciating the magnanimity of his captive.  He received him with courtesy and with almost fraternal kindness.  In the words of a contemporary historian, “They ate at the same table and slept in the same bed;” and, most extraordinary of all, when Louis was subsequently called to a distant part of his dominions to quell an insurrection, he intrusted the government of Bavaria, during his absence, to Frederic.

Frederic’s impetuous and ungovernable brother Leopold, was unwearied in his endeavors to combine armies against the emperor, and war raged without cessation.  At length Louis, harassed by these endless insurrections and coalitions against him, and admiring the magnanimity of Frederic, entered into a new alliance, offering terms exceedingly honorable on his part.  He agreed that he and Frederic should rule conjointly as emperors of Germany, in perfect equality of power and dignity, alternately taking the precedence.

With this arrangement Leopold was satisfied, but unfortunately, just at that time, his impetuous spirit, exhausted by disappointment and chagrin, yielded to death.  He died at Strasbourg on the 28th of February, 1326.  The pope and several of the electors refused to accede to this arrangement, and thus the hopes of the unhappy Frederic were again blighted, for Louis, who had consented to this accommodation for the sake of peace, was not willing to enforce it through the tumult of war.  Frederic was, however, liberated from captivity, and he returned to Austria a dejected, broken-hearted man.  He pined away for a few months in languor, being rarely known to smile, and died at the castle of Gullenstein on the 13th of January, 1330.  His widow, Isabella, the daughter of the King of Arragon, became blind from excessive grief, and soon followed her husband to the tomb.

As Frederic left no son, the Austrian dominions fell to his two brothers, Albert III. and Otho.  Albert, by marriage, added the valuable county of Ferret in Alsace to the dominions of the house of Austria.  The two brothers reigned with such wonderful harmony, that no indications can be seen of separate administrations.  They renounced all claim to the imperial throne, notwithstanding the efforts of the pope to the contrary, and thus secured friendship with the Emperor Louis.  There were now three prominent families dominant in Germany.  Around these great families, who had gradually, by marriage and military encroachments, attained their supremacy, the others of all degrees rallied as vassals, seeking protection and contributing strength.  The house of Bavaria, reigning over that powerful kingdom and in possession of the imperial throne, ranked first.  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.