Rhodolph ii., the eldest son of Albert III., when but nineteen years of age succeeded his father in the government of the Austrian States.  He had been very thoroughly educated in all the civil and military knowledge of the times.  He was closely allied with the Emperor Charles IV. of Bohemia, having married his daughter Catherine.  His character and manhood had been very early developed.  When he was in his seventeenth year his father had found it necessary to visit his Swiss estates, then embroiled in the fiercest war, and had left him in charge of the Austrian provinces.  He soon after was intrusted with the whole care of the Hapsburg dominions in Switzerland.  In this responsible post he developed wonderful administrative skill, encouraging industry, repressing disorder, and by constructing roads and bridges, opening facilities for intercourse and trade.

Upon the death of his father, Rhodolph removed to Vienna, and being now the monarch of powerful realms on the Danube and among the Alps, he established a court rivaling the most magnificent establishments of the age.

Just west of Austria and south of Bavaria was the magnificent dukedom of Tyrol, containing some sixteen thousand square miles, or about twice the size of the State of Massachusetts.  It was a country almost unrivaled in the grandeur of its scenery, and contained nearly a million of inhabitants.  This State, lying equally convenient to both Austria and Bavaria, by both of these kingdoms had for many years been regarded with a wistful eye.  The manner in which Austria secured the prize is a story well worth telling, as illustrative of the intrigues of those times.

It will be remembered that John, the arrogant King of Bohemia, engaged for his son the hand of Margaret, the only daughter of the Duke of Carinthia.  Tyrol also was one of the possessions of this powerful duke.  Henry, having no son, had obtained from the emperor a decree that these possessions should descend, in default of male issue, to his daughter.  But for this decision the sovereignty of these States would descend to the male heirs, Albert and Otho of Austria, nephews of Henry.  They of course disputed the legality of the decree, and, aided by the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, obtained Carinthia, relinquishing for a time their claim to Tyrol.  The emperor hoped to secure that golden prize for his hereditary estates of Bavaria.

When John, the son of the King of Bohemia, was but seventeen years of age, and a puny, weakly child, he was hurriedly married to Margaret, then twenty-two.  Margaret, a sanguine, energetic woman, despised her baby husband, and he, very naturally, impotently hated her.  She at length fled from him, and escaping from Bohemia, threw herself under the protection of Louis.  The emperor joyfully welcomed her to his court, and promised to grant her a divorce, by virtue of his imperial power, if she would marry his son Louis.  The compliant princess readily acceded to this plan, and the divorce was announced and the nuptials solemnized in February, 1342.