Albert's partisans, who held the more important State offices, thought that delay would weaken the chances of their candidate. They therefore promptly assembled the Estates at Prague, and they elected Albert as king after he had promised to maintain the Compacts. Albert's coronation as King of Bohemia followed immediately afterwards (June 29, 1438). The party which acknowledged Ptàček as its leader disputed the validity of Albert's election, and still wished to secure the throne to Casimir of Poland. King Vladislav gave his sanction to the candidature of his brother, and sent a Polish army to Bohemia to assist his partisans. Albert, on the other hand, obtained aid from Hungary and Austria. Many German princes also assisted him. Albert had warned them that if they had not been able to conquer the Bohemians alone, during the late war, the danger for Germany would be yet far greater were the Bohemians united under a common dynasty with a cognate nation like that of the Poles.
The war that now broke out was of little importance and short duration. Eastern Europe was at that moment seriously menaced by the Turks. Pope Eugenius IV and the Council of Basel therefore earnestly entreated the Bohemians and Poles to abandon their internal dissensions, and to arm against the infidels. Albert, as King of Hungary, was more than any other European sovereign exposed to the danger of Turkish invasion. As a complete reconciliation between him and the King of Poland did not seem possible, a truce between the two sovereigns was agreed upon at Breslau (January 1439). Albert then repaired to Southern Hungary, which the Turks, who had already invaded Servia, were preparing to attack. The climate of those countries, to which he was not accustomed, seriously affected his health. Albert fell dangerously ill from dysentery, and decided to return to Vienna. During his journey through Hungary he died (October 27, 1439).
The unexpected death of Albert left Bohemia in a state of anarchy. There was for the moment no heir to the throne, though it was known that Queen Elizabeth, wife of Albert, would shortly give birth to a child. The nobility were divided into two parties. The one, the utraquist (or, as Palacký, in dealing with this period, calls it, the national party) recognized as its leaders Ptàček of Pirkstein and George of Poděbrad. Ulrich of Rosenberg was still the
