Albert, king of the Romans, declared that Bohemia was a vacant fief of the Empire, and, mainly by intimidation, induced the Bohemians to elect his son Rudolph as their sovereign; but Rudolph died after a reign of only one year. Though the Habsburg princes at this period already claimed a hereditary right to the Bohemian throne, the Bohemians determined to maintain their right of electing their sovereign, and they chose Henry, duke of Carinthia, who had married a daughter of King Wenceslas II. Henry soon became unpopular, as he was accused of unduly favouring the German settlers in Bohemia. It was decided to depose him, and the choice of the Bohemians now fell on John of Luxemburg, son of Henry, king of the Romans. The Luxemburg dynasty henceforth ruled over Bohemia up to the time of its extinction at the death of Sigismund (1437). Though King John, by his marriage to the princess Elizabeth, a daughter of Wenceslas II., became more closely connected with Bohemia, he does not appear to have felt much interest in that country.