The Habsburg Brothers’ Feud 117There the succession was finally resolved, and Matthias was crowned
king of Bohemia on 28 May 1611.
Embarrassingly though, Rudolf was still emperor, a problem which the
electors pondered at a meeting in Nuremberg in October 1611. There
was no procedure or precedent for such a situation, but it was decided
at least to proceed with the election of a king of the Romans, thus effec-
tively designating a successor. This was to take place in May 1612, but
the 59-year-old Rudolf did not live that long, dying in Prague on 20 Jan-
uary of that year. Preparations were being made for a wedding as the
news reached Matthias’s court in Vienna, as he had decided to marry for
the first time, despite his age, and according to the contemporary chron-
icler Khevenhüller, ‘the intended pleasures were changed into mourning
dress, but not into heartfelt sorrow’.^39