Henry II of Bohemia (The Kalmar Union)

The only surviving son of Wenceslaus II, Henry of Prague would never get to rule the various Luxembourg lands.

Only 2 years old on his father's death only Bohemia immediately crowned him. Elsewhere he was accepted as heir however his elder half-sister Joanna ruled in his stead as regent. One of Luxembourg's seemingly endless illegitimate scions, the elderly and childless Jobst Sigismund, Margrave of Mělník, was appointed by the Prague Diet as Bohemia's governor and Joanna was simply told to accept the decision.

Bohemia at this time was religiously fractured, the old faultlines of Catholic versus Hussites was joined by the growth of Lutheranism, especially in the towns xxxx

''Joanna's first real test came in 1544 with the death of Count Philip IV of Nassau. She expected the Nassau lords to recognise Henry of Prague as the rightful heir, he was after all Philip IV's only grandson. However Philip's elder brother Sigismund had a grandson too, the future Sigismund II of Poland. Poland under Anna I of Poland geared up for war believing they had the stronger claim. Neither in theory could inherit the county thanks to Salian Law but that little technicality would not prevent the two realms from testing their strength against each other. Joanna found support from Emperor Albert who had no wish to see the religiously-tolerant Poland rule over the already 'problematic' Nassau, whilst Anna was helped by a lull in war on Poland's eastern fringes.

Nassau itself fell quickly to Luxembourg's Western army, the Catholic-leaning nobles quickly pledging their fealty to Joanna and Henry of Prague. By the Spring of 1545 the attempted reconversion of Nassau's populace to Catholicism was underway. In the East however the Polish-Lithuanian armies ran rampant over Brandenburg and Bohemia whilst capturing several important fortresses in Hungary. The Brandenburg forces would eventually provide a coherent defence but in Bohemia and Hungary the generals could not organise themselves or their troops effectively. It would only be a resumption of war with Tver that made Poland withdraw.

This victory added Nassau to Luxembourg's western holdings but proved disastrous for the eastern kingdoms. Hungary seethed with disaffection, not due to only the apparent lack of support its armies received in the war but also Joanna's concentration on Germany and Bohemia; where was the assistance for its Italian ambitions? Bohemia meanwhile looked at the instant crackdown on Lutherans and other protestant groups in Nassau which followed its absorption and feared for what might happen to its own religious tolerance. It would not take much to push them into open revolt.''

His death in 1550 threw the Luxembourg realm into a spasm of xxxx. While most parts of the realm came to accept Queen-Regent Joanna's son Henry of Ghent as rightful Bohemia saw its chance to shrug off Luxembourg rule.