The Bohemian estates elect Albert of Austria as Sigismund's successor at the latter's death in 1437.

Albert dies, however, and his son, Ladislas the Posthumous—so called because he was born after his father's death—is acknowledged as king.

During Ladislas's minority, Bohemia is ruled by a regency composed of moderate reform nobles who are Utraquists.

Internal dissension among the Czechs provides the primary challenge to the regency.

A part of the Czech nobility remains Catholic and loyal to the pope.

A Utraquist delegation to the Council of Basel in 1433 had negotiated a seeming reconciliation with the Catholic Church.

The Council's Compact of Basel accepts the basic tenets of Hussitism expressed in the Four Articles of Prague: communion under both kinds; free preaching of the Gospels; expropriation of church land; and exposure and punishment of public sinners.

The pope, however, rejects the compact, thus preventing the reconciliation of Czech Catholics with the Utraquists.