In 1290 Rudolf's eldest son, of the same name, died, and at a Diet held in Frankfort the following year he endeavored to procure the election of his son Albert, as his successor. A majority of the bishops and princes decided to postpone the question, and Rudolf left the city, deeply mortified. He soon afterwards fell ill, and, being warned by the physician that his case was serious, he exclaimed: "Well, then, now for Speyer!"--the old burial-place of the German Emperors. But before reaching there he died, in July, 1291, aged seventy-three years. [Sidenote: 1291.] Rudolf of Hapsburg was very popular among the common people, on account of his frank, straightforward manner, and the simplicity of his habits. He was a complete master of his own passions, and in this respect contrasted remarkably with the rash and impetuous Hohenstaufens. He never showed impatience or irritation, but was always good-humored, full of jests and shrewd sayings, and accessible to all classes. When supplies were short, he would pull up a turnip, peel and eat it in the presence of his soldiers, to show that he fared no better than they, he would refuse a drink of water unless there was enough for all; and it is related that once, on a cold day, he went into the shop of a baker in Mayence to warm himself, and was greatly amused when the good housewife insisted on turning him out as a suspicious character. Nevertheless, he could not overcome the fascination which the Hohenstaufen name still exercised over the people. The idea of Barbarossa's return had already taken root among them, and more than one impostor, who claimed to be the dead Emperor, found enough of followers to disturb Rudolf's reign.