After his father's death, Sigismund was the only son who did not hold any land titles. In the years 1495–1496, he addressed his older brother, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander, and demanded the separation of a domain from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but was refused. Queen Dowager Elisabeth Habsburg also tried without success to ensure the succession of her son to the throne of Austria. And the disastrous and unsuccessful invasion of Moldavia led by his older brother King John I Albert dispelled the plans for placing Sigismund on the Moldavian throne. Eventually Sigismund came under the care of his eldest brother Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, from whom he received the duchies of Głogów (1499) and Opava (1501), and in 1504 became governor of Silesia and Lower Lusatia.