Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

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Charles IV

Charles IV-John Ocko votive picture-fragment.jpg

King of Bohemia

Reign 26 August 1346 – 29 November 1378

Coronation 2 September 1347, Prague

Predecessor John

Successor Wenceslaus IV

King of the Romans

(Roman-German King)

Reign 11 July 1346 – 29 November 1378

Coronation 26 November 1346, Bonn

Predecessor Louis IV

Successor Wenceslaus IV

Holy Roman Emperor, King of Italy

Reign 1355 – 29 November 1378

Coronation

6 January 1355, Milan (Italian)

5 April 1355, Rome (imperial)

Predecessor Louis IV

Successor Sigismund

Born 14 May 1316

Prague
Died 29 November 1378 (aged 62)

Prague

Burial St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague

Spouse

Blanche of Valois

Anne of Bavaria

Anna von Schweidnitz

Elizabeth of Pomerania

Issue

Wenceslaus, King of the Romans

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

John of Görlitz

Margaret, Queen of Hungary

Catherine of Bohemia

Elisabeth, Duchess of Austria

Anne, Queen of England

Margaret, Burgravine of Nuremberg

House Luxembourg

Father John of Bohemia

Mother Elisabeth of Bohemia

ReligionRoman Catholicism

Coat of arms of the House of Luxembourg-Bohemia

Arms of Charles IV as Holy Roman Emperor

Charles IV (Czech: Karel IV., German: Karl IV., Latin: Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378[1]),
born Wenceslaus,[2] was the first King of Bohemia to become Holy Roman Emperor. He was a member
of the House of Luxembourg from his father's side and the Czech House of Přemyslid from his mother's
side; he emphasized the latter due to his lifelong affinity for the Czech side of his inheritance, and also
because his direct ancestors in the Přemyslid line included two saints.[3][4]

He was the eldest son and heir of King John of Bohemia, who died at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August
1346. His mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia, was the sister of King Wenceslas III, the last of the male
Přemyslid rulers of Bohemia. Charles inherited the County of Luxembourg from his father and was
elected king of the Kingdom of Bohemia. On 2 September 1347, Charles was crowned King of Bohemia.

On 11 July 1346, the prince-electors chose him as King of the Romans (rex Romanorum) in opposition to
Emperor Louis IV. Charles was crowned on 26 November 1346 in Bonn. After his opponent died, he was
re-elected in 1349 and crowned King of the Romans. In 1355, he was crowned King of Italy and Holy
Roman Emperor. With his coronation as King of Burgundy in 1365, he became the personal ruler of all
the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire.

Contents

1 Life

1.1 King of the Romans

1.2 Holy Roman Emperor

2 Evaluation and legacy

3 Patronage of culture and the arts

4 Genealogy

5 Family and children

6 Castles

7 Named after Charles IV

8 Ancestry

9 See also
10 References

11 Sources

12 Further reading

13 External links

Life

Charles IV was born to King John of the Luxembourg dynasty and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia of the
Czech Premyslid Dynasty in Prague.[5] He was originally named Wenceslaus (Václav), the name of his
maternal grandfather, King Wenceslaus II. He chose the name Charles at his confirmation in honor of his
uncle, King Charles IV of France, at whose court he was resident for seven years.

He received French education and was literate and fluent in five languages: Latin, Czech,[6] German,
French, and Italian. In 1331, he gained some experience of warfare in Italy with his father. At the
beginning of 1333, Charles went to Lucca (Tuscany) to consolidate his rule there. In an effort to defend
the city, Charles founded the nearby fortress and the town of Montecarlo (Charles' Mountain).[7] From
1333, he administered the lands of the Bohemian Crown due to his father's frequent absence and
deteriorating eyesight. In 1334, Charles was named Margrave of Moravia, the traditional title for heirs to
the throne. Two years later, he assumed the government of Tyrol on behalf of his brother, John Henry,
and was soon actively involved in a struggle for the possession of this county.

King of the Romans

On 11 July 1346, in consequence of an alliance between his father and Pope Clement VI, relentless
enemy of the emperor Louis IV, Charles was chosen as Roman king in opposition to Louis by some of the
prince-electors at Rhens. As he had previously promised to be subservient to Clement, he made
extensive concessions to the pope in 1347. Confirming the papacy in the possession of vast territories,
he promised to annul the acts of Louis against Clement, to take no part in Italian affairs, and to defend
and protect the church.

The Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by Charles IV.

Charles IV was in a very weak position in Germany. Owing to the terms of his election, he was derisively
referred to as a "Priests' King" (Pfaffenkönig). Many bishops and nearly all of the Imperial cities
remained loyal to Louis the Bavarian. Worse still, Charles backed the wrong side in the Hundred Years'
War, losing his father and many of his best knights at the Battle of Crécy in August 1346, with Charles
himself escaping from the field wounded.

Civil war in Germany was prevented, however, when Louis IV died on 11 October 1347, after suffering a
stroke during a bear hunt. In January 1349, House of Wittelsbach partisans attempted to secure the
election of Günther von Schwarzburg as king, but he attracted few supporters and died unnoticed and
unmourned after a few months. Thereafter, Charles faced no direct threat to his claim to the Imperial
throne.

Charles initially worked to secure his power base. Bohemia had remained untouched by the plague.
Prague became his capital, and he rebuilt the city on the model of Paris, establishing the New Town
(Nové Město). In 1348, he founded the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him
and was the first university in Central Europe. This served as a training ground for bureaucrats and
lawyers. Soon Prague emerged as the intellectual and cultural center of Central Europe.

Bust of Charles IV in St. Vitus Cathedral, 1370s

Having made good use of the difficulties of his opponents, Charles was again elected in Frankfurt on 17
June 1349 and re-crowned at Aachen on 25 July 1349. He was soon the undisputed ruler of the Empire.
Gifts or promises had won the support of the Rhenish and Swabian towns; a marriage alliance secured
the friendship of the Habsburgs; and an alliance with Rudolf II of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine,
was obtained when Charles, who had become a widower in 1348, married Rudolph's daughter Anna.

In 1350, the king was visited at Prague by the Roman tribune Cola di Rienzo, who urged him to go to
Italy, where the poet Petrarch and the citizens of Florence also implored his presence.[8] Turning a deaf
ear to these entreaties, Charles kept Cola in prison for a year, and then handed him as a prisoner to
Clement at Avignon.

Outside Prague, Charles attempted to expand the Bohemian crown lands, using his imperial authority to
acquire fiefs in Silesia, the Upper Palatinate, and Franconia. The latter regions comprised "New
Bohemia," a string of possessions intended to link Bohemia with the Luxemburg territories in the
Rhineland. The Bohemian estates, however, were not willing to support Charles in these ventures. When
Charles sought to codify Bohemian law in the Maiestas Carolina of 1355, he met with sharp resistance.
After that point, Charles found it expedient to scale back his efforts at centralization.
Holy Roman Emperor

The Golden Bull of 1356

In 1354, Charles crossed the Alps without an army, received the Lombard crown in St. Ambrose Basilica,
Milan, on 5 January 1355, and was crowned emperor at Rome by a cardinal in April of the same year.[9]
His sole object appears to have been to obtain the Imperial crown in peace, in accordance with a
promise previously made to Pope Clement. He only remained in the city for a few hours, in spite of the
expressed wishes of the Roman people. Having virtually abandoned all the Imperial rights in Italy, the
emperor re-crossed the Alps, pursued by the scornful words of Petrarch, but laden with considerable
wealth.[10] On his return, Charles was occupied with the administration of the Empire, then just
recovering from the Black Death, and in 1356, he promulgated the famous Golden Bull to regulate the
election of the king.

Charles' Possessions during the signing of the Golden Bull of 1356.

Having given Moravia to one brother, John Henry, and erected the county of Luxembourg into a duchy
for another, Wenceslaus, he was unremitting in his efforts to secure other territories as compensation
and to strengthen the Bohemian monarchy. To this end he purchased part of the upper Palatinate of the
Rhine in 1353, and in 1367 annexed Lower Lusatia to Bohemia and bought numerous estates in various
parts of Germany. On the death of Meinhard, Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count of Tyrol, in 1363, Upper
Bavaria was claimed by the sons of the emperor Louis IV, and Tyrol by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria. Both
claims were admitted by Charles on the understanding that if these families died out both territories
should pass to the House of Luxembourg. At about the same time, he was promised the succession to
the Margravate of Brandenburg, which he actually obtained for his son Wenceslaus in 1373.

Meeting with Charles V of France in Paris in 1378, from a fifteenth-century manuscript in the
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal

Casimir III of Poland and Louis I of Hungary entered a conspiracy against Charles and managed to
persuade Otto V of Bavaria to join. After the repeal of the estate contract by margrave Otto, in early July
1371, Charles IV declared hostilities and invaded Margraviate of Brandenburg; after two years of
conflict, in 1373 Brandenburg became part of the Czech lands. This was when he gave the order to
measure his new territory, its villages, people, and income. This was recorded in the Landbuch of Charles
IV, which was finished in 1375. Many villages were mentioned for the first time in this book, so it can
provide information on how old they are. He also gained a considerable portion of Silesian territory,
partly by inheritance through his third wife, Anna von Schweidnitz, daughter of Henry II, Duke of
Świdnica and Catherine of Hungary. In 1365, Charles visited Pope Urban V at Avignon and undertook to
escort him to Rome; on the same occasion he was crowned King of Burgundy at Arles.

His second journey to Italy took place in 1368 when he had a meeting with Pope Urban V at Viterbo, was
besieged in his palace at Siena, and left the country before the end of 1369. During his later years, the
emperor took little part in German affairs beyond securing the election of his son Wenceslaus as king of
the Romans in 1376, and negotiating a peace between the Swabian League of Cities and some nobles in
1378. After dividing his lands between his three sons and his nephews,[1] he died in November 1378 at
Prague, where he was buried, and where a statue was erected to his memory in 1848.

Charles IV suffered from gout (metabolic arthritis), a painful disease quite common in that time.

Evaluation and legacy

The reign of Charles IV was characterized by a transformation in the nature of the Empire and is
remembered as the Golden Age of Bohemia. He promulgated the Golden Bull of 1356 whereby the
succession to the imperial title was laid down, which held for the next four centuries.

He also organized the states of the empire into peace-keeping confederations. In these, the Imperial
cities figured prominently. The Swabian Landfriede confederation of 1370 was made up almost entirely
of Imperial Cities. At the same time, the leagues were organized and led by the crown and its agents. As
with the electors, the cities that served in these leagues were given privileges to aid in their efforts to
keep the peace.

He assured his dominance over the eastern borders of the Empire through succession treaties with the
Habsburgs and the purchase of Brandenburg. He also claimed imperial lordship over the crusader states
of Prussia and Livonia.

Patronage of culture and the arts

Statue of Charles IV near Charles Bridge (1848), Prague, by Ernst Julius Hähnel

Prague became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of Charles IV. The name of the
royal founder and patron remains on many monuments and institutions, for example Charles University,
Charles Bridge, Charles Square. High Gothic Prague Castle and part of the cathedral of Saint Vitus by
Peter Parler were also built under his patronage. Finally, the first flowering of manuscript painting in
Prague dates from Charles' reign. In the present Czech Republic, he is still regarded as Pater Patriae
(father of the country or otec vlasti), a title first coined by Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio at his funeral.

Charles also had strong ties to Nuremberg, staying within its city walls 52 times and thereby
strengthening its reputation amongst German cities. Charles was the patron of the Nuremberg
Frauenkirche, built between 1352 and 1362 (the architect was likely Peter Parler), where the imperial
court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg.

Charles' imperial policy was focused on the dynastic sphere and abandoned the lofty ideal of the Empire
as a universal monarchy of Christendom. In 1353, he granted the Duchy of Luxembourg to his half-
brother, Wenceslaus. He concentrated his energies chiefly on the economic and intellectual
development of Bohemia, where he founded the university in 1348 and encouraged the early
humanists. He corresponded with Petrarch and invited him to visit the royal residence in Prague, whilst
the Italian hoped — to no avail — to see Charles move his residence to Rome and reawaken tradition of
the Roman Empire.

Charles' sister Bona married the eldest son of Philip VI of France, the future John II of France, in 1335.
Thus, Charles was the maternal uncle of Charles V of France, who solicited his relative's advice at Metz in
1356 during the Parisian Revolt. This family connection was celebrated publicly when Charles made a
solemn visit to his nephew in 1378, just months before his death. A detailed account of the occasion,
enriched by many splendid miniatures, can be found in Charles V's copy of the Grandes Chroniques de
France.

Genealogy

Henry VII

12 July 1275(6) – 24 August 1313 Margaret of Brabant

4 October 1276 – 14 December 1311 Wenceslaus II

27 September 1271 – 21 June 1305 Judith of Habsburg

13 March 1271 – 18 June 1297

John of Bohemia

10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346 Elisabeth of Bohemia

20 January 1292 – 28 September 1330

Blanche of Valois

1316 – 1 August 1348

OO 15 May 1323 2

Anna of Bavaria

26 September 1329 – 2 February 1353

OO March 1349 Charles IV

14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378 3

Anna von Schweidnitz

1339 – 11 July 1362

OO 27 May 1353 4

Elizabeth of Pomerania

1346(7) – 14 February 1393

OO 21 May 1363

1 1 1 2 3 3
3 4

son
b.1334 Margaret of Bohemia

1335–49 Catherine of Bohemia

1342–95 Wenceslas

1350–51 Elisabeth of Bohemia

1358–73 Wenceslaus,

King of the Romans

1361–1419 son

1362 Anne

of Bohemia

1366–94

4 4 4 4 4

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

1368–1437 John of Görlitz

1370–96 Charles

1372–73 Margaret of Bohemia

1373–1410 Henry

1377–78

Family and children

Charles and his first wife, Blanche

Charles was married four times. His first wife was Blanche of Valois, (1316–48), daughter of Charles,
Count of Valois, and a half-sister of Philip VI of France.[5] They had three children:

son (b.1334), died young

Margaret of Bohemia (1335 - 1349); married Louis I of Hungary.[11]

Catherine of Bohemia (1342–95); married Rudolf IV of Austria[12] and Otto V, Duke of Bavaria, Elector of
Brandenburg.

He secondly married Anna of Bavaria, (1329–53), daughter of Rudolf II, Duke of Bavaria; they had one
son:

Wenceslaus (1350–51).

His third wife was Anna von Schweidnitz, (1339–62),[5] daughter of Henry II, Duke of Świdnica and
Katharina of Anjou (daughter of Charles I Robert, King of Hungary), by whom he had three children:

Elisabeth of Bohemia (19 April 1358 – 4 September 1373); married Albert III of Austria.[5]

Wenceslaus (1361–1419);[5] later elected King of Germany (formally King of the Romans) and, on his
father's death, became King of Bohemia (as Wenceslaus IV) and Emperor-elect of the Holy Roman
Empire; married firstly to Joanna of Bavaria in 1370 and secondly to Sophia of Bavaria in 1389.

son (born and died 11 July 1362).

His fourth wife was Elizabeth of Pomerania, (1345 or 1347–1393),[13] daughter of Duke Bogislaw V,
Duke of Pomerania and Elisabeth of Poland, daughter of Casimir III of Poland. They had six children:

Anne of Bohemia (1366–94); married Richard II of England[13]

Sigismund (1368–1437);[13] later Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and Margrave of
Brandenburg; married firstly Mary of Hungary in 1385, and secondly to Barbara of Cilli in 1405/1408.

John of Görlitz (1370–96); later Margrave of Moravia and Duke of Görlitz; married Richardis Catherine of
Sweden.[13] His only daughter and heiress was Duchess of Luxembourg.

Charles (13 March 1372 – 24 July 1373).

Margaret of Bohemia (1373–1410); married John III, Burgrave of Nuremberg.[13]

Henry (1377–78)

Castles

Castles built or established by Charles IV.[14]

Karlstein Castle, 1348–55 in Central Bohemian Region for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia, especially
the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (later the Czech Crown Jewels were also kept there)

Kašperk Castle (Karlsberg), 1356 in Klatovy District

Lauf (Wenzelsburg) - built on the way connecting Prague and Nuremberg in Bohemian Palatinate, inside
survived 112 coats of arms of the Czech Kingdom

Montecarlo in Italy

Radyně (Karlskrone) – around 1360 in Plzeň Region

Hrádek u Purkarce (Karlshaus) - around 1357

Tepenec (Twingenberg, Karlsburg)

Karlsfried Castle

Named after Charles IV

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castles of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Other places named after Charles:

Karlštejn castle, Czech Republic

Karlštejn (town), Czech Republic

Charles Bridge, Prague (Karlův most)

Charles University, Prague (Karlova Universita)

Karlovy Vary spa, Czech Republic

Charles Square, Prague (Karlovo náměstí)

Montecarlo (Charles' Mountain) fort and village in Italy

16951 Carolus Quartus (an asteroid)

Ancestry

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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Ancestors of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

See also

List of rulers of Bohemia.

References

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline
citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2010) (Learn
how and when to remove this template message)

Karl IV. In: Hans Herzfeld [de] (1960): Geschichte in Gestalten (History in figures), vol. 2: F-K. Das Fischer
Lexikon [de] 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294

Kavka, František (1998). "Chapter 3: Politics and culture under Charles IV". In Teich, Mikuláš (ed.).
Bohemia in History. Cambridge University Press. p. 60. ISBN 0-521-43155-7.

Mahoney, William. The history of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Greenwood. p. 50. ISBN 978-
0313363054.

Agnew, Hugh. The Czechs and the lands of the Bohemian crown. Hoover Institution Press. pp. 32. ISBN
978-0817944926.

Boehm & Fajt 2005, p. xvi.

Vita Caroli

Montecarlo

Francesco Petrarca Epistolae familiares X.1, XII.1, XVIII.1; See also: E.H. Wilkins Life of Petrarch (Chicago,
1961) 97, 112, 134 resp.

František Palacký: Dějiny národu českého v Čechách i v Moravě, books VIII and IX

Francesco Petrarca: Epistolae familiares XIX.12; See also E.H. Wilkins Life of Petrarch (Chicago, 1961)
147

Dvornik 1962, p. 52.

Jaschke 1997, p. 102.

Boehm & Fajt 2005, p. xvii.

Karel IV. - český král

Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Vita Caroli IV

Sources

Boehm, Barbara Drake; Fajt, Jiri, eds. (2005). Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437. Yale University
Press.

Dvornik, Francis (1962). The Slavs in European History and Civilization. Rutgers University Press.

Jaschke, Karl-Ulrich (1997). "From Famous Empresses to Unspectacular Queens". In Duggan, Anne J.
(ed.). Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe. The Boydell Press.

Further reading

Charles IV (autobiography), edited by Balázs Nagy, Frank Schaer: Autobiography of Emperor Charles IV;
And, His Legend of St. Wenceslas: Karoli IV Imperatoris Romanorum Vita Ab Eo Ipso Conscripta; Et,
Hystoria Nova de Sancto Wenceslao Martyre, Published by Central European University Press, 2001,
ISBN 963-9116-32-7, ISBN 978-963-9116-32-0, 259 pages, books.google.com

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Charles IV. (Roman Emperor)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p.
898.

Boehm, Barbara Drake (2005). Prague : the Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437. New York: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art. ISBN 1588391612.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castles of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Vita Caroli IV

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Charles IV

Literature by and about Karl IV. in the German National Library catalogue

Works by and about Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital
Library)

Entry in the Residenzen-Kommission

Regesta Imperii

Publications on Charles IV. in the OPAC of the Regesta Imperii

'Constitutiones et acta publica imperatorum et regum 1357–1378' – digital pre-publication of

documents by Charles IV by the MGH

"Carolus IV". Repertorium "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages" (Geschichtsquellen des
deutschen Mittelalters).

Aleksandra Filipek-Misiak, Karol IV Luksemburski jako ideał władcy w Catalogus abbatum Saganensium
Ludolfa z Żagania, In: Historie – Otázky – Problémy, 7 (2015), z. 1, p. 76-89

Lewis E 64 Golden Bull of Charles IV at OPenn

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

House of Luxembourg

Born: 14 May 1316 Died: 29 November 1378 [aged 62]

Preceded by

John Count of Luxembourg

1346–1353 Succeeded by

Wenceslaus I

King of Bohemia

1346–1378 Succeeded by

Wenceslaus IV & I

Preceded by

Louis IV King of the Romans

1346–1378

(until 1347 in opposition to Louis IV)

Holy Roman Emperor

1355–1378 Succeeded by

Sigismund

vte
Holy Roman Empire Holy Roman Emperors

vte

Monarchs of Bohemia

vte

Monarchs of Germany

vte

Monarchs of Luxembourg

Authority control Edit this at Wikidata

BIBSYS: 90407568BNF: cb119304206 (data)CANTIC: a11269157GND: 118560085HDS: 029206ISNI: 0000

0001 2282 7496LCCN: n80081765LNB: 000144737NKC: jk01053000NLP: A11860807NTA:
068347693SELIBR: 66244SNAC: w66697v8SUDOC: 059092459ULAN: 500227537VIAF:
88599000WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 88599000

Categories: Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor1316 births1378 deaths14th-century Holy Roman
Emperors14th-century kings of GermanyAntikingsMedieval kings of Bohemia14th-century Bohemian
peopleHouse of LuxembourgCounts of LuxembourgElectors of BrandenburgKings of the RomansCzech
people of Luxembourgian descentCzech expatriates in FranceCzech people of French descentPeople
from PragueBurials at St. Vitus Cathedral14th-century Luxembourgian people

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