Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles IV
Charles IV in the Votive Panel of Jan Očko of Vlašim
Holy Roman Emperor King of Italy
Reign	1355 – 29 November 1378
Coronation	6 January 1355, Milan (Italian) 5 April 1355, Rome (Imperial)
Predecessor	King of Bohemia
Reign	26 August 1346 – 29 November 1378
Coronation	2 September 1347, Prague
Predecessor	John
Successor	Wenceslaus IV
Born	14 May 1316 Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia
Died	29 November 1378 (aged 62) Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia
Burial	St. Vitus Cathedral , Prague
Spouses	Blanche of Valois ​ ​ (m. 1329; died 1348)​ Anne of Bavaria ​ ​ (m. 1349; died 1353)​ Anna von Schweidnitz ​ ​ (m. 1353; died 1362)​ Elizabeth of Pomerania ​ ​ (m. 1363)​
Issue	Margaret, Queen of Hungary Catherine, Duchess of Austria and Bavaria Elisabeth, Duchess of Austria Wenceslas, King of Bohemia and Germany Anne, Queen of England Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor John, Duke of Görlitz Margaret, Burgravine of Nuremberg
Elisabeth of Bohemia

Charles IV (

The Golden Bull of 1356 marked a structural change in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire. Several aspects of his legacy remain a contentious matter though. The image of Charles as a wise, pious, peace-loving king (partly constructed by Charles himself) has proved influential until this day, supported by several artistic or scholarly projects produced during Charles's reign or afterwards.

Life

Birth and childhood

Charles was born to

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).^[8]

From 1333, he administered the

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

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, partisans from the House of Wittelsbach attempted to secure the election of Günther von Schwarzburg as king, but he attracted few supporters and was defeated by Charles at the siege of Eltville in May. Thereafter, Charles faced no direct threat to his claim to the Imperial throne.

Charles initially worked to secure his power base.

Having made good use of the difficulties of his opponents, Charles was again elected in

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.^[10] 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.^[9]

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

In 1354, Charles crossed the

Having given

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.^[9]

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

Legacy

Evaluation

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

In 2005 Charles IV ranked the first in the TV show Největší Čech, the Czech spin-off of the BBC Greatest Britons show.

Patronage of culture and the arts

Charles's 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's sister

Castles built or established by Charles IV:[13]

• Czech Crown Jewels
  were also kept there)
• Kašperk (Karlsberg), 1356 in Kašperské Hory in Plzeň Region
• Lauf (Wenzelsburg) – built on the way connecting Prague and Nuremberg in Bohemian Palatinate, inside survived 112 coats of arms of the Bohemian Kingdom
• Montecarlo in Italy
• Radyně (Karlskrone) – around 1360 in Plzeň Region
• Hrádek u Purkarce (Karlshaus) – around 1357
• Tepenec (Twingenberg, Karlsburg) in Jívová in Olomouc Region
• Karlsfried

Places named after Charles IV

Czech Republic

• Karlovy Vary, a spa city
• Karlštejn, a town beyond the eponymous castle
• Charles Bridge (Karlův most), Prague
• Charles University (Univerzita Karlova), Prague
• Multiple squares – Charles Square (Karlovo náměstí) in Prague and others, for example in Brno, Kolín, Mělník etc.
• Multiple streets

Italy

• Montecarlo (Charles's Mountain), a municipality

Other

• The 100-Czech koruna banknote
• 16951 Carolus Quartus
  , an asteroid

Family

Genealogy

Marriages and children

Charles was married four times. His first wife was

• son (born 1334), died young.
• Margaret of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary (1335–1349); married King Louis I of Hungary.^[14]
• Catherine of Bohemia (1342–1395); married Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria^[15] and Otto V, Duke of Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg.

He secondly married

• Elisabeth of Bohemia (19 April 1358 – 4 September 1373); married Albert III, Duke of Austria at the very young age of 8 and died at the age of 15, they had no children.^[5]
• Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (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

• Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England (1366–1394); married King Richard II of England.^[16]
• Herman II, Count of Celje
  , in 1405/1408.
• Duchess of Luxembourg
  .
• Charles (13 March 1372 – 24 July 1373).
• Margaret of Bohemia, Burgravine of Nuremberg (1373–1410); married John III, Burgrave of Nuremberg.^[16]
• Henry (1377–1378).

Charles had one illegitimate son, William, born in 1362 to an unknown woman. He was raised in Brabant and seems to have joined his father at the time of the latter's trip to France in 1377. He was acknowledged by his father, who sought a

Bibliography

• Boehm, Barbara Drake; Fajt, Jiri, eds. (2005). Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347–1437. Yale University Press.^{[ISBN missing]}
• 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.^{[ISBN missing]}

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 978-9639116320, 259 pages, books.google.com
• 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 Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Vita Caroli 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, pp. 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
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) (in 1349 opposed by Günther von Schwarzburg)
	Holy Roman Emperor 1355–1378	Vacant Interregnum Title next held by Sigismund