|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Background | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Charles was born to Queen Elisabeth I of Bohemia (1292-1330) and her consort John of Luxembourg, son of Emperor Henry VII. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| With the death of duke John I in 1340 Wittelsbach Emperor Louis IV inherited Lower Bavaria and then reunited the duchy of Bavaria. John's mother, a member of the Luxembourg dynasty, had to return to Bohemia. In 1342 Louis also acquired Tyrol for the Wittelsbach by voiding the first marriage of Margarete Maultasch with John Henry of Bohemia and marrying her to his own son Louis V, thus alienating the house of Luxembourg further. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Further intrigue by Louis in the confering of Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland and Friesland upon his wife Margaret of Holland was one of the final straws for rebel German princes and the House of Luxembourg. With a handful of rival German Princes and Pope Clement VI, Charles IV was elected rival German King and King of the Romans in July 1346. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| England and France were still locked in terrible war ("the Hundred Years War") and the Battle of Crécy in Northern France took place in August 1346 while the forces of the Wittelsbachs now aligned wth the Habsburgs prepared for civil war against the House of Luxembourg and its allies. | |||||||||||||||||||||
However, civil war across Germany was avoided when Louis died suddenly in October 1347, one month after Charles had been crowned the new king of Bohemia. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
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 of Prague (Nové Město). In 1348, he founded the University of Prague, named after him, the first university in Central Europe. Soon Prague emerged as the intellectual and cultural center of Central Europe. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| In July 1349, Charles was again recrowned king of the Germans at Aachen. In 1354, he crossed the Alps and in January 1355 was crowned Emperor at Rome, leaving the city within the day. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yet, one of his most famous act was the imperial decree now known as the "Golden Bull of 1356" which defined the key procedures by which the king of the Romans (the title of the candidate for Emperor) would be elected. It is historic as it excluded any involvement of any Papal faction (French, German or Roman Cult). | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Charles died in 1378. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © One-Evil.org 2011. All Rights Reserved |
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|