Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

thumb|upright=0.5|right|Coat of arms of the House of Luxembourg–Bohemia

thumb|upright=0.5|right|Arms of Charles IV as Holy Roman Emperor

Charles IV (; ; ; also known as Charles of Luxembourg ; ; ; ; born Wenceslaus ; ; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 until his death in 1378. He was elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) in 1346 and became King of Bohemia (as Charles I) that same year. He was a member of the House of Luxembourg from his father's side and the Bohemian House of Přemyslid from his mother's side; he emphasized the latter due to his lifelong affinity for the Bohemian side of his inheritance, and also because his direct ancestors in the Přemyslid line included two saints.

He was the eldest son and heir of John of Bohemia, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg, who died at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346. His mother, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, was the sister of Wenceslaus III, King of Bohemia and Poland, 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 Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor. 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 at Arles in 1365, he became the crowned ruler of all the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire. Having played a key part in the political and cultural history of the Kingdom of Bohemia, he remains a popular historical figure in the Czech lands.

The Golden Bull of 1356 marked a structural change in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire. Several aspects of his legacy remain contentious, however. 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 John of Bohemia of the Luxembourg dynasty and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty in Prague. His maternal grandfather was the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II. He chose the name Charles at his confirmation in honor of his grand uncle, King Charles IV of France, at whose court he resided for seven years.

Charles received French education and was literate and fluent in five languages: Latin, Czech, German, French, and Italian.

Italy and Moravia

In 1331, Charles gained some experience of warfare with his father in Italy. At the beginning of 1333, he went to Lucca, Tuscany, to consolidate his rule there. To strengthen the city's defences, Charles founded the nearby fortress and the town of Montecarlo ("Mount Charles").

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 of 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 that county. 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.

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 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.

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

thumb|right|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's reign. In the present Czech Republic, he is still regarded as Pater Patriae (father of the country or otec vlasti), a title first applied to him 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'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 the tradition of the Roman Empire.

Charles's 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.

Castles

Castles built or established by Charles IV:

Karlštejn, 1348–1355 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 (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

thumb|100-CZK banknote

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

Family

Genealogy

Fictive genealogy

Imperial genealogists invented early House of Luxembourg forefathers for Charles IV, extending back to Noah via Jupiter and Saturn.

Historical genealogy

Marriages and children

thumb|right|Charles and his first wife, Blanche

Charles was married four times. His first wife was Blanche of Valois (1316–1348), daughter of Charles, Count of Valois, and a half-sister of King Philip VI of France. They had three children:

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

He secondly married Anna of Bavaria, (1329–1353), daughter of Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine; they had one son:

Wenceslaus (1350–1351).

His third wife was Anna von Schweidnitz, (1339–1362), 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, Duke of Austria, at the very young age of 8 and died at the age of 15, they had no children.
Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (1361–1419); 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), daughter of Bogislaw V, Duke of Pomerania, and Elisabeth of Poland, who was the daughter of King Casimir III of Poland. They had six children:

Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England (1366–1394); married King Richard II of England.
Sigismund of Bohemia (1368–1437); later became Holy Roman Emperor, was King of Bohemia, Margrave of Brandenburg, and also King of Hungary through his first marriage to Mary, Queen of Hungary, in 1385. His second marriage was to Barbara of Cilli, the daughter and youngest child of Herman II, Count of Celje, in 1405/1408.
John of Bohemia (1370–1396); later Margrave of Moravia and Duke of Görlitz; married Richardis Catherine of Sweden, the daughter of Albert, King of Sweden. His only daughter and heiress Elisabeth of Görlitz was Duchess of Luxembourg.
Charles (13 March 1372 – 24 July 1373).
Margaret of Bohemia, Burgravine of Nuremberg (1373–1410); married John III, Burgrave of Nuremberg.
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 papal dispensation for him to marry within the fourth degree. It is unknown if he ever married. He served his Bohemian relatives as a diplomat, but his ultimate fate is unknown.

References

Literature

External links

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
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