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Charles IV Holy Roman EMPEROR

Male 1316 - 1378  (62 years)


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Generation: 1

  1. 1.  Charles IV Holy Roman EMPEROR was born on 14 May 1316 in Wenceslaus; died on 29 Nov 1378.

    Notes:

    Charles IV (born Wenceslaus, 14 May 1316 ? 29 November 1378), of the House of Luxembourg, was eldest son and heir of John the Blind, from whom he inherited Luxembourg and Bohemia on 26 August 1346. He was elected King of Germany (rex Romanorum) in opposition to Louis IV at Rhens on 11 July that year and crowned on 26 November in Bonn. In 1349, he was elected (17 June) and crowned (25 July) King of Germany without opposition. In 1355, he crossed the Alps and was crowned King of Italy on 6 January and Holy Roman Emperor on 5 April. His coronation as King of Burgundy was delayed until 4 June 1365, but then he was the personal ruler of all the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire.

    His reign was characterised by a transformation in the nature of the Empire and by the coming-of-age of Bohemia. He promulgated the Golden Bull of 1356 whereby the succession to the imperial title was laid down: it held for the next four centuries. He made Prague the imperial capital, refusing even at the insistence of Petrarch to move to Rome, and he was a great builder in that city, which bears his name in so many spots: Charles University, Charles Bridge, and Charles Square. 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 the his funeral.

    Life
    He was born to Elisabeth I of Bohemia in Prague as Wenceslaus, the name of her father, but later chose the name Charles at his confirmation. Charles received a French education and was literate and fluent in five languages: Latin, Czech, German, French, and Italian. From 1333, he administered the lands of the Bohemian Crown due to his father's frequent absence. In 1334, he was named Margrave of Moravia, the traditional title for the heirs to the throne. He was crowned King of Bohemia on 2 September 1347 as Charles I.

    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 Luxembourg to his brother Jobst. 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. Indeed, he corresponded with Petrarch, whom he invited to visit his residence in Prague, but the great Italian hoped ? to no avail ? to see Charles move his residence to Rome and reawaken tradition of the Roman Empire. As he became fond of Prague, art and architecture flourished in his capital. Not only the bridge that bears his name, but the castle of Hradcany and the cathedral of Saint Vitus, by Peter Parler, were completed under his patronage. Finally, it is from the reign of Charles that dates the first flowering of manuscript painting in Prague.

    In 1356, he issued his famous Golden Bull, which codified the procedures for imperial elections, but had the disastrous effect of causing minor princes who were left out of the electoral process to loosen their allegiance to the empire.

    In 1373, he inherited the margraviate of Brandenburg.

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

    Family/Spouse: Blanche Of VALOIS. Blanche (daughter of Charles Of FRANCE and Catharin Of COURTENAY) was born in 1316; died in 1348. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 2. Katharina Of GERMANY  Descendancy chart to this point was born in 1342; died in 1395.
    2. 3. Margaret Of GERMANY  Descendancy chart to this point was born in 1335; died in 1349.

    Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Of POMERANIA. Elizabeth was born between 1345 and 1347; died in 1393. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 4. Charles Of GERMANY  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 13 Mar 1372; died on 24 Jul 1373.
    2. 5. John Duke Of GORLITZ  Descendancy chart to this point was born in 1370; died in 1396.
    3. 6. Anne Of BOHEMIA  Descendancy chart to this point was born in 1366; died in 1394.
    4. 7. Sigismund King Of Hungary And BOHEMIA  Descendancy chart to this point was born in 1368; died in 1437.
    5. 8. Margaret Of GERMANY  Descendancy chart to this point was born in 1373; died in 1410.

    Family/Spouse: Anna Of PALATINE. Anna was born in 1329; died in 1353. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 9. Wenceslas Of GERMANY  Descendancy chart to this point died in young.

    Family/Spouse: Anne Of SWIDNICA. Anne was born in 1339; died in 1362. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 10. King of Bohemia Wenceslaus King Of The ROMANS  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 26 Feb 1361; died on 16 Aug 1419.
    2. 11. Elisabeth Of BOHEMIA  Descendancy chart to this point was born on 19 Apr 1358; died on 04 Sep 1373.


Generation: 2

  1. 2.  Katharina Of GERMANY Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born in 1342; died in 1395.

    Family/Spouse: Rudolf IV Of AUSTRIA. Rudolf (son of Albert II Duke Of AUSTRIA and Johanna Of PFIRT) was born on 01 Nov 1339 in Vienna; died on 27 Jul 1365 in Milan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Family/Spouse: Otto V The Bavarian Duke Of Upper BAVARIA. Otto (son of Louis IV and Margarete Countess Of HOLLAND) was born in 1340; died in 1379. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  2. 3.  Margaret Of GERMANY Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born in 1335; died in 1349.

    Family/Spouse: Louis I Of HUNGARY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  3. 4.  Charles Of GERMANY Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born on 13 Mar 1372; died on 24 Jul 1373.

  4. 5.  John Duke Of GORLITZ Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born in 1370; died in 1396.

    Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 12. Elisabeth Of GORLITZ  Descendancy chart to this point was born in Nov 1390; died on 08 Aug 1451.

  5. 6.  Anne Of BOHEMIA Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born in 1366; died in 1394.

    Anne married Richard II King Of ENGLAND on 14 Jan 1382 in Westminster Palace. Richard (son of Edward 'the black prince' Of ENGLAND and Joan The Fair Maid Of KENT) was born on 06 Jan 1367 in Bordeaux, France; died in Feb 1400 in Possibly murdered. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  6. 7.  Sigismund King Of Hungary And BOHEMIA Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born in 1368; died in 1437.

  7. 8.  Margaret Of GERMANY Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born in 1373; died in 1410.

    Family/Spouse: John III Burgrave Of NUREMBERG. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 13. Elisabeth Of NUREMBERG  Descendancy chart to this point

  8. 9.  Wenceslas Of GERMANY Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) died in young.

  9. 10.  King of Bohemia Wenceslaus King Of The ROMANS Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born on 26 Feb 1361; died on 16 Aug 1419.

    Notes:

    Wenceslaus succeeded his father in both roles: Charles IV had been elected Holy Roman King and, in the course of things, crowned Holy Roman Emperor under the auspices of Avignon Pope Innocent VI; however, Wenceslaus never received the imperial coronation, but was deposed; the Bohemian title came to Wenceslaus by inheritance as Charles's son.

    Accusing Wenceslaus of devoting far more attention to his Bohemian than to his German duties, and of weakness in agreeing with Charles VI of France to end their support of rival Popes, the princes of the German states deposed him as King in August 1400 in favour of Rupert III, Count palatine of the Rhine, though Wenceslaus refused to acknowledge this successor's decade-long reign.

    As King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, until his death in 1419, he came into repeated conflict with the Bohemian nobility, and sought to protect the religious reformer Jan Hus and his followers against the demands of the Roman Catholic Church for their suppression as heretics. This caused many Germans to leave the University of Prague, and set up their own University at Leipzig. Hus was executed in Konstanz in 1415, and the rest of Wenceslaus's reign in Bohemia featured precursors of the Hussite Wars that would follow his death.

    He was the one who had "Saint" John of Nepomuk(Actually named Jan z Pomuka - John of Pomuk) tortured and put to death, allegedly because he was not willing to reveal the confessional secrets learned from king's wife Sofia of Bavaria as the popular Roman Catholic legend goes. In reality John of Pomuk was an notary in the consistory of Archbishop of Prague John of Jen?tejn, and was killed as a result of the property dispute and long personality conflict between the king and the fanatical archbishop.

    Wenceslaus married Johanna Of BAVARIA on 29 Sep 1370. Johanna (daughter of Count of Hainaut Albert I Duke Of BAVARIA and Margaret Of BRIEG) was born between 1356 and 1361; died on 31 Dec 1386 in Karlstein. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Children:
    1. 14. Jeanne DE ST. POL  Descendancy chart to this point died in 1406.

  10. 11.  Elisabeth Of BOHEMIA Descendancy chart to this point (1.Charles1) was born on 19 Apr 1358; died on 04 Sep 1373.

    Elisabeth married Albert III Of AUSTRIA after 19 Mar 1366. Albert (son of Albert II Duke Of AUSTRIA and Johanna Of PFIRT) was born on 09 Sep 1349 in Vienna; died on 29 Aug 1395 in Castle Laxenburg. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
  

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