The Luxembuorgs dynasti
( 1310 - 1378 )

1310	The freeing of the throne nearly always brought along with it the danger of destabilization: nor was it otherwise in the Bohemian Kingdom. Fortunately, the confusion lasted but a short while and from the contest for the throne John of Luxembourg in 1310 emerged victorious, husband of Eliška P?emyslovna, the sister of the last P?emysl. John was the son of George VII of Luxembourg, Roman king and later emperor, who died in 1313, however, without being able to effectively aid his firstborn pro The young John, educated in childhood at the court of the French King, never acclimated himself to the Bohemian Kingdom. The fact that be had to face the political aspirations of the self-confident Bohemian nobility contributed to this. For this reason, John preferred to resign himself in internal politics and instead devote himself largely to affairs of foreign policy, in which he achieved remarkable results (the gaining of Upper Lusatia and territory in Silesia, the annexation of the Cheb region) John's firstborn son began to push through at John's side from 1332, originally christened Václav however taking on the new name of Charles following his confirmation in France. The intelligent boy similarly grew up in the Parisian court, where he received extraordinary attention and an above-average education. In his youth he also became acquainted with Luxembourg and Northern Italy, so that when he returned to Bohemia in 1333, be actively spoke French, Italian, German, Latin and soon also adopted the Czech language. From his advent, he consistently devoted himself to internal Czech affairs, so that his father made him his joint ruler, Among Charles' significant deeds in this period was the successfully completed endeavour of the raising of the Prague Bishopric to the level of archbishopric (in 1344) and in connection with this act the commencement of the reconstruction of St. Vitus Cathedral at the Prague Castle into a stately Gothic cathedral. Charles likewise secured the institution of a new bishopric seated in East-Bohemian Litomyšl. Still during John's life, the Bohemian prince vigorously entered onto the international scene and in 1346 gained with the pope's supports the crown of the Roman king as Charles IV. Soon afterwards (August 26, 1346), John of Luxembourg fell while fighting on the side of the French king against the English in the Battle of Crecy. Thereby, the path to the throne of Bohemia was automatically opened up to Charles	Succession of the Luxembourgs to the throne of Bohemia 1344 Promotion of Bishopric of Prague to Archbishopric
1346 - 1378	Charles (Karel) IV (1346-1378) was the first Bohemian ruler to obtain the crown of the Roman king, and following his coronation in Rome in 1355 also the title of Emperor. As the Roman king and emperor, he thus became the head of all of Western Christianity. The linkage of this stature with the Bohemian crown also determined the stamp of his policy. From the first, he considered the Bohemian Kingdom as the centre of his power. He resided in this rich and consolidated country, looking after it in an exemplary manner without neglecting his obligations towards the other regions. An important landmark of the strengthening of the prestige of the Czech state was the year 1348, when Charles issued constitutional charters lawfully sanctioning the rise of the Lands of the Crown of Bohemia, a confederation of states encompassing the Kingdom of Bohemia as well as the "adjacent lands" (the Moravian Magraviate, the Principality of Silesia, Upper Lusatia and after 1365 also Lower Lusatia). This state-entity, whose symbol became a new, magnificently-decorated sovereign diadem (named in honor of the country's patron the Crown of Saint Václav), existed in its above-stated form until 1635. The relation of the Kingdom of Bohemia to the Holy Roman Empire was plainly fixed by Charles in the Golden Bulla for the Empire of 1356. According to it, the first rank among the electors was to fall to the Bohemian sovereign. The validity of a number of articles of Charles' Golden Bulla endured up until the final fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Charles' residence was Prague, which thereby also became the cap of the Roman Empire. Its character needed to reflect this fact. In 1348, Charles IV expanded the area of the Prague agglomeration with the grand construction of the New Town of Prague, and immediately afterwards he founded a university in Prague, the first institution of higher education in Central Europe. The capital was decorated in the Gothic style by numerous, superb architectural works. Besides the rebuilding of the Royal Palace at the Prague Castle and the entire reconstruction of Vyšehrad, there were also many newly-built churches and the grandiose Stone (now Charles) Bridge, built at the site of the old Judith Bridge. The remarkable Staroméstskä Mostecká V?ž (Old Town Bridge Tower) guarded over it on the right bank of the Vltava, the work of architect Petr Parlé?, who also definitively influenced the appearance of St. Vitus' Cathedral. Charles IV built the castle Karlštejn roughly 30 kilometres from Prague as the fortress guarding the imperial crown jewels. Numerous artists partook in the decoration of the castle, among thus the master Theodorik, author of a group of 130 wood paintings. Gothic art also naturally spread out into many Bohemian and Moravian towns. When Charles IV died on 29/11/1378, the Czech state figured among the most powerful in Europe and had completely closed the gap which was in earlier times evident in comparison with the Western and Southern regions of Europe. Shortly afterwards, however, arrived an unfavourable turn of events. In the year 1380, the Kingdom of Bohemia was besieged by a strong epidemic of the Plague which raged throughout most of Europe during 1347-1352. The not long ago flowering country plunged into profound disarray with the blow, causing the decimation of its inhabitants (10-15%) and multiplied by associated phenomena (the impoverishment of the nobility, the desolation and depopulation of entire regions). In the unexpectedly altered situation, the state could not even lean on an excellent sovereign, since Charles' firstborn son, the well educated Václav IV (1378-1419) preferred to devote himself to his fancies rather than to politics.	1346 Charles of Luxembourg, King of Rome 1348 Legal codification of the lands of Crown of Bohemia Spring 1348 foundation of the Universitz of Prague and the New Town of Prague