Emperor Charles IV of the Holy Roman Empire : Family tree by comrade28

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
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Charles IV (May 14, 1316 29 November 1378), of the House of Luxembourg, King of the Romans (as Charles IV, 1346 1378), Holy Roman Emperor (Charles IV, 1355 1378), King of Bohemia Charles I 1346 1378), Count of Luxembourg (1346 1353), Margrave of Brandenburg (1373 1378). He was born in Prague as Wenceslaus, he later chose Charles for his confirmation name.

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Life
From 1333 Charles started to administer his father's Crown lands due to the King's frequent absence and in 1334 he became Margrave of Moravia. He was elected as a rival King of the Romans to Emperor Louis IV and succeeded his father John of Luxemburg as King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg in 1346 as his mother was Elizabeth (Eliaka), heiress of Bohemia, daughter of King Wenceslaus II and sister of King Wenceslaus III of the Premyslid dynasty. Charles was crowned as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1355. After 1349, Charles IV was uncontested ruler of the Holy Roman Empire till his death in 1378.

Statue near Charles Bridge, Prague (cr.1848).During his reign imperial policy refocused on the dynastic sphere and abandoned the ideal of the Holy Roman Empire as a universal monarchy. In 1353 Luxembourg was granted to his brother Jobst. Charles IV concentrated his energies chiefly on the economic and intellectual development of Bohemia, founding the Charles University of Prague in 1348 and encouraging the early humanists he is known to have corresponded with Petrarch, whom he invited to visit his residence in Prague. Petrarch, however hoped (to no avail) to make Charles move his residence to Rome, to take up the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire. As he became fond of Prague, art and architecture flourished in his capital, owing to his activity as a builder and patron; construction of the Charles Bridge and of the Hradcany, completion of Saint Vitus Cathedral by Peter Parler are among the best examples. From the reign of Charles IV dates the first flowering of manuscript painting in Prague. In 1356 he issued the 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 lose allegiance to the empire. In 1373 he inherited the Margravate of Brandenburg.

The Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.His French education left a lasting mark on Charles. His father, known as John the Blind, king of Bohemia, was an ardent francophile and patron of the composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut he died at Crécy in 1346 while fighting on the French side. Charles's sister Bona, married the eldest son of Philip VI of France, the future John II of France, in 1335. Thus, Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg was the maternal uncle of King 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.

The Emperor was literate and fluent in five languages - Latin, Czech, German, French and Italian.

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Family and children
Charles married four times. His first wife was Blanche, 13161348), daughter of Charles, Count of Valois, a half-sister of Philip VI of France. They had two daughters,

Margaret (1335 - 1349), who married Louis I of Hungary; and
Katharina (1342 - 1395), who married Rudolf IV of Austria and Otto V, Duke of Bavaria, Elector of Brandenburg.
He secondly married Anne (Anna), (13291353), daughter of the Count Palatine Rudolph II and they had one son,

Wenceslas, who died young.
Meeting between Charles V of France and the Emperor Charles IV in Paris in 1378, from a 15th century manuscript in the Library of the Arsenal, Paris.His third wife was Anne of Schweidnitz, (13391362), daughter of Duke Henryk II of Schweidnitz and Katharina of Anjou, by whom he had two children,

Wenceslaus (13611419), Charles's successor as Emperor and king of Bohemia, and
Elisabeth (19 April 13584 September 1373), who married to Albert III of Austria.
His fourth wife was Elizabeth of Pomerania, 1345 or 13471393), daughter of Duke Bogislaw V of Hind Pomerania and Elisabeth of Poland. They had six children:

Anne of Bohemia (13661394), who married Richard II of England
Sigismund (13681437), emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia and margrave of Brandenburg.
John, Duke of Görlitz (13701396).
Charles (13 March 137224 July 1373).
Margaret (13731410), who married John III, Burgrave of Nuremberg.
Heinrich (13771378).
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In memoriam
In the present Czech Republic, he is still regarded as Father of the Country (otec vlasti, pater patriae), a title first coined by Vojtech Rankuv of Je~ov (Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio), a significant intellectual and the only Czech rector of the Sorbonne, at the emperor's funeral.

Preceded by:
Louis IV King of Germany
Also Holy Roman Emperor
13471378 Succeeded by:
Wenceslaus
Preceded by:
John of Luxembourg King of Bohemia
13461378
Preceded by:
Otto V Margrave of Brandenburg
13731378 Succeeded by:
Sigismund

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