Anna of Bavaria ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** By Anna Košátková and Drahomír Suchánek “Anno Domini 1348 [the correct date is 1349], on the day of St. Wenceslas’s transport, on before the Reminiscere Sunday, Lord Charles, King of Rome and Bohemia, married the daughte of Bavaria, Anna; the wedding was celebrated on the Bacharach Castle on the Rhine River. A year [correct: 1350], on Sunday of Omnis terra [January 17], the Queen gave birth to her f baptized ceremonially at the Prague castle in the cathedral church by the name of Wencesla excerpt from the chronicle by Francis of Prague is a brief introduction of the second wife and describes the birth of the much-wanted male successor. Both, however, vanished from th life soon, and left only a faint trace in the available sources. Yet the king’s second wif example of the political role of medieval royal weddings, and the importance of maintainin the male line. Our information on Anna of Bavaria and her life is sparse – mainly because the short marri IV. It lasted only from 1349 till 1353, and therefore was really short even for a medieval The chronicles only give us brief accounts of important events of Anna’s life – wedding, c the Queen of Bohemia, and death. She was born as a daughter to the Rudolph, Duke of Bavari Carinthia. We have no information on her childhood; we can only assume she enjoyed the sam other girls of her rank. She was first mentioned in 1349; on March 4, a wedding contract w Bacharach on the Rhine, and the wedding ceremony took place probably on the same day. Char Anna was 20. According to the wedding contract, her dowry was 6,000 talents of silver, war pledge of five towns in Upper Bavaria – Harstein, Auerbach, Velden, Plech and Neidstein. For Charles IV, the marriage to Anna of Bavaria was the final confirmation of his ambition of the Holy Roman Empire. Once he was elected the Roman-German King and crowned in Bonn in 1346, time was ripe for a contest with the existing imperial ruler, Louis of Bavaria. The confrontation was avoided by Louis’s sudden death in October 1347, but the difficult relat many imperial aristocrats remained. The opposition was led by the house of Wittelsbach, of deceased Emperor Louis was a member. They tried to appoint a strong opponent against Charl the ascent of the Luxembourgian king. The new Bavarian count Louis V started negotiations king Edward III, rather powerful after defeating the French at Crecy. When Charles managed the English danger by skillful diplomacy, the discontent Wittelsbachs found a new candidat of Schwarzburg. He was elected Roman-German King in late January 1349 in Frankfurt, and, d problems, crowned in Aachen in February. Despite his clear military and diplomatic dominance, Charles IV couldn’t ignore these move opposition. Unlike his opponent’s, the places of Charles’s election and coronation (Rhens dubious, which rather marred his legitimacy. He therefore had to use all his diplomatic sk his reign and gain the majority of the imperial aristocracy on his side. To weaken the opp negotiations with part of the Wittelsbach house. The conciliation was enabled, among other death of Charles’s previous wife Blanche of Valois, who had died in early August 1348. Cha find a compromise with the Bavarian count Rudolph II, even though the latter had just vote of Schwarzburg. The conciliation was crowned by the wedding with Rudolph’s daughter Anna, Wittelsbach opposition fell apart. This enabled Charles IV to organize the royal coronatio 25, 1349) and take full control. Anna was crowned the Roman Queen a day after her husband, and on November 1 also became th Bohemia. She had been already pregnant during the coronation ceremony, and on January 17, to Charles’s much wanted successor. The boy was symbolically christened Wenceslas. Spectac followed, and many imperial counts were invited. The name Wenceslas was used in the Přemys since the start of the 13th century. The first king to bear it was Wenceslas I (1205–1253) his grandson Wenceslas II (1271–1305) and grand-grandson Wenceslas III (1289–1306). In 131 son of John of Luxembourg and Elisabeth Přemyslid was also christened Wenceslas; seven yea his confirmation in France, he received a different name, Charles. Unfortunately, Charles’ didn’t survive infancy, and died at the age of nearly two. The loss of a heir could, accor historians, be a bigger blow than the death of the second wife that came only a short time broke her neck when she fell down from a horseback. In the same year, Charles remarried, but he never forgot about his first or second wife, o He built them altars in the Prague cathedral, near the royal tomb, consecrated to St. Loui and the Infants. The first should commemorate Blanche of Valois, the second Anna of Bavari Wenceslas. Upon the contest of the archbishop and the pope, a choir of mansioners should s day at Virgin Mary prayer, singing to praise the Lord and praying to save their souls. Bibliography: ČECHURA, Jaroslav – HLAVAČKA, Milan – MAUR, Eduard. Ženy a milenky českých králů. Praha: A ČORNEJ, Petr. Osudy českých králů a královen: od Přemyslovce Vratislava II. k Habsburkovi Reader’s Digest, 2013. KAVKA, František. Čtyři ženy Karla IV. Praha: Paseka, 2002.