John of Luxembourg (part 1) ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** By Anna Košátková and Drahomír Suchánek In his autobiography Vita Caroli Quarti, John’s son Charles IV decided not only to explain but also his father’s roots: “I wish you know that my father John was begot by Henry VII, and Margaret, daughter of the Duke of Brabant. John married Elisabeth, daughter of Wencesl Bohemia, and obtained with her the Kingdom of Bohemia as there were no male descendants in royal house. Then he cast out Henry, Duke of Carinthia, who had married the older sister o who then died without children.” The wedding of John, 14 at the time, and Elisabeth, 18, t first day of September 1310 in Speyer. The ascent of 14-years old John to the Bohemian thr 1310 put a stop on four years of disputes over the government. Though John wasn’t too expe to his young age, he enjoyed the support of one of the most important European houses – hi Emperor, and his uncle Baldwin was the archbishop of Trier. The Luxembourgian house was co French royal court by both kinship and politics, and John used this connection many times. Talking about John’s government, we must emphasize the development of the foreign policy i In addition to Luxembourg, King John annexed also the Chebsko region to the kingdom of Boh 1313 (first as imperial liege; since 1332 this region was an integral part of the Czech st territorial gains followed the extinction of the Askan house of Brandenburg in Lausitz – i Bautzen region was annexed, followed by Gorlitz ten years later. However, much more import expansion to Silesia; John, claiming the Polish crown of the Přemyslid, aimed at more anne Silesian princedoms to the Czech state. Following a series of negotiations in Trenčín and John of Luxembourg waived his claims to the Polish crown, while the Polish Kazimierz III r fact that the Silesian princedoms are part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. John’s territorial g the ground of the territory later known as the Czech Crown, which established the new orga government in 1348. Since the early 1330s, the Luxembourgian activity in northern Italy increased. Louis of Ba Bergamo, Milan and other cities as imperial pledge. As John’s son Charles remembered in hi “While my father stayed in Trident, the following towns in Lombardy were given to him: Bre Parma, Cremona, Pavia, Reggio and Modena; also Lucca, Tuscany, with all pertaining distric In 1329, King John started a fierce struggle to keep the aforementioned territories in nor of the towns and cities required his protection in the fights against other rich cities of sent his son Charles, 15 at the time, to Italy. However, the struggle to keep these territ and after 1331, John put most emphasis into the Central European politics. As Zbraslav Chr it: “After the King had spent seven months in Lombardy, coping with many affairs in German he confided the Lombard towns to his firstborn son whom he had called from Luxembourg, and messengers in advance, he decided to leave for Regensburg. There he found Louis of Bavaria Louis of Bavaria and King John, often held meetings on an island in the Danube River, disc affairs for twenty-two days in utmost secrecy, only assisted by their most trusted advisor This active foreign policy was in stark contrast with difficulties John had to face within of Bohemia. On December 25, 1310, on the land assembly, John granted many rights and privi Bohemian aristocracy (the “Inaugural Diploma”) and in February 1311, he was crowned the Ki at a ceremony in Prague. Yet the beginning of his reign was marred by many difficulties, a weren’t peaceful either. The Bohemian aristocrats insisted on their privileges and strong never hesitated to stand up against the king. The series of minor and major clashes, toget growing estrangement between John and Elisabeth, forced the king to give up the firm royal The concessions John had to make in the beginning made it difficult for him to enforce the strong monarch. It was true that the conditions of his ascent to the Bohemian throne had b by his first advisor Peter of Aspelt, the Archbishop of Mainz, in the form of the royal gr was theoretically possible to withdraw or change them; in the real life, however, the aris intention to give up their influence. In the early years there was no major confrontation, lords still respected the importance and influence of John’s father Henry VII, so King Joh take over the secondary territories – Moravia, Opava region etc. John of Luxembourg tried to maintain a firm and authoritative government, which was very d the environment where the aristocracy insisted on its right to manage the key offices in t 1315, the king still fought alongside his lords at the Moravian-Slovakian border, but then strengthen his own position by getting rid of the main leaders of the aristocracy (the arr of Lipá, 1315). This unexpected step raised a large response; different aristocracy groups competed before united against the king. In the end, Peter of Aspelt and Baldwin of Luxemb reconciliation, which de facto reinstated Henry of Lipá’s position. Another conflict broke out when John was staying in the Empire, supporting Louis of Bavari Bohemia intervened in the disputes of two main aristocracy factions (Henry of Lipá vs. Wil Not even the experienced diplomat Peter of Aspelt was able to prevent the civil war that f was forced to intervene. Yet the military solution proved itself inefficient; the increasi managed to unite both factions against the king again. Henry of Lipá even joined forces wi of Habsburg, to besiege John in Brno. The King of Bohemia began to realize that he would n superior position in the country, and gave up eventually. At the land assembly in Domažlic he acceded to the requirements of the lords, recognized the inaugural diplomas once more, his main interests outside the Bohemian territory ever since. Bibliography: BENEŠOVSKÁ, Klára. Královský sňatek: Eliška Přemyslovna a Jan Lucemburský 1310. Praha: Gal BOBKOVÁ, Lenka. Územní politika prvních Lucemburků na českém trůně. Ústí nad Labem: Univer Purkyně, 1993. SPĚVÁČEK, Jiří. Jan Lucemburský a jeho doba 1296–1346: k prvnímu vstupu českých zemí do sv Evropou. Praha: Svoboda, 1994. SPĚVÁČEK, Jiří. Král diplomat, 1296–1346. Praha: Panorama, 1982. URBAN, Jan. Kresčak 26. srpna 1346. Praha: Paseka, 2000.