Wenceslas IV (part 1) ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** By Matouš Vanča In the 15th year of the reign of Charles IV, and in the 6th year of him being the emperor, monarch seemed to be on the top of his power. However, he still missed one extremely impor – an heir of the throne. His marriage with Blanche of Valois only gave him daughters; the Anna of Bavaria, gave birth to a son in the beginning of 1350. As the future King of Bohem Wenceslas for the patron of the land. By this, Charles followed the example set by his fat named his son for the Přemyslid saint – only later, while living in France, Charles adopte after his uncle, French King Charles IV. Charles started planning a big future to his smal the latter died before turning two, followed by Anna of Bavaria a year later. Mature Charles, almost forty years old, slowly began to lose hope and decided to leave the brother John Henry, Murgrave of Moravia. John Henry didn’t have any problems with fatherin time, he had three, which certainly didn’t help the emperor’s self-confidence. However, Ch up, and took Anna of Schweidniz for his third wife, initially planned as a wife for the la The queen, almost quarter a century younger than her husband, didn’t get pregnant until a the wedding. And this time again, a daughter was born first. Then finally, on February 26, already turned 44), a long-expected son was born in Nuremberg – and once more he was named imperial joy was overwhelming: “We’ve got a prince! The noble day of his birth was gloriou Charles to the world in his message. “Rejoice, all our people; o nation, celebrate in glee Bohemia shall jubilate over the great happiness that came upon you! Finally, we’ve got a p The boy who would become Wenceslas IV had his life strictly planned from the infancy. His saw him not only as the heir of his own lands but also as his successor on the throne of t Empire, and the head of the important European dynasty. Therefore, Charles immediately sta suitable wedding, and began to involve little Wenceslas in the statesman’s duties. He hadn till the infant learned to walk and talk – a few months after his birth, Wenceslas was alr documents as the person signing important agreements (with his own seal), which wasn’t com middle ages. As soon as it was possible, Wenceslas also had to take part in the important – he was only two when he was crowned the King of Bohemia, despite rather reluctant approa Ernest of Pardubice. Like many Bohemian noblemen, Ernest probably considered the coronatio of two a profanation of this important act. Yet Charles, in his fervent struggle to ensure succession, permitted no resistance. Due to the coronation, he could give privileges and graces for the King of Bohemia to Wenc time, he could only give them to himself, which was a little tedious). The coronation cere had to be cut in length and adapted for this special opportunity, yet the child didn’t mak cried desperately. Many years later, Wenceslas’s opponents even claimed that the toddler s in the cathedral during the ceremony in a very unsuitable way. Some authors assume that it was the demanding education and forced presence at lengthy neg ceremonies that caused Wenceslas’s aversion to monarchial duties; allegedly, that’s why he or “lazy” king eventually. In other words, Charles loved his son too much, and endowed him attention and duties that irreversibly maimed the boy’s soul. However, this is too much of – adolescent Wenceslas prepared quite responsibly for his ascent to power in the last year life, and when he finally sat on the throne, he ruled purposefully and vigorously at first Charles “pressed” him through the electors’ council, to ensure the imperial royal throne f The main problem was that Charles died at the time his experiences and abilities were need most visible, but not the only sign of the upcoming European crisis was the Papal Schism ( popes in Rome and Avignon) that broke out shortly before Charles’s death in November 1378. yet immense problem should have been solved by a youngster of seventeen! The story on the Bohemian, imperial and European level was basically the same – Wenceslas to continue in his father’s policy, but it wasn’t possible to make it work in the changing failures came, and the problems persisted or even grew, the king became stubborn, and cont unsuccessful politics, or else completely gave up looking for a solution. He probably had nor abilities to seek for other ways. The specific problem of the imperial politics was the growing tension between imperial pri while the self-confidence of the latter increased steadily. The tension resulted in minor and the big war was imminent. Instead of settling one conflict after another with patience Wenceslas kept insisting on the general peace treaty in the whole Empire – the Landfried, for Charles, but in Wenceslas’s time this option wasn’t really feasible. After ten years o king abandoned the Empire almost completely, and after 1389 (when the imperial peace was d never really kept) he all but withdrew from the imperial events. He never visited the Empi communicate with important imperial princes. And a journey to Rome to get the imperial cro out of the question. Bibliography: Bobková, Lenka – Bartlová, Milena. Velké dějiny zemí Koruny české IV.b. 1310–1402. Praha/L 2003. Hlaváček, Ivan. Nevděčné nástupnictví Václava IV. In: Bobková, Lenka – Šmahel, František ( Lucemburkové. Česká koruna uprostřed Evropy. Praha: NLN, 2012, s. 643–655. Spěváček, Jiří. Václav IV. 1361–1419. K předpokladům husitské revoluce. Praha: Svoboda, 19