Charles IV (jul 11, 1346 – nov 28, 1378)

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Son of John the Blind of the Luxembourg dynasty and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia of the Czech Premyslid Dynasty in Prague. He was originally named Wenceslaus (Václav), the name of his maternal grandfather, King Wenceslaus II. He chose the name Charles at his confirmation in honor of his uncle, King Charles IV of France, at whose court he was resident for seven years.
On 11 July 1346, in consequence of an alliance between his father and Pope Clement VI, relentless enemy of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian, Charles was chosen as Roman king in opposition to Louis by some of the prince-electors. Confirming the papacy in the possession of vast territories, he promised to annul the acts of Louis against Clement, to take no part in Italian affairs, and to defend and protect the church.
Many German bishops and nearly all of the Imperial cities remained loyal to Louis. Worse still, Charles backed the wrong side in the Hundred Years' War, losing his father and many of his best knights at the Battle of Crécy in August 1346, with Charles himself escaping from the field wounded.
Civil war in Germany was prevented, however, when Louis IV died on 11 October 1347. Thereafter, Charles faced no direct threat to his claim to the Imperial throne.
He initially worked to secure his power base. Bohemia had remained untouched by the plague, so Prague became his capital, and he rebuilt the city on the model of Paris (Charles University, Charles Bridge, St. Vitus). The reign of Charles IV was characterised by a transformation in the nature of the Empire and is remembered as the Golden Age of Bohemia. He promulgated the Golden Bull of 1356 whereby the succession to the imperial title was laid down, which held for the next four centuries (Seven prince-electors were to choose by majority vote, and the influence of the house of Luxembourg's two rival houses, Habsburg and Wittelsbach, were somewhat neutralized.)
He also organized the states of the empire into peace-keeping confederations and assured his dominance over the eastern borders of the Empire through succession treaties with the Habsburgs and the purchase of Brandenburg. He also claimed imperial lordship over the crusader states of Prussia and Livonia.
Habsburg heir Rudolf IV (the Founder, 1339-1365) married his daughter Catherine of Luxembourg and sought to build Vienna into a city to rival Charles's Prague. (Rudolf's father Albert II was Frederick the Fair's younger brother, and Frederick had no sons. Rudolf died young at age 26 in 1365, and his two younger brothers Albert III and Leopold III ruled.)

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