| |
| 1338 |
| |
| The diet of Frankfurt: declaration (the Licet juris) that the electors are competent to choose an emperor (i.e., papal intervention is not necessary); in effect the Holy Roman Empire was divorced entirely from the papacy. | 1 |
| |
| 1346 |
| |
| Louis was deposed, but fought against his successor, Charles (son of King John of Bohemia, who had been elected after an open alliance with the pope). | 2 |
| |
| 1347–78 |
| |
| CHARLES IV (Luxemburg). Concentration on the advancement of his dynasty (in Silesia, the Palatinate, Lusatia, Brandenburg) and on the progress of Bohemia. Prague became one of the chief cities of the empire (the university founded, 1348). The Black Death (1348–49) took an especially heavy toll in Germany; the Flagellants; anti-Semitic massacres. Promulgation of the Swabian League and numerous Landfrieden (imperial proclamations of public peace) reduced private warfare. Dauphiné and Arles continued to drift into the French orbit. | 3 |
| |
| 1356 |
| |
| The Golden Bull issued by Charles IV (in force until 1806) transformed the empire from a monarchy into an aristocratic federation, to avoid the evils of disputed elections. Seven electors, each a virtual sovereign: the archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, the margrave of Brandenburg, the king of Bohemia. Secular electorates to be indivisible and pass by primogeniture. Elections to be by majority vote and without delays. The electors to exercise supervision over the empire, a new function. The crown to remain in the house of Luxemburg. | 4 |
| Charles openly regarded the empire as an anachronism, but valued the emperor's right to nominate to vacant fiefs. | 5 |
| |
| 1364 |
| |
| Treaty of Brünn with the Habsburgs, whereby either house (Luxemburg or Habsburg) was to succeed to the lands of the other upon its extinction. | 6 |
| Internal anarchy; climax of localism; the only islands of order and prosperity were the walled towns; the only basis for order were the town leagues (e.g., revival of the Rhine League (1354); the Swabian League); bitter warfare of classes; and princely opposition to the towns. Charles's vain appeal to the princes of Europe to resist France and end the Avignonese Captivity. | 7 |
| Apogee of the Hanseatic League (See The Hanseatic League). | 8 |
| |
| 1378–1400 |
| |
| WENCESLAS (Wenzel, son of Charles IV, king of Bohemia, 1378–1419). Formation of the Knights' League (League of the Lion) followed by a series of political quarrels between the knights and lords on one side and the towns on the other, ending in the town war (1387–89) and the defeat of the towns, but not their ruin. Rising Bohemian nationalism: revolts, 1387–96. | 9 |
| |
| 1400 |
| |
| Deposition of Wenceslas for drunkenness and incompetence. He refused to accept the decision, and the result was that at the end of the confused period (1400–10) there were three rival rulers (Sigismund, Jobst, and Wenceslas), to correspond to the three rival popes. | 10 |
| |
| 1410–37 |
| |
| SIGISMUND (Luxemburg; king of Bohemia, 1419–37; king of Hungary by marriage). His main concern was to end the Papal Schism, and he succeeded the king of France as protagonist of conciliar reform by forcing (anti) Pope John XXIII to call the Council of Constance (See 1414–17). Establishment of the house of Wettin in Saxony (1423); the Hohenzollerns (Frederick) in Brandenburg (1415). Sigismund's failure at Constance not only alienated Bohemia but also ended any hope of German unification. | 11 |
| |
| 1410 |
| |
| Utter defeat of the Teutonic Knights by the Polish-Lithuanian army at Tannenberg, beginning of the decline of the Teutonic Knights. | 12 |
| |
| 1411 |
| |
| Peace of Thorn, halting of the Slavic advance. | 13 |
| |
| 1420–31 |
| |
| Hussite Wars reflect strong Bohemian national feeling (See 1420–33). | 14 |
| |
| 1433 |
| |
| Called to the Council of Basel (See 1431–49), the Hussites finally accepted the Compactata (which embodied the Four Articles), but the Church alienated them, and they began a final break. Bohemian nationality asserted itself increasingly in the 15th century, and Bohemia never returned to the German orbit. | 15 |
| Sigismund struggled against the Ottoman Turkish advance (1426–27) and was crowned at Rome (1433). In the election of 1438, Frederick of Brandenburg (candidate of the political reformers in Germany) withdrew, making the choice of Albert of Habsburg (Sigismund's son-in-law) unanimous. Albert also succeeded Sigismund on the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia. | 16 |
| |
| |
