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| 1. Bohemia |
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(See 1305–6) |
| LUXEMBURG RULERS (1308-1437) |
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| 1306 |
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| The Premyslid dynasty came to an end with the death of Wenceslas (Vaclav) III. There followed an interregnum, during which the Bohemians were driven out of Poland. | 1 |
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| 1310–46 |
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| The interregnum ended with the election of JOHN OF LUXEMBURG, son of Emperor Henry VII. The circumstances of his accession forced John to issue a charter guaranteeing the rights and privileges of the nobility and clergy. The “national” Diet, theretofore called only on special occasions, became a regular institution. During this reign Bohemian overlordship over Upper Lusatia and Silesia was established. | 2 |
| John supported the Teutonic Knights against the Lithuanians and participated in three campaigns (1328, 1337, 1346). For a time (1331–33) he ruled western Lombardy, as well as the Tyrol (1336–41). John was killed in the battle of Crécy, where he fought on the side of the French. | 3 |
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| 1346–78 |
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| CHARLES I (Charles IV as German Emperor), the son of John of Luxemburg. His reign is regarded as the golden age of Bohemian history. A series of charters issued in 1348 established an order of dynastic succession and determined Bohemia's place in the Holy Roman Empire. Moravia, Silesia, and Upper Lusatia were to be indissolubly connected with the Bohemian crown. By the Golden Bull (1356, see (See 1356), the king of Bohemia was given first place among the empire's secular electors. At the same time, Bohemia's internal independence was guaranteed. Acquisition of Lower Lusatia (1370) and Brandenburg (1373). Charles ruled as a constitutional king and spared no effort to promote material well-being and cultural progress. A new code of laws, the Maiestas Carolina, was published. Prague was rebuilt and beautified. The University of Prague founded (1348), the first university in central Europe. | 4 |
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| 1349 |
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| Germany and Bohemia were affected by the second cycle of the plague epidemics (the Black Death). The clergy as a whole, and the monastic communities within the towns in particular, provided the highest percentage of victims. This necessitated hasty recruiting of new priests, whose moral integrity was often questionable. The abuses that followed and the continuing terror of the Black Death led to frenzies of religious excess, as well as to the emergence of lay piety movements and heresy. | 5 |
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| 1378–1419 |
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| WENCESLAS (Vaclav) IV, son of Charles. Gradual weakening of the connection with the German Empire. Loss of Brandenburg (1411). Continued conflicts with the barons. This was hastened by the development (since the end of the 14th century) of a national-religious movement that culminated in Hussitism.JOHN HUS (1369–1415), a professor at the University of Prague and a popular preacher in the vernacular, was perhaps influenced by the teaching of Wiclif and the Lollards in England. He attacked the sale of indulgences, demanded reforms in the Church, challenged the primacy of the pope, and emphasized the supreme authority of the Scriptures. He also supported the native element in the university in the struggle that ended in the exodus of the alien Germans (1409), becoming rector of the university. Excommunicated by the pope and eager for vindication, he went to the Council of Constance (1415) under a safe-conduct from the emperor. His arrest in violation of this guaranty, and his trial and burning (July 6), identified religious reform with Bohemian nationalism. | 6 |
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| 1420–33 |
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| These events also split the empire in the Hussite Wars. Refusal to recognize Sigismund as king. The reformers divided into two groups. (1) The moderate Calixtines, with the university as a center, favored separation of religious and political reform and formulated their program in the Four Articles of Prague (1420): full liberty of preaching; sacramental Communion of both kinds, bread and wine (Ultraquism), for the laity; exclusion of the clergy from temporal activity and their subjection to civil penalties for crime. (2) The radical Taborites, under extreme Waldensian, Catharist, and Wiclifite influences, with a program of democracy and apostolic communism. The papal proclamation of a Bohemian Crusade (not opposed by the Emperor Sigismund) united the nation behind John Ziska, a brilliant soldier, who led the Hussites in a series of victories (1420–22). Ziska's “modernization” of tactics: improved mobile artillery, use of baggage wagons for mobile cover. Ziska's death (1424) did not affect the movement. Under a priest, Procop the Great, the Hussites defeated one crusade after another (1426, 1427, 1431) and carried the war into neighboring regions of Germany, on one occasion (1432) advancing as far as the Baltic. Then civil war broke out between the Calixtines and the Taborites (led by Procop the Great), the latter suffering defeat (1434). | 7 |
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| 1431–36 |
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| The Council of Basel. The Hussites finally accepted a compromise, the Compactata (1436), recognizing them as true sons of the Church and conceding to them the cup in the Communion. | 8 |
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| 1436 |
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| Sigismund was finally accepted as king by all parties. He attempted a Catholic reaction, but died in 1437. Disputes continued between the Catholics and the Hussites, complicated by factional struggles between Hussite moderates and radicals and by social tension between nobility, townsmen, and peasantry. | 9 |
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| 1437–39 |
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| Albert of Austria (son-in-law of Sigismund) elected king. An opposition group chose Ladislas, king of Poland. Albert died in the course of a civil war. | 10 |
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| 1439–57 |
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| LADISLAS POSTHUMUS, the son of Albert. The Emperor Frederick III acted as his guardian, and for many years kept him from Bohemia. In the midst of continued factional conflict, a young nobleman, George Podiebrad, rose to power. | 11 |
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| 1448 |
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| George seized Prague and became head of the Hussites. He was recognized as administrator of the kingdom (1452) and devoted himself to the task of reconciling Catholics and Hussites. The radical wing of the latter was completely suppressed by the capture of Tabor (1452). George ultimately succeeded in bringing the young king to Prague, but Ladislas died before he could accomplish much on behalf of the Catholics. | 12 |
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