King Wenceslas IV

Lore & Background

Wenceslaus held a tenuous grip on power at best, coming into repeated conflicts with the Bohemian nobility led by the House of Rosenberg. On two occasions he was even imprisoned for lengthy spells by rebellious nobles during the Moravian Margrave Wars. The greatest liability for Wenceslaus proved to be his own family. Charles IV had divided his holdings among his sons and other relatives, leaving the young king without the resources his father had enjoyed. In the Papal Schism, Wenceslaus supported the Roman Pope Urban VI. As the King of Bohemia, he sought to protect the religious reformer Jan Hus and his followers against the demands of the Catholic Church for their suppression as heretics. Hus and his followers drove German academics from the University of Prague, who then set up their own university at Leipzig, through the Decree of Kutná Hora in 1409. Hus was eventually executed in Konstanz in 1415 by the Council of Constance, and the rest of Wenceslaus' reign in Bohemia featured precursors of the Hussite Wars that would follow his death.

In Their Own Story

In view of his troubles in Bohemia, Wenceslaus did not seek a coronation ceremony as Holy Roman Emperor. The four Rhenish electors accused him of failing to maintain the public peace or to resolve the Schism. They demanded that Wenceslaus appear before them in Oberlahnstein to answer to the charges in June 1400. Wenceslaus demurred, in large part because of renewed hostilities in Bohemia. When he failed to appear, the electors meeting at Lahneck Castle declared him deposed from the title King of the Romans on 20 August 1400 on account of 'futility, idleness, negligence and ignobility.' On 29 June 1402, Wenceslaus was captured by Sigismund, King of Hungary, who had him imprisoned, at first in Schaumberg and from 16 August in Vienna, in the charge of William, Duke of Austria. On 20 November, Wenceslaus was forced to sign his renunciation of all his powers to Sigismund and the Dukes of Austria. He managed to escape on 11 November, crossed the Danube, and was escorted by John II of Liechtenstein via Mikulov back to Bohemia, meeting his supporters in Kutná Hora before moving on Prague, which he entered on Christmas.

Reader's Guide

Wenceslaus was born in the Imperial city of Nuremberg, the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his third wife Anna of Svídnická, a scion of the Silesian Piasts, and baptized at St. Sebaldus Church. He was raised by the Prague Archbishops Arnošt of Pardubice and Jan Očko of Vlašim. His father had the two-year-old crowned King of Bohemia in June 1363 and in 1373 also obtained for him the Electoral Margraviate of Brandenburg. When on 10 June 1376 Charles IV asserted Wenceslaus' election as King of the Romans by the prince-electors, two of seven votes, those of Brandenburg and Bohemia, were held by the emperor and his son themselves. Wenceslaus was crowned at Aachen on 6 July. In order to secure the election of his son, Charles IV revoked the privileges of many Imperial Cities that he had earlier granted and mortgaged them to various nobles. On 4 July 1376, fourteen Swabian cities bound together into the independent Swabian League of Cities to defend their rights against the newly elected King, attacking the lands of Eberhard II, Count of Württemberg. The city league soon attracted other members and until 1389 acted as an autonomous state within the Holy Roman Empire.

Did You Know?

• Wenceslaus was nicknamed 'the Idle' and was also known as Wenceslaus of Luxembourg.
• He was crowned King of Bohemia at the age of two in June 1363.
• On 20 August 1400, the electors declared him deposed from the title King of the Romans on account of 'futility, idleness, negligence and ignobility.'
• He was imprisoned in Vienna from 16 August 1402 in the charge of William, Duke of Austria, and forced to sign renunciation of all his powers on 20 November.
• He escaped on 11 November, crossed the Danube, and entered Prague on Christmas.