Editing Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

=== Holy Roman Emperor ===

[[File:Goldene-bulle 1c-480x475.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Golden Bull of 1356]]]]

In 1354, Charles crossed the [[Alps]] without an army, received the [[Iron Crown of Lombardy|Lombard crown]] in [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio|St. Ambrose Basilica]], [[Milan]], on 6&nbsp;January&nbsp;1355, and was crowned emperor at [[Rome]] by a [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] on April 5 of the same year.<ref name="Palacky">[[František Palacký]]. ''Dějiny národu českého v Čechách i v Moravě'', books VIII and IX</ref><ref name=EB1911/> His sole object appears to have been to obtain the Imperial crown in peace, in accordance with a promise previously made to Pope Clement. He only remained in the city for a few hours, in spite of the expressed wishes of the Roman people. Having virtually abandoned all the Imperial rights in Italy, the emperor re-crossed the Alps, pursued by the scornful words of Petrarch, but laden with considerable wealth.<ref name="F.XIX.12">[[Francesco Petrarca]], ''[[Epistolae familiares]]'' XIX.12; see also E. H. Wilkins, ''Life of Petrarch'' (Chicago, 1961), p. 147</ref><ref name=EB1911/> On his return, Charles was occupied with the administration of the Empire, then just recovering from the [[Black Death]], and in 1356, he promulgated the famous [[Golden Bull of 1356|Golden Bull]] to regulate the election of the king.<ref name=EB1911/>

[[File:Golden Bull of 1356.png|thumb|left|Charles's possessions at the signing of the Golden Bull of 1356]]

Having given [[Moravia]] to one brother, [[John Henry of Bohemia|John Henry]], and erected the [[county of Luxembourg]] into a duchy for another, [[Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg|Wenceslaus]], he was unremitting in his efforts to secure other territories as compensation and to strengthen the Bohemian monarchy. To this end he purchased part of the [[Upper Palatinate]] in&nbsp;1353, and in 1367 annexed [[Lower Lusatia]] to Bohemia and bought numerous estates in various parts of Germany. On the death of [[Meinhard III of Gorizia-Tyrol|Meinhard, Duke of Upper Bavaria]] and [[Count of Tyrol]], in 1363, [[Upper Bavaria]] was claimed by the sons of the emperor Louis&nbsp;IV, and [[Tyrol (state)|Tyrol]] by [[Rudolf&nbsp;IV, Duke of Austria]]. Both claims were admitted by Charles on the understanding that if these families died out both territories should pass to the [[House of Luxembourg]]. At about the same time, he was promised the succession to the [[Margravate of Brandenburg]], which he actually obtained for his son Wenceslaus in&nbsp;1373.<ref name=EB1911/>

[[File:Interview of King Charles V with the Emperor Charles IV in Paris in 1378 Fac simile of a Miniature in the Description of this Interview Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris.png|thumb|Meeting with [[Charles&nbsp;V of France]] in [[Paris]] in 1378, from a fifteenth-century manuscript in the [[Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal]]]]

On 4 June 1365, Charles IV was the last emperor to be crowned king at Arles. [[Amadeus VI of Savoy]] was appointed Imperial vicar of Arelat by Charles in 1365. That attempt to revive the imperial hold on the [[Kingdom of Arles]] (Arelat)  did not succeed, however, and Charles IV ceded his rights to the crown of Arles to [[Louis I of Anjou]] the following year after transferring the County of Savoy to the Kingdom of Germany. 

[[Casimir III the Great|Casimir III of Poland]] and [[Louis I of Hungary]] entered a conspiracy against Charles and managed to persuade [[Otto V, Duke of Bavaria|Otto V of Bavaria]] to join. After the repeal of the estate contract by margrave Otto, in early July 1371, Charles IV declared hostilities and invaded [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]]; after two years of conflict, in 1373 Brandenburg became part of the [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Czech lands]]. This was when he gave the order to measure his new territory, its villages, people, and income. This was recorded in the [[:de:Landbuch Karls IV.|Landbuch of Charles IV]], which was finished in 1375. Many villages were mentioned for the first time in this book, so it can provide information on how old they are. He also gained a considerable portion of [[Silesia]]n territory, partly by inheritance through his third wife, [[Anna von Schweidnitz]], daughter of [[Henry II, Duke of Świdnica]] and [[Catherine of Hungary (d. 1355)|Catherine of Hungary]]. In 1365, Charles visited [[Pope Urban&nbsp;V]] at [[Avignon]] and undertook to escort him to Rome; on the same occasion he was crowned King of [[Lower Burgundy|Burgundy]] at [[Arles]].<ref name=EB1911/>

His second journey to Italy took place in 1368 when he had a meeting with Pope Urban&nbsp;V at [[Viterbo]], was besieged in his palace at [[Siena]], and left the country before the end of 1369. During his later years, the emperor took little part in German affairs beyond securing the election of his son Wenceslaus as king of the Romans in&nbsp;1376, and negotiating a peace between the [[Swabian League of Cities]] and some nobles in&nbsp;1378. After dividing his lands between his three sons and his nephews,<ref name=Herzfeld /> he died in November 1378 at [[Prague]], where he was buried, and where a statue was erected to his memory in&nbsp;1848.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Charles IV. (Roman Emperor) |volume=5 |pages=898–899|inline=1}}</ref>

Charles IV suffered from [[gout]] (metabolic arthritis), a painful disease quite common in that time.