Editing 1346 (section)

=== Central ===
[[File:Karl IV. (HRR).jpg|upright|thumb|Charles IV, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1346]]
On [[July 11]], [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] of [[Luxembourg]] was elected emperor of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. In consequence of an alliance between his father and [[Pope Clement VI]], the relentless enemy of the emperor [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis IV]], Charles was chosen Roman [[Antiking|king in opposition]] to Louis by some of the princes at [[Rhens]]. He had previously promised to be subservient to Clement, he confirmed the papacy in the possession of wide territories, promised to annul the acts of Louis against Clement, to take no part in Italian affairs, and to defend and protect the church.<ref name = charles/>

Charles IV was at this time in a very weak position in Germany. Owing to the terms of his election, he was derisively referred to by some as a "priest's king" (Pfaffenkönig). Many bishops and nearly all of the Imperial cities remained loyal to Louis the Bavarian. Charles further endangered his high position when he backed the losing side in the Hundred Years' War. He lost his father and many of his best knights at the [[Battle of Crécy]] in August 1346. He himself was wounded on the same field.<ref name = charles/>
<!-- The acquisition of these territories and his restless foreign policy had earned Louis many enemies among the German princes. In the summer of 1346 the [[House of Luxembourg|Luxemburg]] [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] was elected rival king, with the support of [[Pope Clement VI]]. Louis himself obtained much support from the [[Imperial Free City|Imperial Free Cities]] and the [[knight]]hood and successfully resisted Charles, who was widely regarded as a papal puppet ("rex clericorum" as William of Ockham called him). Also the Habsburg dukes stayed loyal to Louis. In the Battle of Crécy, Charles' father [[John I, Count of Luxemburg|John of Luxemburg]] was killed; Charles himself also took part in the battle but escaped. Prague became the new capital of Bohemia under Charles, who began rebuilding the city after the style of Paris -->

Meanwhile, in Italy a number of banks in Florence collapsed due to internal problems in Florence, contributed by King [[Edward III of England]] defaulting on some of his loans. Most notably, the [[Bardi family]] went bankrupt in this year.<ref>Hunt, Edwin; "Dealings of the Bardi and Peruzzi" Journal of Economic History, 50, 1 (1990).</ref><ref>Sumption, Jonathan. The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8122-1655-5}} pg. 489–490</ref><ref name = "italy"/> Italy also suffered a famine, making it difficult for the Papacy to recruit troops for the attack on Smyrna.<ref name = "italy">Hearder, Harry and Jonathan Morris. Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-521-00072-6}} pp. 97.</ref><ref>Housley, Norman. The Avignon Papacy and the Crusades, 1305–1378. Oxford Eng.: Clarendon, 1986. {{ISBN|0-19-821957-1}} pp. 235.</ref> The Venetians, however, organized an alliance uniting several European parties (''Sancta Unio''), composed notably of the [[Knights Hospitaller]], which carried out five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states.<ref name = turk/> In the realm of technology, papermaking reached Holland,<ref>Lewis, Charlton. China. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. 
{{ISBN|0-07-141279-4}} pp. 87</ref> and firearms made their way to Northern Germany in this year. The earliest records in the area place them in the city of Aachen.<ref>Delbrück, Hans et al. ''History of the Art of War''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-8032-6586-7}} pp. 28.</ref><ref>Nossov, Konstantin. ''Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons''. The Lyons Press, 2005. {{ISBN|1-59228-710-7}} pp. 209.</ref>