John only appeared in Bohemia when he wished to demand money from the
citizens, which he then hastened to spend at Paris or on the Rhine,
either in the provision of splendid tournaments, or on some of the many
wars which the princes of the Empire were waging against each other or
against the Imperial towns. John’s special attraction was to Paris,
where the court of King Charles was becoming a centre of pleasure and
excitement. It was probably his alliance with this king which gradually
separated John from the cause of Louis of Bavaria; for Charles felt
himself bound to stand by his dependant at Avignon, Pope John XXII.,
who had always been opposed to the claims of Louis.
During this time of disorder the nobles had gradually succeeded in
drawing into their power many of the royal fortresses; and, the central
authority being thus fatally weakened, robbery and violence prevailed
throughout the country. Poor Elizabeth ventured back to Prague about
1325; and she used her best efforts for the good of her country. On the
occasion of a plague, she arranged processions in which sacred relics
of great value were publicly exhibited; she endowed monasteries, and
protected them, even with a high hand, against the intrusions of the
nobles; while, for her personal consolation, she contemplated a thorn
from the Sacred Crown, which King Charles of France had sent her as a
present during some of the revels which her husband was enjoying at
Paris.
Bishop John of Prague might have given her some help in the government
of the country; but he was summoned to Avignon to be tried as a
protector of heretics, and detained there for thirteen years before
he was tried and acquitted. It was impossible, however, to expect that
either the queen or the bishop could hold their own against such men
as Henry of Lipa; and, after the death of the queen in 1330, even King
John began gradually to realise that some better provision must be made
for the government of the country. So, three years later, he consented
to send his eldest son, who had hitherto been detained at Paris, to try
his hand at the restoration of order in Bohemia.
This son had originally been named Wenceslaus, at the time when John
was still hoping to conciliate the national feeling of Bohemia; but
he had subsequently been re-named Charles, in honour of John’s model
and ally, the King of France. He was now seventeen years old; he was
welcomed by the Bohemians as the son of their beloved Elizabeth, and
his dignified and straightforward manners tended to increase the
attachment of his subjects. He speedily showed that enthusiasm for
his mother’s country which was to produce such striking results, when
once his hand was free. By judicious economy, he tried to buy back for
the Crown those castles which had been mortgaged to the nobles; and
he made progresses through his dominions, hearing the grievances of
the people and trying to redress them. This policy did not suit those
disorderly nobles who had hitherto ruled at their pleasure. They easily
succeeded in stirring up John’s suspicions against his son, as they
had previously done against his wife; and Charles was deprived of his
power and sent off to the Tyrol. Not many years elapsed, however,
before John discovered that his son would be still necessary to him,
if he wished to gain any advantage from the kingdom of Bohemia. But
Charles had now realised that his father was habitually sacrificing the
honour and freedom of the country for the sake of his own pleasures;
and in 1342 the young prince declared that he would only undertake the
government of Bohemia if John would consent to stay away from it for
two years, and would be content with the sum of five thousand marks
during that period.
The popular feeling in Bohemia was strongly in favour of Charles, as
against his father. Indeed, so hated had the latter become, that,
when he was shortly after afflicted with blindness, many Bohemians
considered that this suffering was a judgment upon him for his cruelty
and oppression. He therefore considered it advisable to accept these
terms; and Charles’s position was made still easier by the friendship
of Pope Clement VI., who, while anxious to conciliate the friendship of
John, was keenly alive to the desirability of securing to his side the
national sentiment of Bohemia. He therefore raised the Church of Prague
into an archbishopric, emancipating it entirely from the archbishopric
of Mainz; and he also conceded that often disputed demand for the use
of the Slavonic ritual in the monasteries of Bohemia.
Indeed, both John and Clement had a very special reason for desiring
to keep the popular young prince in friendly alliance with them. The
ambition, which John had once cherished on his own behalf, had now been
turned into a desire for the exaltation of his son. For different
reasons both the King and the Pope were now eager for the overthrow
of Louis of Bavaria; and they heartily agreed that Charles was the
most hopeful candidate for the Imperial throne. The other Electors
were equally ready for this change; and in July, 1346, Charles was
chosen Holy Roman Emperor. Such a step could not long fail to produce
dangerous results; but, before the opponents of the new Emperor were
prepared for action, the attention of Europe was distracted from their
quarrels by a war between England and France. John eagerly rushed to
the support of his old ally; and, in August, 1346, he died fighting at
the battle of Crecy--a death much admired by the readers of romances,
and an infinite relief to the oppressed Bohemians.
VI.
REIGN OF CHARLES IV.
(1346-1378.)
In writing the life of men who have played a great part in the affairs
of the world, it is generally possible to find some hint in the earlier
periods of their life of a preparation for the important work which has
distinguished their later years. In the case of Charles IV. this link
seems at first sight exceptionally difficult to find. He had been torn
away from his mother’s influence in his earliest childhood; treated
with exceptional harshness, at that tender age, by his father; kept
away so long from the country which he was afterwards to govern, that
when he first returned to it he had completely forgotten the Bohemian
language; suddenly thrust into a partial government of the country, at
the age of seventeen; regarded by his father and those who surrounded
him with the utmost suspicion, and snatched away from the government
when he was just beginning to get a firm hold of it. Then he was
dragged into Italian wars with which he had little sympathy, and where
men seemed to fight as much with poison as with swords; a witness of
his father’s dissolute life, and surrounded by evil companions; and,
to crown all his difficulties, when he had attained to full manhood,
but had not yet become king of Bohemia, he had been suddenly raised to
the highest dignity in Europe. Such was the preparation which Charles
had received for the government of a kingdom which required special
knowledge, special sympathies, and somewhat exclusive care.
[Illustration: Karl IV. mit der Kaiserin Anna.
LIKENESS TAKEN FROM CHAPEL IN CARLSTEIN.]
But in the fragment of autobiography which Charles has left us, he has
himself supplied the clue to at least some part of this difficulty.
That residence in Paris, and intimacy with the King of France, which
was to John merely a new opportunity for self-indulgence and luxury,
gave to Charles both that interest in the higher education of a people
which was of so much service to Bohemia, and a personal zeal for study
which doubtless saved him from many of the evils which surrounded
him. The King of France took a great fancy to his young namesake;
and, though he and most of his family were ignorant of literature, he
saw the value of it for others, and urged his chaplain to encourage
Charles in his studies. Paris was at that time the centre of learning.
It contained the most completely organised University, except that
of Bologna; and it attracted students from many parts of Europe. The
influence of the king’s chaplain doubtless developed in Charles that
reverence for the clergy and the pope which was, perhaps, more of a
real moral conviction in him than in any prince of his time. He was
also fortunate in the ease with which he acquired new languages; and
this gift enabled him to recover his power of speaking Bohemian without
losing his knowledge of German. Whence he could have derived that
intense Bohemian feeling, which showed itself in all the more important
acts of his life, sometimes even to the prejudice of his work as German
Emperor, it is very difficult to say; but, doubtless, the fervent and
practical piety, which always distinguished him, led him to cling to
such traditions as he could gather about the mother of whom he had
seen so little; and the zeal for her country, when he saw the wrongs
inflicted on it by his father, would have been quickened in him by that
hatred of injustice and oppression which was so strong an element in
his character. But, be the causes what they may, certain it is that the
first important use which he made of his double power of Bohemian king
and German emperor was to lay the foundations of a scheme for making
Prague the intellectual centre, not only of Bohemia, but of the whole
Empire.
In Bohemia, as elsewhere, book-learning had primarily been considered
as part of the training of the clergy. Under Ottakar II., indeed, an
attempt had been made to enlarge the range of studies, and perhaps to
interest in them people of other professions and races. But, after
the fall of Ottakar, Rudolf had feared anything which would attract
his Austrian subjects to Bohemia; and the Austrian students had been
ordered to leave Prague. Wenceslaus II. had tried to revive and develop
his father’s ideas; but, as it was not even then understood that a
University could be intended for all men, the nobles successfully
opposed the scheme, as an attempt to increase the power of the clergy.
Charles soon showed that, while anxious to work with the clergy in
this, as in other matters, he yet aimed at something much higher and
wider than a mere clerical school. Doctors of law, medicine, and
natural science were summoned to join in his new institution; and the
Faculties were organised, partly on the model of Paris and partly of
Bologna. The Rector, who was elected by masters and students, was
the chief judge of the University; but, in the matters which purely
related to their own art or science, the elected heads of the Faculties
were left to manage their own affairs. Important as the lectures at
the University were considered, a great deal of the instruction was
conveyed through the medium of public discussions, in some of which
all the Masters of Arts were compelled to take part. Questions of the
alterations of the Statutes were decided by a general assembly, in
which masters and students had equal votes.
But one of the most distinctive points of Charles’s scheme, and one
which produced most important effects both for good and evil, was
the division of the University into four Nations. These were called
respectively the Bohemian, Bavarian, Polish, and Saxon. The Bohemian
Nation included Hungary; the Bavarian, most of South Germany; the
Polish, Prussia and Silesia; and the Saxon, all the rest of North
Germany, with Denmark and Sweden. Each of these Nations chose one
Elector; the four Electors chose seven others; the seven chose five;
and then these five chose the Rector of the University. For special
cases, not dealt with by the general assembly, a council of eight was
appointed, containing two representatives from each Nation. How much
Charles desired to make his University a centre for the whole Empire
may be gathered from the fact that among the first eight professors
one was a Saxon, one a Westphalian, and one a Frenchman. The tendency
to welcome men of learning was characteristic of Charles’s reign; nor
was his welcome confined to teachers and writers; artists also shared
his patronage; and his reign was marked by efforts after external
splendour and stern morality which are seldom found in combination. The
most remarkable outward symbol of these divergent tendencies is the
celebrated fortress of Carlstein (Karluv Tyn, Charles’s town), which,
in its form, its decoration, and special objects, seems to combine the
memories of Charles’s work as king, as moral reformer, and as patron of
Art. Devised for the better protection of the crown jewels, and, at a
somewhat later period, of the charters of Bohemia, it also afforded a
place of retirement for periods of strict and almost ascetic devotion;
while the pictures on its walls, and the precious stones which cover
its roof, recall the memory of the encouragement which the King gave to
the Arts of his time.
[Illustration: CARLSTEIN (KARLUV TYN).]
But the attempt to combine his work as Emperor with his work as King
of Bohemia was to be the great difficulty of his career; and scarcely
had he succeeded in bringing the University into working order before
the great rush of students began to alarm the inhabitants of Prague.
Complaints were made of disorders, of the high price of provisions,
and of difficulties arising from the want of accommodation in the
city. This last objection Charles proceeded to meet by founding a new
suburb of Prague, to be united by ditch, wall, and bridge with the
old city, and to enjoy the same privileges as the rest of Prague.
This helped forward Charles’s plans for raising Prague into Imperial
importance; and the work of uniting all the different parts of the
city was undertaken on so splendid a scale that, in a time of famine,
Charles was able to solve “the problem of the unemployed,” by setting
more than a thousand men to work on the new walls. But there still
remained the disorders which had been brought about by the arrival of
German students, who distrusted the justice of Bohemian tribunals. In
order to restore peace, Charles placed the University directly under
his own authority, and allowed no appeal from the decisions of the
Rector, except to the highest court. This creation of an independent
corporation of learning was a necessary stage in the growth of the
University, and contained seeds both of good and evil, to be developed
at a later time.
In the founding of this University, Charles had aimed at the
accomplishment of two different objects; the establishment of an
intellectual centre for the Empire, and the development of a new life
in Bohemia. The second of these objects was probably the one nearest to
his heart; and it was not only by the encouragement of learning that
he hoped to promote it, but by attention to every phase of national
well-being. He, like his grandfather Wenceslaus, desired to substitute
a written code of laws for the floating mass of customs and traditions
by which Bohemia was, in great part, governed. How far Wenceslaus had
gone towards the execution of this plan cannot be ascertained; but
Charles actually drew up his code, and gave it the name of the Majestas
Carolina. If we may judge from his preface, and from the subject which
stands first in the code, the cause of oppression and disorder which
most impressed him in Bohemia was the alienation of royal lands by the
Kings. The power which special nobles had gained, through these grants,
had been often used in a most disorderly manner. The efficiency of the
central Executive had been unduly weakened; and an excuse had been
given for those continual demands for exceptional taxation, which had
so painfully marked the reign of King John. Charles therefore drew up a
careful list of the cities and lands, which, under no circumstances,
should be alienated by the King, nor should any grant of them be asked
for by others. Special arrangements were made for the registration,
in a public court, of lands sold by the nobles; lands were not to be
granted to the “dead hand”; special means of remedy were to be provided
against oppression by the King; special restrictions were to be placed
on the power of nobles over their dependants. Other provisions of
various importance were contained in this document; but the great,
and essential, point about it was, that these “Constitutions” were to
be read four times a year in Bohemia, before a full assembly of the
people, that all might know the laws by which they were governed.
[Illustration: PRAGUE (PRAHA) in 1200.]
[Illustration: PRAGUE (PRAHA) in 1388.
MAPS SHOWING GROWTH OF PRAGUE UNDER CHARLES IV.]
This provision pointed to Charles’s chief object in composing the
Code; and it was doubtless this very demand which roused to its
height the opposition of the nobles. It was not merely this or that
privilege which the King was threatening; it was the whole fabric of
feudal power, which depended much more on the separate and individual
influence of each noble on his estate, than on any decrees of a
collective Assembly; and this influence must necessarily give way
before a code of written law, set forth by the King, and accepted and
supported by the main body of the people.
Charles was no “benevolent despot,” determined to thrust upon his
people, by force, principles of government for which they were not
prepared. He yielded to the resistance of the nobles, and withdrew the
main part of the Majestas Carolina. The concession was undoubtedly a
wise one; and, however excellent were many of the changes which he had
proposed, there were parts of this remarkable document which make one
glad that they were not stereotyped in a code, nor sanctified in the
memories of Bohemians by so close a connection with their popular king.
Thus, for instance, Charles opens his code with a strong declaration
of devotion to the Catholic faith, with a prohibition to Pagans and
Saracens against settling in Bohemia, and with a promise to put down
heresy with the sword.[4] Again, the declaration of the power of lords
over their dependants is only limited by taking from the lords the
right of putting out their eyes or cutting off their hands and feet;
and though Charles, no doubt, was thinking more of these limitations
than of the power which he still left to the nobles; yet it was obvious
that such a statement in a code might be used in the very opposite
sense to that in which it was written. That is to say, the code might
have been appealed to in later times as securing to the nobles all the
powers of which it did not expressly deprive them.
But Charles had the statesmanlike instinct which tells a man when to
yield and when to stand firm. There was one reform on which he was
determined, and which he insisted on carrying out in spite of the
opposition of the nobles. This was the abolition of those supposed
tests of justice, by which accused persons were compelled to hold, or
to walk upon, burning iron, or to prove their innocence by risking
drowning. We are so apt to consider these superstitions as bound up
with old religious feelings, that we almost instinctively expect to
find this kind of abuse supported by the pious and orthodox in those
generations, and opposed chiefly by some coldly superior persons
who are untouched by the popular feeling of the time. But nothing
is clearer than that Charles was stirred to this great reform by an
intense sense of piety and reverence. Witness the words by which he
had preluded this reform in the Majestas Carolina. “For he who should
presume to tempt the omnipotence of God, and to make ridiculous His
secret judgment, by forcing his neighbour to perish by means contrary
to nature, does not deserve to enjoy the comfort of his own natural
life.” In this reform he was steadily supported by Archbishop Arnestus;
and, in spite of the opposition of the nobles, he succeeded in getting
these terrible abuses suppressed. With regard to the ordeal by battle
he was less successful. Indeed he was apparently disposed to accept
a rather curious compromise on the subject. Duelling of all kinds he
loathed as disorderly; but, in the case of charges of treason, he
permitted a prosecutor who could bring nine respectable witnesses to
support his charge, to make good his accusation by the final test of
the duel. It does not appear, however, that he succeeded in reducing
this foolish practice even within these limits.
Lastly, and perhaps best of all, he secured to the peasantry the
right of appealing to the King from the feudal courts of their lords.
Doubtless the readiness of the nobles to accept this important reform
was much increased by Charles’s willingness to do justice as against
himself. Thus, in a dispute with some nobles about the possession of
a certain castle, he consented to submit the question to two Bohemian
nobles chosen for the purpose; and he abode by the compromise which
they suggested.
In short, in his position as King of Bohemia, Charles generally
appears as one of those exceptional rulers who combine a genuine
zeal for reform with a real sense of justice, and that statesmanlike
self-restraint which teaches a man the difference between the desirable
and the possible, between the ultimate ideal and the immediately
practicable. But it is impossible to separate Charles the Emperor from
Charles the King of Bohemia. Many of his greatest reforms, such as the
establishment of the University and the assertion of the independence
of the Prague archbishopric, could not have been carried out so easily,
perhaps not at all, unless he had been able to use his authority as
Emperor to back his power as King of Bohemia, and to secure also the
sympathy and approval of the Pope. So thoroughly was the connection
of his Imperial office with his Bohemian kingship recognised by his
subjects, that it is the rarest thing to find this popular King
mentioned in the chronicles by his proper Bohemian title of Charles I.,
still less by his early name of Wenceslaus. The _Emperor_ Charles IV.
has overshadowed and absorbed Wenceslaus alias Charles I. of Bohemia;
and yet so far was he from losing thereby the sympathies of the
Bohemians, that it is they and not the Germans who cherish his memory
as that of a great and popular ruler.
The German view, indeed, is more nearly represented by the saying of
Maximilian I., “Charles was the father of Bohemia, but the stepfather
of the Holy Roman Empire.” This saying, like most epigrams that have
lived, has a mixture of truth and falsehood. Certainly one of the
morals of Charles’s career might seem to be the impossibility of
combining these two important offices in a manner which should satisfy
the just demands both of Germans and Bohemians. But though, as will
presently appear, the weaker and worse part of his policy was connected
with his position as Emperor, yet there is evident, even in his plans
for Germany, a real enthusiasm for order, good government, and, above
all, independence of that Papal power which had paralysed German
progress.
The Golden Bull, with which his name is specially connected, shows
in many respects these noble aims. The disorderly state into which
the Empire had fallen had been largely due to the uncertainty of the
Electorate. The titles which carried with them a right of voting for
the Emperor, had been so often shared by different claimants, and the
lands which originally marked these titles had been so often divided,
that few could tell who had really the right of choosing the ruler of
Europe; while the irregularity of many elections had given opportunity
for the assertion of spurious claims, like those of the Dukes of
Bavaria. Charles fixed the Electorate on a clear basis, and settled the
lands which gave the right of voting. He also sternly prohibited those
private feuds which had done such evil in Germany. Lastly, he boldly
asserted the right of the Electors to choose the Emperor, without
waiting for confirmation of their choice by the Pope. But, at the same
time, he secured for the King of Bohemia the leading position among the
Electors of the Empire; he declared his independence of the Imperial
courts; and he asserted the right of the Bohemians to choose their own
king, as soon as the House of Luxemburg was extinct.