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| Wenceslaus IV | |
|---|---|
 Detail from thebook of hours made for King Wenceslaus, 1400–1419 | |
| King of Bohemia | |
| Reign | 29 November 1378 – 16 August 1419 |
| Coronation | 15 June 1363 St. Vitus Cathedral,Prague |
| Predecessor | Charles IV |
| Successor | Sigismund |
| King of the Romans King of Germany | |
| Reign | 10 June 1376 – 20 August 1400 |
| Coronation | 6 July 1376 Aachen Cathedral |
| Predecessor | Charles IV |
| Successor | Rupert |
| Born | 26 February 1361 Nuremberg,Kingdom of Germany,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 16 August 1419 (aged 58) Kunratice,Prague,Bohemia |
| Burial | |
| Spouses | |
| House | Luxembourg |
| Father | Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor |
| Mother | Anna von Schweidnitz |
Wenceslaus IV (alsoWenceslas;Czech:Václav;German:Wenzel, nicknamed "the Idle";[1] 26 February 1361 – 16 August 1419), also known asWenceslaus of Luxembourg, wasKing of Bohemia from 1378 until his death andKing of Germany from 1376 until he was deposed in 1400. As he belonged to theHouse of Luxembourg, he was alsoDuke of Luxembourg from 1383 to 1388.
Wenceslaus was born in theImperial city ofNuremberg, the son of EmperorCharles IV by his third wifeAnna Svídnická, a scion of theSilesian Piasts, and baptized atSt. Sebaldus Church. He was raised by the Prague ArchbishopsArnošt of Pardubice andJan Očko of Vlašim. His father had the two-year-old crowned King of Bohemia in June 1363[2] and in 1373 also obtained for him the ElectoralMargraviate of Brandenburg. When on 10 June 1376 Charles IV asserted Wenceslaus' election asKing of the Romans[2] by theprince-electors, two of seven votes, those ofBrandenburg andBohemia, were held by the emperor and his son themselves. Wenceslaus was crowned atAix-la-Chapelle on 6 July.[2]
In order to secure the election of his son, Charles IV revoked the privileges of manyImperial Cities that he had earlier granted and mortgaged them to various nobles. The cities, however, were not powerless, and as executors of the public peace, they had developed into a potent military force. Moreover, as Charles IV had organized the cities into leagues, he had made it possible for them to cooperate in large-scale endeavors. Indeed, on 4 July 1376, fourteenSwabian cities bound together into the independentSwabian League of Cities to defend their rights against the newly elected King, attacking the lands ofEberhard II, Count of Württemberg. The city league soon attracted other members and until 1389 acted as an autonomous state within the Empire.
Wenceslaus took some part in government during his father's lifetime,[2] and on Charles' death in 1378, he inherited theCrown of Bohemia and as king assumed the government of theHoly Roman Empire. In the cathedral ofMonza there is preserved a series of reliefs depicting the coronations of the kings of Italy with theIron Crown of Lombardy. The seventh of these depicts Wenceslaus being crowned in the presence of six electors, he himself being the seventh. The depiction is probably not accurate and was likely made solely to reinforce the claims of the cathedral on the custody of the Iron Crown.
In 1387 a quarrel betweenFrederick, Duke of Bavaria, and the cities of the Swabian League allied with theArchbishop of Salzburg gave the signal for a general war in Swabia, in which the cities, weakened by their isolation, mutual jealousies, and internal conflicts, were defeated by the forces of Eberhard II, Count of Württemberg, at Döffingen, nearGrafenau, on 24 August 1388. The cities were taken severally and devastated. Most of them quietly acquiesced when King Wenceslaus proclaimed an ambivalent arrangement atCheb (Eger) in 1389 that prohibited all leagues between cities while confirming their political autonomy. This settlement provided a modicum of stability for the next several decades, however, the cities dropped out as a basis of the central Imperial authority.
During his long reign, Wenceslaus held a tenuous grip on power at best, as he came into repeated conflicts with theBohemian nobility led by theHouse of Rosenberg. On two occasions he was even imprisoned for lengthy spells by rebellious nobles during theMoravian Margrave Wars.
But the greatest liability for Wenceslaus proved to be his own family. Charles IV had divided his holdings among his sons and other relatives. Although Wenceslaus upon his father's death retained Bohemia, his younger half brotherSigismund inherited Brandenburg, whileJohn received the newly established Duchy ofGörlitz inUpper Lusatia. TheMarch of Moravia was divided between his cousinsJobst andProcopius, and his uncleWenceslaus I had already been made Duke ofLuxembourg. Hence the young king was left without the resources his father had enjoyed, although he inherited the duchy of Luxembourg from his uncle in 1383.[2] In 1386, Sigismund became king ofHungary and became involved in affairs further east.
Wenceslaus also faced serious opposition from the Bohemian nobles and even from hischancellor, the Prague archbishopJan of Jenštejn. In a conflict surrounding the investiture of the abbot ofKladruby, the torture and murder of the archbishop's vicar-generalJohn of Nepomuk by royal officials in 1393 sparked anoble rebellion. In 1394 Wenceslaus' cousinJobst of Moravia was named regent, while Wenceslaus was arrested atKrálův Dvůr. KingSigismund of Hungary arranged a truce in 1396, and for his efforts, he was recognized as heir to Wenceslaus.
In thePapal Schism, Wenceslaus supported the RomanPope Urban VI. As Bohemian king he sought to protect the religious reformerJan Hus and his followers against the demands of theCatholic Church for their suppression asheretics. Hus and his followers drove German academics from theUniversity of Prague, who then set up their ownuniversity at Leipzig.
He then metCharles VI of France atReims, where the two monarchs decided to persuade the rival popes, nowBenedict XIII andBoniface IX, to resign, and to end the papal schisms by the election of a new pontiff. Many of the princes were angry at this abandonment of Boniface by Wenceslaus, who had also aroused much indignation by his long absence from Germany and by selling the title ofduke of Milan toGian Galeazzo Visconti.[2]
Hus was eventually executed inKonstanz in 1415, and the rest of Wenceslaus' reign in Bohemia featured precursors of theHussite Wars that would follow his death.
In view of his troubles in Bohemia, Wenceslaus did not seek a coronation ceremony asHoly Roman Emperor. Consequently, he faced anger at theReichstag diets of Nuremberg (1397) and Frankfurt (1398). The fourRhenish electors,Count PalatineRupert III and the archbishops ofMainz,Cologne andTrier, accused him of failing to maintain the public peace or to resolve the Schism. They demanded that Wenceslaus appear before them 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 atLahneck Castle declared him deposed on 20 August 1400 on account of "futility, idleness, negligence and ignobility". The next day they chose Rupert as their king atRhens. Although Wenceslaus refused to acknowledge this successor's decade-long reign, he made no move against Rupert.[2]
On 29 June 1402, Wenceslaus was captured bySigismund, who at first intended to escort him to Rome to have him crowned emperor, but Rupert heard of this plan and tried to prevent the passage to Italy, so Sigismund had Wenceslaus imprisoned, at first inSchaumberg and from 16 August in Vienna, in the charge ofWilliam, Duke of Austria.[3]On 20 November, Wenceslaus was forced to sign his renunciation of all his powers to Sigismund and the Dukes of Austria. In exchange, the conditions of his imprisonment were relaxed.[4]In early 1403, Rupert made diplomatic overtures to Sigismund, attempting to get him to forgo his attempt to secure the imperial crown, but Sigismund invaded Bohemia with Hungarian forces, looting, imposing heavy taxes, and persecuting the supporters of Wenceslaus. He also plundered the royal treasury to pay for his military campaigns against the supporters of Rupert and ofJobst of Moravia. An armistice between Sigismund and Jobst was agreed to be in effect from 14 April until 20 May. This gave Sigismund's opponents time to prepare, and after the end of the armistice, Sigismund could make no further gains and retreated from Bohemia, reachingBratislava on 24 July.[5]On 1 October 1403,Pope Boniface IX finally acknowledged the deposition of Wenceslaus and the election of Rupert as King of the Romans. As a coronation of Wenceslaus was now no longer a possibility, and while he was nominally still prisoner in Vienna, he was no longer under strict guard, and he managed to escape on 11 November.He crossed the Danube and was escorted byJohn II of Liechtenstein viaMikulov back to Bohemia, meeting his supporters inKutná Hora before moving on Prague, which he entered on Christmas.[6]
Among the charges raised by Rupert as the basis for his predecessor's deposition was the Papal Schism. King Rupert called theCouncil of Pisa in 1409, attended by defectors from both papal parties. They electedAntipope Alexander V, worsening the situation because he was not acknowledged by his two rivals, and from 1409 to 1417 there were three popes.
After the death of Rupert in 1410, his succession at first proved difficult since both Wenceslaus's cousinJobst of Moravia and Wenceslaus's brother Sigismund of Hungary were elected King of the Romans. Wenceslaus himself had never recognized his deposition and hence still claimed the kingship. Jobst died in 1411, and Wenceslaus agreed to give up the crown, so long as he could keep Bohemia. This settled the issue, and after 1411, Sigismund reigned as king and later also became Holy Roman Emperor.
The bishops and secular leaders, tired of the Great Schism, supported Sigismund when he called theCouncil of Constance in 1414. The goal of the council was to reform the church in head and members. In 1417, the council deposed all three popes and elected a new one. By resolving the schism, Sigismund restored the honour of the imperial title and made himself the most influential monarch in the West.
Wenceslaus was married twice, first toJoanna of Bavaria, a scion of theWittelsbach dynasty, on 29 September 1370. Joanna died on 31 December 1386 from chronic lung disease, most likely tuberculosis.[7] Wenceslaus married her first cousin once removed,Sofia of Bavaria, on 2 May 1389. He had no children by either wife.
Wenceslaus was described as a man of great knowledge and is known for theWenceslas Bible, a richlyilluminated manuscript he had drawn up between 1390 and 1400. However, his rule remained uncertain, varying between idleness and cruel measures as in the case ofJohn of Nepomuk. Unlike his father, Wenceslaus relied on favouritism, which made him abhorrent to many nobles and led to increasing isolation. Moreover, he probably suffered fromalcoholism, which was brought to light in 1398 when he was unable to accept an invitation by KingCharles VI of France for a reception atReims due to his drunkenness.[8]
Wenceslaus died in 1419 of a heart attack during a hunt in the woods surrounding his castle Nový Hrad atKunratice (today a part ofPrague), leaving the country in a deep political crisis. His death was followed by almost two decades of conflict called theHussite Wars, which were centred on greater calls for religious reform byJan Hus and spurred by popular outrage provoked by his execution.
The 2018 video gameKingdom Come: Deliverance, along with its 2025 sequel,Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, are set in Bohemia during the reign of King Wenceslaus IV in the year 1403. The main character becomes involved in a plot to restore Wenceslaus to the Bohemian throne.[9]
Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia Born: 26 February 1361 Died: 16 August 1419 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | German King 1376–1400 | Succeeded by |
| King of Bohemia 1378–1419 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Elector of Brandenburg 1373–1378 | |
| Preceded by | Duke of Luxembourg 1383–1388 | Succeeded by |
| Přemyslid |  | ||
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| Non-dynastic |
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| Luxembourg |
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| Habsburg |
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| Non-dynastic |
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| Jagiellonian |
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| Habsburg |
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| Habsburg-Lorraine |
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