Wenceslas IV the Drunkard of Bohemia 1
- Born: 26 Feb 1361
- Died: 16 Aug 1419 aged 58
General Notes:
Wenceslaus (German: Wenzel, Czech: Václav IV; sometimes known as "the Drunkard"), of the house of Luxembourg, was king of Bohemia from 1378 to his death; until 1400, he also headed the Holy Roman Empire (as "King of the Romans"), and he continued to claim the title after his removal from that role.
Wenceslaus succeeded his father in both roles: Charles IV had been elected Holy Roman King and, in the expected course of things, crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope, but Wenceslaus never received the imperial title; the Bohemian title came to Wenceslaus by inheritance as Charles's son.
Accusing Wenceslaus of devoting far more attention to his Bohemian than to his German duties, and of weakness in agreeing with Charles VI of France to end their support of rival Popes, the princes of the German states deposed him as King in August 1400 in favour of Rupert III, Count Palatine of the Rhine, though Wenceslaus refused to acknowledge this successor's decade-long reign.
As King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, until his death in 1419, he came into repeated conflict with the nobility, and sought to protect the religious reformer Jan Hus and his followers against the demands of the established Church for their suppression as heretics. Hus was executed in Constance in 1415, and the rest of Wenceslaus's reign in Bohemia featured precursors of the Hussite Wars that would follow his death. 2
Noted events in his life were:
• He was a King of Bohemia.
• He was a Holy Roman Emperor from 1378 to 1400.
• Acceded: Duke of Luxemburg, 1383.
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