Charles IV

Birth and childhood

Charles was born to John of Bohemia of the Luxembourg dynasty and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty in Prague. His maternal grandfather was the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II. He chose the name Charles at his confirmation in honor of his grand uncle, King Charles IV of France, at whose court he resided for seven years.

Charles received French education and was literate and fluent in five languages: Latin, Czech, German, French, and Italian.

Genealogy

Fictive genealogy

Imperial genealogists invented early House of Luxembourg forefathers for Charles IV, extending back to Noah via Jupiter and Saturn.

Marriages and children

Charles was married four times. His first wife was Blanche of Valois (1316–1348), daughter of Charles, Count of Valois, and a half-sister of King Philip VI of France. They had three children:

son (born 1334), died young.

Margaret of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary (1335–1349); married King Louis I of Hungary.

Catherine of Bohemia (1342–1395); married Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, and Otto V, Duke of Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg.

He secondly married Anna of Bavaria, (1329–1353), daughter of Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine; they had one son:

Wenceslaus (1350–1351).

His third wife was Anna von Schweidnitz, (1339–1362), daughter of Henry II, Duke of Świdnica, and Katharina of Anjou (daughter of Charles I Robert, King of Hungary), by whom he had three children:

Elisabeth of Bohemia (19 April 1358 – 4 September 1373); married Albert III, Duke of Austria, at the very young age of 8 and died at the age of 15, they had no children.

Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (1361–1419); later elected King of Germany (formally King of the Romans) and on his father's death, became King of Bohemia (as Wenceslaus IV) and Emperor-elect of the Holy Roman Empire; married firstly to Joanna of Bavaria in 1370 and secondly to Sophia of Bavaria in 1389.

son (born and died 11 July 1362).

His fourth wife was Elizabeth of Pomerania, (1345 or 1347 – 1393), daughter of Bogislaw V, Duke of Pomerania, and Elisabeth of Poland, who was the daughter of King Casimir III of Poland. They had six children:

Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England (1366–1394); married King Richard II of England.

Sigismund of Bohemia (1368–1437); later became Holy Roman Emperor, was King of Bohemia, Margrave of Brandenburg, and also King of Hungary through his first marriage to Mary, Queen of Hungary, in 1385. His second marriage was to Barbara of Cilli, the daughter and youngest child of Herman II, Count of Celje, in 1405/1408.

John of Bohemia (1370–1396); later Margrave of Moravia and Duke of Görlitz; married Richardis Catherine of Sweden, the daughter of Albert, King of Sweden. His only daughter and heiress Elisabeth of Görlitz was Duchess of Luxembourg.

Charles (13 March 1372 – 24 July 1373).

Margaret of Bohemia, Burgravine of Nuremberg (1373–1410); married John III, Burgrave of Nuremberg.

Henry (1377–1378).

Charles had one illegitimate son, William, born in 1362 to an unknown woman. He was raised in Brabant and seems to have joined his father at the time of the latter's trip to France in 1377. He was acknowledged by his father, who sought a papal dispensation for him to marry within the fourth degree. It is unknown if he ever married. He served his Bohemian relatives as a diplomat, but his ultimate fate is unknown.