Charles IV (1316-1378), from the Luxembourg family, was the king of Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor (crowned in 1355).

Early period
The reign of Charles IV was the strongest period of medieval Czechoslovakia. Since his father John obtained the Bohemian (Czech) throne through marriage, this family has become a strong contender for the Holy Roman Emperor as the most powerful feudal lord in Germany.
Charles IV was of medium height, slightly hunchbacked, with a thick black beard, dressed in simple clothes, and had a humble personality. He was the eldest son of King John of Luxembourg of Bohemia, and his mother was Elishka, the sister of King Vaclav III of Bohemia and his predecessor. In 1323, Charlie, who was only seven years old, married Blanche, the sister of King Philip VI of France. Started cohabiting at the age of 18.
Follow your father to battle
Charles IV was recalled from Paris by his father at the age of 17 and appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Bohemian army. He accompanied his father on various expeditions and toured various countries. Later, his father became blind and he became his co ruler. His knightly career did not last long and had little impact on his personality, but it also made him accustomed to the dangers of the power world. When he was just starting out, he almost got poisoned to death by political enemies.
In 1344, Charles, who was still the crown prince, instigated his teachers in Paris, and later elected Pope Clement VI established the Archdiocese of Prague, significantly enhancing the status of the Czech Church.
In 1345, the Black Death spread to countries along the Mediterranean coast, and people blamed the Jews who murdered Jesus for the plague. As a result, a wave of persecution swept across Europe, with approximately 100000 Jews dying. Charles IV ignored this atrocity and instead benefited greatly from the confiscation of Jewish property.
In June 1346, his father died in battle at the Battle of Cresi, and he officially inherited the throne of Bohemia. His next step was to seize the crown. After bribing the five German electors and being encouraged by his teacher Pope Clement VI, he elected him as a hostile king while the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV of the Wittelsbach family was still alive. Louis IV prepared to suppress Charles and the rebellious princes, but suddenly passed away in 1347. As a result, Charles IV became the undisputed king of Germany.

In Germany at that time, there were over a dozen great lords, over two hundred small lords, thousands of independent imperial knight territories, and numerous autonomous cities. This formed a loose confederation, in which the emperor was the nominal leader, but the actual power he held was only equivalent to that of a great feudal lord. After a long period of alliance, war, and annexation, seven of the most prominent lords emerged, namely the Archbishops of Trier, Cologne, and Mainz, as well as the four secular lords of the Court of Rhine, the Duke of Saxony, the Count of Brandenburg, and the King of Bohemia. There are two feasible ways to establish a firm rule over the empire: either to unite with the small lords, autonomous cities, and churches to strike down the big lords and establish one's own supreme ruling position, or to unite with the big lords to jointly dominate the entire empire. Obviously, the latter method had lower risks and became an inevitable choice for the cautious Charles IV.
In 1354, Charles IV took advantage of the great opportunity of the conflict between the princes of Northern Italy, and many people hoped for a strong ruler to stabilize the situation. He led a large army into Northern Italy, and the following year he received the Lombardy Iron Crown in Milan and was officially crowned emperor in Rome. In November of that year, he convened a grand imperial parliament in Nuremberg, attended by numerous legal experts in addition to the feudal lords, with the central topic being the formulation of the imperial constitution. There are two controversial issues, one is the election of the emperor, including how to elect and whether to allow the Pope to intervene, and the other is the authority of each feudal lord over the cities and people within their territory.

In 1356, Charles IV convened another imperial parliament in Metz, during which he issued the Golden Edict, which mainly contained the following two points: 1. It was clear that the emperor was elected by the seven major electors, and when the throne was vacant, it was regent by the Duke of Saxony and the Count of the Rhine Palace; 2. Each elector has the right to tariffs and coinage within their own territory, as well as the right to mine and sell salt (previously unclear between the emperor and the elector). Feudal lords are prohibited from forming alliances against their feudal lords, cities are prohibited from forming alliances against feudal lords, and offending the elector is considered a crime of treason. Electors actually had the absolute monarchy power within their own territory within the loose framework of the Confederacy. In addition, the edict avoids the issue of the role of the Pope and the Vatican in the election of emperors, effectively depriving the Pope of his power.
In 1378, Charles IV passed away in Prague due to a stroke.
Goldene Bulle
The most famous decision of Charles IV as the Holy Roman Emperor was the issuance of the Golden Edict (or translated as the Golden Seal Edict). This edict actually made the division of Germany and the powerlessness of the emperor legally inevitable. According to the Golden Edict, the practice of electing emperors by feudal lords was recognized; These lords are called electors. There are seven elected monarchs within the empire: the King of Bohemia; Count Pufalz; The Duke of Saxony; Marquis of Brandenburg; Archbishop of Mainz; Archbishop Trier; The Archbishop of Cologne and hundreds of minor electors. The emperor has no right to interfere with the actions of the feudal lords within their own territory.
Its main content is to determine the Emperor Election Law and regulate the authority of feudal lords. Announced in the Imperial Parliament of Nuremberg and Metz in January and December 1356, respectively. The Jin Xi edict consists of 31 chapters, except for the preface. Regulations: The emperor was elected in Frankfurt by the seven most powerful electors at the time (clergy electors: Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier; secular electors: King of Bohemia, Count of Balladdin in Rhine, Duke of Saxony, and Count of Borderland in Brandenburg). The election meeting is convened and presided over by the Archbishop of Mainz; The coronation ceremony of the throne was held in Aachen; The King of Germany is the Holy Roman Emperor and no longer requires recognition from the Pope. It is also stipulated that the secular selection of emperors and marquises shall be inherited by the eldest son, with male succession, and the territory shall not be divided. Electors are politically independent within their territory, possessing national sovereignty over taxation, coinage, salt, and iron ore mining, as well as the highest judicial jurisdiction that is independent and does not allow subjects to appeal; Without special permission, city alliances are not allowed; Do not allow vassals to rebel against lords. Electors have new powers to oversee the empire.

The Imperial Edict of the Golden Seal legally established the separation system of the German feudal states and served as the legal basis for their implementation of the monarchy system. It further weakened imperial power and exacerbated the political division in Germany. After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, this edict became meaningless. The original copy of the Imperial Edict is now preserved in the National Library of Vienna.

During the reign of Charles IV, Bohemia became the core of the Holy Roman Empire. Due to Charles IV's decision to make his family's hereditary territories the pillar of the strength of the Luxembourg dynasty, the interests of Bohemia held a leading position in the various policies of the empire (according to the Golden Edict, the Bohemian king ranked first among the seven major electors). Charles IV's policies aimed to strengthen monarchy and weaken the power of Czech nobles.
What impressed him even more in future generations was his construction of Prague. From a young age, he was determined to build Prague into an international metropolis that could match the status of the imperial capital, and his experience of traveling to other countries later enriched his blueprint. He personally participated in Prague's urban planning, building towers, city walls, and also built Karstenburg near Prague. Build the famous bridge "Charlie Bridge" on the Voltawa River. He adopted a policy of encouraging production and trade. Through the efforts of Charles IV, Prague became one of the most beautiful and prosperous cities: he established the University of Prague, the first university in Central Europe, and hired renowned scholars to teach at the University of Prague for a large sum of money. By the time of Charles IV's death, this emerging university had 110000 students.
The influence of this scholarly emperor on history is not limited to these delightful things. His efforts in the complex and cruel competition among German princes, as well as the sensitive struggle for imperial and religious power, have also profoundly influenced European history, with his representative work being the 1356 Golden Edict. Charles IV's political struggle methods were different from most German monarchs, mainly relying on money to buy, marry, promise, and enter into alliances to achieve his goals. In this regard, he can be said to have obtained the true biography of his grandfather Rudolf I. During his reign, he also launched several wars, but on a small scale, more like clearing bandits.

What impressed him in future generations was his construction of Prague. From a young age, he was determined to build Prague into an international metropolis that could match the status of the imperial capital, and his experience of traveling to other countries later enriched his blueprint. He personally participated in Prague's urban planning, building towers, city walls, and also built Karstenburg near Prague. He established the University of Prague, which was the first university in Central Europe, and hired renowned scholars to teach at the University of Prague at a high cost. By the time of Charles IV's death, this emerging university had 110000 students. He also elevated Prague to an archdiocese through his teacher, Pope Clement VI, and granted his Bohemian kingdom church autonomy.
But the influence of this scholarly emperor on history is not limited to these delightful things. His efforts in the complex and cruel competition among German princes, as well as the sensitive struggle for imperial and religious power, have also profoundly influenced European history, with his representative work being the 1356 Golden Edict.
The Golden Edict of Charles IV established the political entity of the great princes in Germany, which remained unchanged until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. This is his greatest influence on history. In addition, his sponsorship of literature and art ignited the passion of the Renaissance movement on the land of Germany, and later, both the Hussery movement and Martin Luther's religious reform occurred in Germany, which had a certain relationship with it.

Scholar Emperor
Charles IV may have been the most renowned scholar emperor in Europe after Mark Aurelius Antony of the Roman Empire and Constantine VII of the Byzantine Empire, making him particularly prominent among the many impoverished German kings of the Middle Ages. He received a good education from a young age and maintained the habit of writing diaries until the age of 30. He enjoyed reading works by Cicero and Dante, translating works by Augustine, and socializing with university students. He maintained a long-standing and close relationship with the famous Italian poet and one of the pioneers of the Renaissance movement, Petrarch, and sheltered and supported Italian jurist Bartoru, author of "On the Power of Kings and Emperors" Lupold, and others.