Eastern Europe, Mid-14th Century

Abstract

The death of King Václav III (1305–6) ended the Přemsyl dynasty and the Czech kings’ hold on the Polish throne, which had begun in 1290 with Václav II (1278–1305). An interregnum followed in Bohemia that ended when the Czech nobility elected as king John of Luxemburg (1310–46), who was forced to grant them a charter guaranteeing their rights and privileges. A permanent Bohemian diet was established. John, a foreigner, spent little time in his kingdom. Instead, he resided mostly in Paris or wandered around Europe, fighting with the Teutonic Knights against the rising state of Lithuania or offering his services as a skilled warrior to France in the Hundred Years War. He became blind in his later years, yet he fought on, dying while charging the English in the Battle of Crécy (1346).