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The royal journey of Wenceslas IV. to France 1398

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2019

Abstract

The Roman and Czech king Wenceslas IV. is traditionally perceived as an unsuccessful son of the emperor Charles IV., who had never reached his father's greatness. The aim of this thesis is to broaden the view of the Wenceslas's government based on the reflection of his diplomatic journey to Reims in 1398.

There are only few sources on the subject, therefore the emphasis was put on the analysis of the relations of the French chronicles which inform about the Wenceslas's journey and with which has not been worked much in the Czech environment. The meeting in Reims could be compared to the famous visit of the Emperor Charles IV. in Paris in 1378, for which a large number of sources have been preserved.

The comparison allows to expand the view of the Reims route and gives more opportunities to highlight the unique details of this diplomatic mission. The thesis is also focused on the analysis of the historical and geographical circumstances of the Wenceslas's journey.

Based on the identified data a relatively detailed itinerary, according to which Wenceslas visited two dozen of cities, was created. The course and purpose of the described mission can be used to enrich the concepts of period ceremonies (the phenomenon of adventus regis) and the aspects of Luxembourg-French politics.

It is also possible to analyse the concept of the government of the Wenceslas IV. through the Reims journey between the years 1378 and 1398 and thus contribute to its evaluation.