Abstract
The article tries to evaluate the role of the representatives of the monasteries and religious communities at the court of Charles IV, as well as these institutions themselves. This role is usually presented from the courtly perspective;i.e. above all, it is examined how and in what sense the men from religious orders were usable for the emperor Karl and the court.
The monks in the service of Emperor Charles IV very often became important advisers or authors. Their importance is evident not only in politics, but also in the field of culture and the transfer of new cultural impulses (works, authors, tendencies).
Can these authors and educated people be seen as political but also cultural drivers? Are the monasteries in medieval Prague the most important places of knowledge? And do the religious houses, religious schools and later the university mediate decisive cultural innovations at the imperial court? Does the interdependence of the Prague monasteries with religious centers or other regions play a decisive role? The article concentrates on the court of Charles IV, but is also compared in a longer perspective with the status under her son Wenzel IV.