CHARLES IV
This was often referred to as “The Golden Bull.” The Church clerics formed the judiciary for civil as well as religious matters. In time Catholic Europe would separate the judicial authority between religious and civil courts, the final step was to bring clerics and the church under the civil control and authority which was fought vehemently by the church which for years tried to retain at least the right to try priests and other church officials even for civil crimes.
When there were elections, sometimes a prince elector, would “arrange” to have a foreign prince elector delayed so as to miss the voting if there were of a different faction or supported a different candidate and the elector had to pass through his lands. Worse, occasionally, “bandits” would assault an elector and sometimes kill him. Most nations which have elections have laws and procedures to prevent opposing factions from interfering with the representative’s travel to the place of election. This is one of the first in Christian Europe.
Charles IV, was the first King of Bohemia to become Holy Roman Emperor. He was a member of the House of Luxembourg from his father's side and the Czech House of Přemyslid from his mother's side; he emphasized the latter due to his lifelong affinity for the Czech side of his inheritance, and also because his direct ancestors in the Přemyslid line included two saints.
