Bohemia, from the earliest times to the fall of national independence in 1620: With a short summary of later eventsMaurice, C. Edmund (Charles Edmund)
History
Bohemia, from the earliest times to the fall of national independence in 1620: With a short summary of later events
Maurice, C. Edmund (Charles Edmund)
Bohemia (Czech Republic) -- History -- 1526-1618; Bohemia (Czech Republic) -- History -- To 1526
But the attempt to combine his work as Emperor with his work as King
of Bohemia was to be the great difficulty of his career; and scarcely
had he succeeded in bringing the University into working order before
the great rush of students began to alarm the inhabitants of Prague.
Complaints were made of disorders, of the high price of provisions,
and of difficulties arising from the want of accommodation in the
city. This last objection Charles proceeded to meet by founding a new
suburb of Prague, to be united by ditch, wall, and bridge with the
old city, and to enjoy the same privileges as the rest of Prague.
This helped forward Charles’s plans for raising Prague into Imperial
importance; and the work of uniting all the different parts of the
city was undertaken on so splendid a scale that, in a time of famine,
Charles was able to solve “the problem of the unemployed,” by setting
more than a thousand men to work on the new walls. But there still
remained the disorders which had been brought about by the arrival of
German students, who distrusted the justice of Bohemian tribunals. In
order to restore peace, Charles placed the University directly under
his own authority, and allowed no appeal from the decisions of the
Rector, except to the highest court. This creation of an independent
corporation of learning was a necessary stage in the growth of the
University, and contained seeds both of good and evil, to be developed
at a later time.
In the founding of this University, Charles had aimed at the
accomplishment of two different objects; the establishment of an
intellectual centre for the Empire, and the development of a new life
in Bohemia. The second of these objects was probably the one nearest to
his heart; and it was not only by the encouragement of learning that
he hoped to promote it, but by attention to every phase of national
well-being. He, like his grandfather Wenceslaus, desired to substitute
a written code of laws for the floating mass of customs and traditions
by which Bohemia was, in great part, governed. How far Wenceslaus had
gone towards the execution of this plan cannot be ascertained; but
Charles actually drew up his code, and gave it the name of the Majestas
Carolina. If we may judge from his preface, and from the subject which
stands first in the code, the cause of oppression and disorder which
most impressed him in Bohemia was the alienation of royal lands by the
Kings. The power which special nobles had gained, through these grants,
had been often used in a most disorderly manner. The efficiency of the
central Executive had been unduly weakened; and an excuse had been
given for those continual demands for exceptional taxation, which had
so painfully marked the reign of King John. Charles therefore drew up a
careful list of the cities and lands, which, under no circumstances,
should be alienated by the King, nor should any grant of them be asked
for by others. Special arrangements were made for the registration,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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