Charles IV of Luxembourg (14 May 1316 - 29 November 1378) was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1355–1378) and King of Bohemia (1346–1378), the son of King John of Bohemia of the Luxembourg family. In 1346, Charles IV returned from France with his first wife Blanche, the daughter of Charles, Duke of Valois. When the royal family returned to Prague, they had nowhere to stay because the palace had been demolished. Charles IV's father, John of Luxembourg, did not care for the royal palace; his motto was "fight, fight, fight," therefore the family moved into his father's residence, which was built at the end of the thirteenth century. Nowadays, it serves as a cultural centre. The memorial next to the home commemorates the 500th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus.
After becoming King of Bohemia, Charles IV of Luxembourg established a new royal status: Bohemia became a hereditary monarchy, with daughters inheriting the crown if there were no male offspring. Charles IV of Luxembourg established the first university in Central Europe in 1348, and the diocese of Prague was elevated to the position of archdiocese. After becoming Emperor in 1356, he issued the Golden Bull, a constitutional statute that defined the process for electing Holy Roman Emperors. In 1358, Charles IV of Luxembourg proposed baptism to the Lithuanian princes Algirdas and Kęstutis, and they promised to carry it out if the Baltic lands captured by the Teutonic Knights were returned to Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights were removed from the Lithuanian border. The conditions of Algirdas and Kęstutis were not met and they refused to be baptised. Charles IV of Luxembourg is considered one of the most famous rulers of late medieval Central Europe.
During his rule, the Czech territories were the largest in the region, with Prague being the largest city in Europe. The reign of Charles IV of Luxembourg is regarded as the 'Golden Age'. The Charles Bridge in Prague, Karlštejn, Hradec Králové, Carlsbad in the Czech Republic and Carlsbad (Baden) in Germany, as well as the asteroid 16951 Carolus Quartus, are named after him.
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