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 that the Čech tongue was Slavonic and not Teutonic. The first Archbishop of Bohemia was Ernest of Pardubic, a man of much learning, and greatly beloved on account of his goodness and integrity.

In the year 1347, Charles was crowned in Prague as King of Bohemia, the ceremony being performed by the new archbishop. For the occasion, Charles ordered a beautiful crown to be made of the purest gold, and, lest it should meet the fate of the old crown of Bohemia, he had it placed upon the head of the skeleton of St. Václav, whose remains rested in the cathedral at Hradschin. Later, he obtained from the Pope a document pronouncing a fearful curse upon any one who would dare touch with sacrilegious hands this national treasure. Owing to the fact that the crown was kept in the tomb of Bohemia’s patron saint, it is always called St. Václavian.

In 1354, Charles, together with his wife Anna, undertook the journey to the capital of Christendom, to be crowned by the Pope as King of the Romans. He was received in the Italian cities with great demonstrations of joy, which, however, were not sincere. After his coronation, while tarrying in the city of Pisa, he was attacked by the people and soldiers, and had not his attendants performed prodigies of valor, both he and his wife would surely have been cut to pieces by the enraged populace. Thanking God for his deliverance, and liberally rewarding his guards, he hurried out of the country. In 1348 the Pope issued a bull for the establishment of a university in Prague. This may be regarded as the great event in the reign of Charles IV.