Prague Becomes an Archbishopric

JAN 01 1344 · 12:00

Charles IV kneels before the Virgin in the votive panel of Archbishop Jan Očko of Vlašim. Place: Avignon (bull issued); Prague Castle (proclamation) Figures: Pope Clement VI · Charles, margrave of Moravia · Arnošt of Pardubice, first archbishop of Prague · John of Luxembourg, attending the ceremony Since 973 the bishopric of Prague has been a suffragan of the archbishop of Mainz. For three and a half centuries the German metropolitan has confirmed Bohemian bishops, received Bohemian appeals, and taken Bohemian fees. Charles, who has been negotiating in Avignon throughout 1343 and into 1344, will not have it any longer. His tutor sits on the throne of Peter. The price is supportable. On April 30, 1344, Clement VI issues the bull Ex super eminenti. The bishopric of Prague is raised to a metropolitan see. The bishoprics of Olomouc and the newly erected Litomyšl are made its suffragans. The Bohemian church is, ecclesiastically, a province of its own. The archbishop is given the right to crown the kings of Bohemia, ending the politics by which a Mainz coronation could be withheld in a bad year.