aus there is but little
left to recall Charles and his works. The library of the Benedictines
was destroyed by fire; only two works were saved, the "Emaus-Reimser
Evangelium" and the "Registrum Literarum monasterii Slavorum." The
frescoes which adorn the cloisters seem as fresh to-day as when the
Italian masters, brought to Prague by Charles, stood aside to let the
monarch see the finished work, and that was several years before the
consecration festival. The interior of the church is beautiful, its
slender Gothic columns vanishing into the hallowed shadows of the roof.
The "plain song" of the remaining monks still rings with the fervour of
simple, steadfast faith. The main building of the monastery is now an
academy of music where the rising generation is being taught to
appreciate the latest eccentricities of modern music.

Charles IV, first Bohemian King of that name, ruled from 1346 to 1378,
so the building of Emaus covered pretty nearly all the years of his
reign and in fact went back to the unhappy times before he ascended the
throne. His father was evidently a difficult person to live with; not
only his extravagance and erratic habits, but also a thoroughly
unjustified suspicion of his elder son, must have caused the latter a
great deal of misery. Instead of following the precedent of the
P[vr]emysls in dynastic disputes, Charles wisely abstained from open
opposition to John, although the people's affection had been transferred
from father to son. Added to this there were the usual troubles caused
by the German Princes. John had never even been "placed" in the running
for the imperial crown; goodness knows what would have happened if the
weal of the Holy Roman Empire had depended on him. Louis of Wittelsbach,
who contested the imperial throne with Frederick the Fair of Austria,
and had beaten the latter handsomely at Muehldorf, was nevertheless none
too safely seated, and became involved in the unending squabbles with
the Papacy, aggravated in his case by the removal of the Pope to
Avignon. John, of course, sided against Louis and with the Pope, so
Louis joined with the German Princes in trying to deprive John Henry of
the Tyrol and Carinthia, which the latter considered his property on
marrying Margaret Maultasche; he was lucky enough to retain possession
of the Tyrol while the Austrian Dukes kept Carinthia. That little matter
settled, John went off and fought the Lithuanians again--he called it a
crusade--and c