is end he
purchased part of the upper Palatinate of the Rhine in 1353, and in 1367
annexed Lower Lusatia to Bohemia and bought numerous estates in various
parts of Germany. On the death in 1363 of Meinhard, duke of Upper
Bavaria and count of Tirol, Upper Bavaria was claimed by the sons of the
emperor Louis IV., and Tirol by Rudolph IV., duke of Austria. Both
claims were admitted by Charles on the understanding that if these
families died out both territories should pass to the house of
Luxemburg. About the same time he was promised the succession to the
margraviate of Brandenburg, which he actually obtained for his son
Wenceslas in 1373. He also gained a considerable portion of Silesian
territory, partly by inheritance through his third wife, Anna, daughter
of Henry II., duke of Schweidnitz. In 1365 Charles visited Pope Urban V.
at Avignon and undertook to escort him to Rome; and on the same occasion
was crowned king of Burgundy, or Arles, at Arles on the 4th of June
1365.

His second journey to Italy took place in 1368, when he had a meeting
with Urban at Viterbo, was besieged in his palace at Siena, and left the
country before the end of the year 1369. During his later years the
emperor took little part in German affairs beyond securing the election
of his son Wenceslas as king of the Romans in 1376, and negotiating a
peace between the Swabian league and some nobles in 1378. After dividing
his lands between his three sons, he died on the 29th of November 1378
at Prague, where he was buried, and where a statue was erected to his
memory in 1848.

Charles, who according to the emperor Maximilian I. was the step-father
of the Empire, but the father of Bohemia, brought the latter country to
a high state of prosperity. He reformed the finances, caused roads to be
made, provided for greater security to life and property, and introduced
or encouraged various forms of industry. In 1348 he founded the
university of Prague, and afterwards made this city the seat of an
archbishop, and beautified it by the erection of several fine buildings.
He was an accomplished diplomatist, possessed a penetrating intellect,
and was capable of much trickery in order to gain his ends. By refusing
to become entangled in Italian troubles and confining himself to
Bohemia, he proved that he preferred the substance of power to its
shadow. Apparently the most pliant of men, he had in reality great
persistence of character, and if foiled in one set o