Sources and Ways of Wrocław's Promotion in the Structures of the Bohemian Crown in the Luxembourg Era: Polemic Recapitulation

Abstract

This article presents the consequences of the establishment of the Crown of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1348, which entailed the incorporation of Silesia with its rich and ambitious city of Wrocław. Initially, Wrocław posed many challenges for Prague, but over time, it became its competitor. The growing position of Wrocław in the Bohemian Crown stemmed from the legitimization of its rights to the Bohemian throne. Hence, Wrocław’s art and architecture of that time reveal many political undertones. In the winter of 1358/1359, the emperor chose Wrocław to ensure the succession of the Luxembourg secundogeniture. The birth of Wenceslaus IV in 1361 simplified the matter of succession. But when Charles IV’s younger son, Sigismund, was not accepted in Prague after his brother’s death in 1419, he took the Bohemian throne via Wrocław, calling it in 1420 “the second capital of his Rule and the source of law”.