[7]
Bohemia, under the sovereignty of her dukes, and from A.D. 1198, under
that of kings, was independent of the German empire, or at least did
not belong to its circles; it recognized however a kind of sovereignty
in that powerful neighbour, and the kings of Bohemia deemed it an
honour to belong to the seven Electors, who chose the worldly head of
Christianity. In the year 1306, the last male descendant of Perzmislas
was murdered. His house had reigned in Bohemia in uninterrupted
succession; although the kingdom was properly not hereditary, but
elective, like Germany, Hungary, and Poland. After a short interval,
the crown of Bohemia fell by succession to the house of Luxemburg, and
thus became several times united with the Roman imperial crown. Under
the emperor Charles IV, Bohemia rose to the summit of its lustre. It
was he who founded, A.D. 1348, the university of Prague, the first
Slavic institution of that description.[8] Under his successor,
Wenceslaus, the war of the Hussites began. In the year 1457. the
Bohemians maintained their right of election by placing George
Podiebrad, a Bohemian, on the throne. The wisdom and equity of this
individual justified their choice. In A.D. 1527, Ferdinand I, archduke
of Austria, was elected king; and from that time the Bohemians have
never again been able to detach themselves from Austria; with the
exception of a short interval, during which the unfortunate palatine
Frederic, known in the history of the thirty years' war, was placed on
their throne.
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