Edukacja, dyplomacja, pieniądze i wojny. Podróże Karola IV Luksemburskiego w świetle jego autobiografii

Abstrakt

The aim of this article was to reconstruct the journeys of Charles IV of Luxembourg in the years 1316–1346. It will also consider answers to the following questions: Where did he travel? For what purpose? What distances did he travel? Who accompanied him during the journeys? What means of transport did he use? These issues were resolved by analysing the source, the autobiography of Charles IV, translated from Latin by Magdalena Nowakowska, edited by Anna Paner. In order to supplement the information, the literature on the life of Charles IV and the issue of travel in Middle Ages were used. As well as geographic method of marking places and events on the map. To reconstruct the distances that Karol covered, Google Maps was used. Thanks to these methods, it became possible to answer the questions posed. Destinations for the journey, their purpose, and the route of the road travelled were established, although the latter could not always be reproduced with equal detail. Estimates of the distances travelled revealed that Charles had travelled at least 25,900 kilometres in the first thirty years of his life. Depending on the speed of his travels, it could take him more than two to more than three years spent only on the move. This indicates the considerable mobility of this ruler, caused both by his character traits and the political situation in Europe in the fourteenth century.