John "the Blind" of Bohemia (10 August 1296-26 August 1346) was King of Bohemia from 1310 to 1346, succeeding Henry of Bohemia and preceding Emperor Karl IV of Germany. John was the eldest son of Emperor Henry VII of Germany and Margaret of Brabant, and he was blinded by ophthalmia in 1336 during a crusade in Lithuania. John the Blind was killed at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 while fighting for his ally, the Kingdom of France.
Biography[]
Johann de Luxembourg was born on 10 August 1296 in Luxembourg, the son of Emperor Henry VII of Germany and Baroness Marguerite of Tafalla; he was the brother of Maria de Luxembourg, who would marry Charles IV of France. In 1310, he married Elizabeth of Bohemia, and the two were accompanied by Holy Roman Empire guards on the trip to Prague; they deposed King Henry of Bohemia, and John became the new ruler with his wife. John was disliked by the Bohemian nobility for being an "alien king", and he decided to live a life of travel rather than face issues at home. From 1326 to 1332, he supported the Teutonic Order against the Kingdom of Poland, and in 1335 King Casimir the Great was forced to bribe John to give up his claim to the Polish throne. In 1336, he lost his eyesight from ophthalmia, but King Philip VI of France would seek John's services, making him the governor of Languedoc in 1338. In 1346, he led the vanguard of the French army at the Battle of Crecy against England in the Hundred Years' War, and he fought blindly during the battle; he was slain by the English. His son Wenzel, the future Karl IV of Germany, succeeded him as king.
Family[]
John of Bohemia was married to Beatrice de Bourbon (1320-1383), the great-granddaughter of King Louis IX of France. They had four children:
- Princess Margarete of Bohemia (1313-1341), wife of Count Heinrich of Niederbayern.
- Jutte of Bohemia (1315-1349), wife of Duke Jean III of Normandy
- Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1316-1378, born Wenzel), Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 to 1378.
- John Henry, Margrave of Moravia (1322-1375), Margrave of Moravia from 1349 to 1375
- Nicolaus of Bohemia (1322-1358), Patriarch of Aquileia