29.11.1378 Charles IV died.

In the autumn of 1378, the sixty-two-year-old Charles very unfortunately broke his femoral neck, was bedridden and had pneumonia. His body could not take it anymore, and the emperor died on 29 November.

By October 1350, Charles IV's life was already hanging in the balance. Probably during the tournament he suffered injuries to his jaw and cervical spine, so that he was paralysed for some time. Eventually he recovered, but the mobility of his neck was limited and the still young king began to walk with a stoop. Later, gout also restricted his movement.

In the autumn of 1378, Charles, now sixty-two years old, very unfortunately broke his femoral neck, was bedridden and contracted pneumonia. His body could not take it anymore, and the emperor died on the night of 29 November 1378. The news spread rapidly throughout Europe. His body was embalmed and dressed in Franciscan robes, as the king had once wished.

"Thus it was exposed for eleven days in the audience chamber of the royal palace, while psalms were sung in all the churches. The mourning ceremonies began on the 11th of December, and lasted four whole days. The funeral procession, numbering about seven thousand persons, was composed of nearly five hundred burghers, dressed in black and carrying candles. They were followed by court servants, representatives of schools, students, clergy and heralds bearing the symbols of all the countries over which the king and emperor ruled.They were followed by the highest noblemen with the coffin on which the coffin lay," Marie Michlová describes the events of the time in her book Death and Funerals of the Famous.

The body of Charles IV was dressed in a purple cloak and wore the imperial crown on his head, with other badges of power lying beside him. The procession was apparently concluded by the new King Wenceslas IV. This procession made its way towards St. Vitus's Cathedral and after the devotion went to the Lesser Town. At today's Charles Bridge, the mayors were taken over by the conseilers, and from the Monastery of St. Clement they were carried by anotherand another thirty from the monastery of Emmaus to Vyšehrad, where the coffin was displayed at night.

"Subsequently it was on display in the Church of St. James in the Old Town and in the Church of Our Lady Under the Chain. On 14 December, the remains were returned to St. Vitus Church. Some of the objects used in the mourning ceremonies were ritually sacrificed, such as the canopy, the emperor's shield and banners," Michlová writes.

During the mass, the dead king was wrapped in a golden cloak in a tin coffin. The funeral orations followed, in which Charles IV was referred to for the first time as the "father of the fatherland". The king's body was again dressed in a simple robe on 16 December. He wore a wooden crown on his head and was thus placed in a simple coffin. This was placed in the royal tomb in the middle of the choir of St. Vitus Cathedral alongside Charles's three long-dead wives. Later the body was dressed in more sumptuous clothing and the coffin received a more ornate makeover. When this happened is not known.

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