Margrave of Brandenburg, and the King of Bohemia. Each of these princes was to hold a high office under the emperor, those of the princes being merely nominal, while those of the clerics were real.
The other articles in the Golden Bull provided for the regulation of taxes, disposition of the revenue, coinage of money, limitations of the rights and privileges of cities, and various other laws concerning the government of the empire.
The Golden Bull, so excellent in itself, met with hot displeasure from the Pope, who could not look on with indifference when he found himself without any voice in the elections for the emperor. As a compensation for this slight, Charles was obliged to grant many concessions to the clergy.
Charles IV was very pious, spending much time in fasting and prayer; and partly on account of his own religious tendencies, The Growth
of Clerical Power.and partly on account of the pressure of events, he granted many favors to the clergy. Many new churches and monasteries sprang up, and the old were endowed and improved in appearance. At the present time, to the five millions of inhabitants in Bohemia, there are nineteen hundred parish churches, while in the time of Charles there were twenty-three hundred, and the population was only about three millions. Not only did the churches increase in number, but also in wealth, which was especially the case with the higher ones. Thus the Archbishop of Prague had the revenues coming from four hundred villages and some dozen cities, which enabled him to hold a court equal in magnificence to some of the princes of the empire. The higher clergy lived in idleness, luxury, and indulged
