Lands of the Bohemian Crown

Lands of the Bohemian Crown Země Koruny české (Czech) Länder der Böhmischen Krone (German) Corona regni Bohemiae (Latin)
1348–1918
Flag Coat of arms
Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire (1618)
Status	States of the Holy Roman Empire (1348–1806), Crown lands of the Habsburg monarchy (1526–1804), of the Austrian Empire (1804–1867), and of the Cisleithanian part of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918)
Capital	Prague
Common languages	Czech, German, Latin
Religion	Official religions: Latin Catholicism Hussitism, later Bohemian Reformed (Utraquism, Brethren) Others: Lutheranism (majority during Reformation) Judaism (Jews) Calvinism Hutterian Anabaptism Waldensianism Neo-Adamitism
Government	Monarchy
King
• 1346–1378	Charles I (first)
• 1916–1918	Charles III (last)
History
• Bohemian Crown established	7 April 1348
• Inauguration of the    Luxembourg dynasty	7 April 1348
• Became main part of    Bohemian Crown lands	5 April 1355
• King confirmed Elector	25 December 1356
• King Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Bohemia	16 December 1526
• Dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy	31 October 1918
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Bohemia Margraviate of Moravia Duchies of Silesia Upper Lusatia Lower Lusatia Bohemian Crown lands controlled by the Hussite movement Egerland Upper Palatinate (Electoral Palatinate) First Czechoslovak Republic Electorate of Saxony Free State of Prussia Second Polish Republic
Today part of	Czech Republic Germany Poland

The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods with feudal obligations to the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire according to the Golden Bull of 1356, the Margraviate of Moravia, the Duchies of Silesia, and the two Lusatias, known as the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia and the Margraviate of Lower Lusatia, as well as other territories throughout its history. This agglomeration of states nominally under the rule of the Bohemian kings was referred to simply as Bohemia.^[1] They are now sometimes referred to in scholarship as the Czech lands, a direct translation of the Czech abbreviated name.

The joint rule of Corona regni Bohemiae was legally established by decree of King Charles IV issued on 7 April 1348, on the foundation of the original Czech lands ruled by the Přemyslid dynasty until 1306. By linking the territories, the interconnection of crown lands thus no more belonged to a king or a dynasty but to the Bohemian monarchy itself, symbolized by the Crown of Saint Wenceslas. During the reign of King Ferdinand I from 1526, the lands of the Bohemian Crown became a constituent part of the Habsburg monarchy. A large part of Silesia was lost in the mid-18th century, but the rest of the Lands passed to the Austrian Empire and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary. By the Czechoslovak declaration of independence in 1918, the remaining Czech lands became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic.

The Bohemian Crown was neither a personal union nor a federation of equal members. Rather, the Kingdom of Bohemia had a higher status than the other incorporated constituent countries. There were only some common state institutions of the Bohemian Crown that did not survive the centralization of the Habsburg monarchy under Queen Maria Theresa in the 18th century. The most important of them was the Bohemian Court Chancellery which was united with the Austrian Chancellery in 1749.^[2]