The fourth part of the saga of Charles IV. and his time.
From sea to sea, as the author called the fourth volume of her novel saga (1355 - 1362), stretches the medieval Roman Empire, the domain of Emperor Charles. However, it is not a very solid formation even in a united Christian Europe. After the Roman coronation, Charles IV. gives his empire a firm order and tries to attach it to the golden core of his own power - the Czech Kingdom. He also watches with concern the development of the war between England and France, which he is close to as the country where he grew up. At the same time, it struggled to build friendly relations in the east, with the Polish and Hungarian kingdoms and with the Habsburgs in the Austrian lands. His diplomatic efforts are preparing the ground for the return of the Holy See from Avignon to Rome, and he gets on well with all the popes who take turns at it and are often different.
Europe, especially in the west, was plagued by the great plague, which did not spread in the Charles Empire, but its effects did not affect it only marginally. Charles's task seems almost impossible to accomplish and he has no heir for his Central European empire. But that changed before his forty-fifth birthday, when his son Václav was finally born. Anna of Swidnica was Charles's great love and he adored her longed-for child beyond measure, which was not the best for the prince's future character and regal qualities. It was, however, perhaps the happiest period of Charles's life. He founded his stone bridge, completed the construction of Karlstejn and the imperial family was at peace and in love.
