ARNOST DA PARDUBICE

ARNOST of Pardubice. - Archbishop of Prague, b. at Hosty in 1297, d. at Prague in 1364. He studied at Bologna and Padua and until 1342 served at the papal court in Avignon; the following year he was consecrated bishop. Elevated to the rank of archbishop on 30 April 1344, he issued the Statuta Provincialis to regulate the life of the clergy. In 1346 he led a mission to the Pope to announce the election of Charles IV. In 1348 he took part in the military expedition against Brandenburg. Returning to Prague, he convened the provincial synod on 12 November 1349 and decided to expel the Flagellants from Bohemia; in 1350 he accompanied Charles IV to Nuremberg and the following year he went as ambassador to the Papal Court. In 1354, in Charles IV’s absence, he became administrator of Bohemia; in 1355 he accompanied the empress to Rome and in 1361 he attended the baptism of Wenceslaus IV at Nuremberg. In 1362 he advised Charles IV at the peace negotiations with the King of Hungary in Brno. When the emperor founded the University of Prague, he became its chancellor. He founded the monasteries of Kladsko (1349), Jaromer (1356), Rokycany (1361), Sadsko (1362) and the hospitals of Český Brod, Příbram and Liban. At the death of Innocent VI his name was also put forward in the conclave as a successor.