Arnest of Pardubice

ARNOST da PARDURICE — Archbishop of Prague, born at Hosty in 1297, died 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. Raised to the rank of archbishop on 30 April 1344, he issued the Statuta Provincialia to regulate the life of the clergy. In 1346, at the head of a mission, he went to the Pope to communicate the election of Carlo 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 Carlo IV to Nuremberg, and a year later went as ambassador to the Papal Court. In 1354, in the absence of Carlo IV, he became administrator of Bohemia; in 1355 he accompanied the empress to Rome, and in 1361 he attended the baptism of Venceslao IV at Nuremberg. In 1362 he was Carlo IV’s adviser during the peace negotiations with the king of Hungary at Brno. When the emperor founded the University of Prague, he became its chancellor. He founded the monasteries of Kladsko (1349), Jaromer (1356), Rokycany (1361), and Sadsko (1362), as well as the hospitals of Ceský Brod, Pribram, and Liban. At the death of Innocenzo VI, his name was also put forward in the conclave as a successor.