Charles had had an unhappy childhood between his grandmother, the
unfortunate widow Elizabeth, a somewhat uneven-tempered mother, and an
erratic and unreasonable father. The unhappy lad had even been
imprisoned by his father on suspicion of being concerned in a conspiracy
with his mother to dethrone John. Charles must have been about five
years at the time, for he was only seven when, a few years after his
release, King John took him to the French Court for his education. Here
Charles acquired his love of learning, his refined sense of beauty and
steadfastness of purpose, all of which he devoted without stint to his
country, and to him is chiefly due the glorious composition of the
towers and steeples which rise up out of mysterious old Prague. Charles,
and through him Prague, benefited by John's Italian venture, in that the
gracious spirit of the Renaissance came to Bohemia out of his father's
chivalrous exploits. Moreover, Charles, though only seventeen years of
age, was thus given an opportunity of proving his metal in the field; he
won several victories which, however, were fruitless, and above all
learnt the art of governing. So when John and he left Italy, under
pressure from the natives, Charles was competent to represent his father
at home, while the latter went off on his knight-errantry.