I have an anecdote to share regarding this.
1. Henry VII 1275 – 1313 (king 1308/emperor 1312)
Born around 1275 in Valenciennes, he was a son of Count Henry VI of Luxembourg and Béatrice from the House of Avesnes. Raised at the French court, he was the lord of comparatively small properties in a peripheral and French-speaking part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was symptomatic of the empire’s weakness that during his rule as the Count of Luxembourg, he agreed to become a French vassal, seeking the protection of Philip the Fair.
2. John the Blind 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346 (Count of Luxembourg from 1309 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland.)
Raised in Paris, John was French by education, but deeply involved in the politics of Germany. In 1310 his father arranged the marriage of the 14-year-old with Elisabeth from the Přemyslid dynasty, sister of the deceased King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia. John campaigned in Bohemia and was elected king by deposition of Henry of Carinthia, he thereby became one of the seven prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire and - in succession of Wenceslaus III - claimant to the Polish and Hungarian throne. Like his predecessor Henry, he was disliked by much of the Czech nobility. John was considered to be an "alien king" and soon gave up the administration of Bohemia and embarked on a life of travel, spending time in Luxembourg and the French court.
He was killed at age 50 in 1346, while fighting alongside the French against the English at the Battle of Crécy
3. Charles IV (Czech: Karel IV., German: Karl IV, Latin: Carolus IV; 14 May 1316, Prague – 29 November 1378[1]), born Wenceslaus (Václav), was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor.
He received French education and was literate and fluent in five languages: Latin, Czech, German, French, and Italian. In 1331 he gained some experience of warfare in Italy with his father. From 1333 he administered the lands of the Bohemian Crown due to his father's frequent absence and later also deteriorating eyesight.
Charles initially worked to secure his power base. Bohemia had remained untouched by the plague. Prague became his capital, and he rebuilt the city on the model of Paris, establishing the New Town of Prague (Nové Město). In 1348, he founded the University of Prague, named after him, the first university in Central Europe. This served as a training ground for bureaucrats and lawyers. Soon Prague emerged as the intellectual and cultural center of Central Europe.
4. Sigismund of Luxemburg KG (Hungarian: Zsigmond, Croatian: Žigmund, Czech: Zikmund) (14 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411.
Born in Nuremberg, Sigismund was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and of his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania, the granddaughter of King Casimir III of Poland. King Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland always had a good and close relationship with Emperor Charles IV. Young Sigismund was sent to the Hungarian court, and soon learnt the Hungarian language and Hungarian way of life, and became entirely devoted to his adopted country. King Louis appointed Sigismund to succeed him as King of Hungary.
In 1381, the then 13-year-old Sigismund was sent to Kraków by his eldest brother and guardian Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, to learn Polish and to become acquainted with the land and its people. King Wenceslaus also gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland.
In 1408 Sigismund supported the deposed Bosnian king Ostoja against the newly elected Tvrtko II. At Dobor (castle in Bosnia) he defeated Tvrtko II and captured about 127 leading Bosnian nobles who were supporting the pretender. He then had them all decapitated (Siggy was known for his cruelty) but the most interesting part was that he wanted to spare a young page, offering to take him in his service.
The page allegedly replied: "I will not serve a Czech pig!" - and was summarily executed.
Sigismund was
- born in Germany
- father was a French educated king of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor
- mother was a Pommeranian princess
- raised in Hungary and, to an extend, in Poland
- was Margave of Brandenburg, then King of Hungary/Croatia
And yet he was perceived by a Bosnian page as Czech even though he only spent the first years of his life there. Also, he was never considered a foreigner by the Hungarian nobility.
