Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394)

First wife of Richard II of England from 1382 until her death from the plague 1394. The eldest daughter of Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania, she married Richard January 1382 as part of attempts by her brother, Emperor Wenceslas, to form an anti-French alliance to promote his candidate for the papacy. Despite threats of French interception, Anne reached England December 1381. There is no evidence that she promoted the religious teachings of John Wycliffe, but her Bohemian servants introduced his writings to the early Protestant thinker, John Hus. She died of pestilence and was given a sumptuous funeral by her husband.