On 13 April 1346 at Avignon, Clement VI declared Louis IV a heretic and schismatic and deposed him.
Afterwards, Charles swore an oath to Clement that if elected he would annul all of his predecessor's acts and not spend more than one day in Rome for his imperial coronation.
[1] Two of the electors were Charles's relations: the king of Bohemia was his father and the archbishop of Trier was his great uncle, Baldwin of Luxembourg.
[3] A third, the archbishop of Mainz, Gerlach of Nassau, had only been installed after Clement deposed Henry of Virneberg on 7 April 1346.
Charles and his father went abroad after his election to assist Philip VI of France against an English invasion.