hoped that Orhan would become his ally in any future wars, but Orhan, like his fellow Turks, became his enemy in the Genoese war. As part of the alliance, the Ottoman prince was permitted to sell the Christians he had captured at Constantinople as slaves in the public market. Central On July 11, Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In consequence of an alliance between his father and Pope Clement VI, the relentless enemy of the emperor Louis IV, Charles was chosen Roman king in opposition to Louis by some of the princes at Rhens. He had previously promised to be subservient to Clement, he confirmed the papacy in the possession of wide territories, promised to annul the acts of Louis against Clement, to take no part in Italian affairs, and to defend and protect the church. Charles IV was at this time in a very weak position in Germany. Owing to the terms of his election, he was derisively referred to by some as a "priest's king" (Pfaffenkönig). Many bishops and nearly all of the Imperial cities remained loyal to Louis the Bavarian. Charles further endangered his high position when he backed the losing side in the Hundred Years' War. He lost his father and many of his best knights at the Battle of Crécy in August 1346. He himself was wounded on the same field. Meanwhile, in Italy a number of banks in Florence collapsed due to internal problems in Florence, contributed by King Edward III of England defaulting on some of his loans. Most notably, the Bardi family went bankrupt in this year. Italy also suffered a famine, making it difficult for the Papacy to recruit troops for the attack on Smyrna. The Venetians, however, organized an alliance uniting several European parties (Sancta Unio), composed notably of the Knights Hospitaller, which carried out five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states. In the realm of technology, papermaking reached Holland, and firearms made their way to Northern Germany in this year. The earliest records in the area place them in the city of Aachen. Western Europe On July 11, King Edward III crossed the English Channel and arrived in Normandy the following day with 1,600 ships. He took the ports of La Hogue and Barfleur with overwhelming force and continued inland towards Caen, taking towns along