Many German histories skip over this period in order to get to the Reformation, which is a shame. Because the 15th century did not just shape the physical appearance of the country, but much of its geographical and mental make-up.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
Click here to listen to the playlist on Spotify
Click here to listen to it as a seperate podcast on Apple Podcasts
Click here to listen to the playlist on YouTube
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
Overview
This is the time when the empire reaches its most challenging phase. This is not the difficult second album, this is more Tina Turner in 1982 when her cover of shame, shame, shame reached #47 in the Netherlands charts.
This is where we see the beginnings of actual states and state bureaucracies developing in Germany. But these states were extremely fragile, likely to be overrun by enemies, divided amongst multiple sons or incorporated into larger entities. War was almost constant, as were dramas of love and pride.
Despite all this strife and feuding, this is also a time of great innovation. Gutenberg came up with the printing press, a technology that would undermine the authority of the Catholic church, fan the flames which led to the Reformation, create the communications infrastructure needed for the rise of modern science and even – if Neil Postman is to be believed – lead to the invention of childhood as an extended, protected phase in the lives of young people.
Like the internet and social media, the printing press demanded new types of content: maps, encyclopaedias, fiction, political pamphlets and engravings, opening the world up to the world.
Links to Episode Websites and Transcripts
Season Opener (Episode 185)
The Holy Roman Empire on the Threshold to the Early Modern Period
Many German histories skip over this period in order to get to the Reformation, which is a shame. Because the 15th century did not just shape the physical appearance of the country, but much of its geographical and mental make-up.
#186: Origin Stories
Mainz and Hessen
This week we are setting off on our tour of the empire for real. And where better to start than with the most senior, most august of the seven prince Electors, the archbishop of Mainz, archchancellor of the empire, and holder of the decisive vote in imperial elections.
But this series is not about grand imperial politics, but about the grimy territorial skullduggery inside the empire. And for Mainz this is a story that is deeply entangled with the history of Hessen.
#187: Johannes Gutenberg’s Pressing Matters
The Invention of printing
Johannes Gutenberg is best known for inventing printing with moveable letters, which is the one thing he did not do. What he did was making it work, which turned out to be a whole lot more complex and more ingenious then one may think..
#188: What Has Printing Ever Done For Us?
The Gutenberg Parenthesis
Printing changed everything, but how exactly did it change everything? That is a question nobody posed properly until Elisabeth L. Eisenstein got on the academic stage in the 1970s and the debate has never stopped.
#189: The Counts Palatinate on the Rhine
Friedrich der Siegreiche and the Mainzer Stiftsfehde
A journey upriver from Mainz to Heidelberg in 1454 – with a brief history of the Counts Palatinate on the Rhine
#190: A (very) brief History of the German Universities
How Germany became the World’s foremost Centre of Learning
“It is a settled fact that Germany alone produces more than all the rest of the world put together; her supremacy in science forms the pendant to England’s supremacy in commerce and on the sea; and it is perhaps even greater.” (Ferdinand Lot, 1892)
#191: The Margraviate of Baden
The Rise from Minor Principality to Grand Duchy
The story of how the small state of Baden became a dominant force in the South West of Germany is one of friendship and loyalty to the death, piratical princesses, alchemy, someone called the Türkenlouis, a sun-shaped city and some skilled diplomacy.
#192: Württemberg, or How to Build a Success
Three components that make a territory in the HRE successful
The region around Stuttgart has become one of Europe’s richest and most active technological hub. How did that trace back to the 15th century?
# 193: The Trades and Tribulations of the Free Imperial Cities
Rothenburg ob der Tauber and the Ravensburger Grosse Handelsgesellschaft
In 1911 an archivist found the almost complete accounts of the largest late medieval trading company in Germany, giving us insights into the world of Free Imperial Cities
#194: The Fuggers of Augsburg
How the Centre of European banking Moved from Florence to Swabia
Within just 40 years the heart of the banking industry moved from Florence and Venice where it had held sway since it was invented and moved north, into a medium sized Swabian city, Augsburg.
#195: Engraving the German Renaissance
Dürer, Burgkmair, Holbein, Schongauer
If there was one major contribution the Germans made to the Renaissance – apart from the printing press, it was the production of drawings, engravings and woodcuts to be enjoyed by many and individually.
#196: Agnes Bernauer – Love and War in Bavaria (Part 1)
Ludwig der Gebartete And Agnes Bernauer
The early 15th century is the political nadir but peak drama for the house of Wittelsbach – featuring Agnes Bernauer and Isabeau of Bavaria
#197: Landshuter Hochzeit – Love and War in Bavaria (Part 2)
Ludwig the Rich and Albrecht IV
The most spectacular wedding of the 15th century took place in 1475 in Landshut – how could a duke of half of Bavaria pull that off?
#198: How Holland Was Lost to the Holy Roman Empire (Part 1)
John the Fearless and William of Holland
How did the Low Countries, once one of the heartlands of the Holy Roman Empire, gradually slip out of the political entity it had belonged for centuries.
#199: How Holland Was Lost to the Holy Roman Empire (Part 2)
It’s the Economy, stupid
The second part of our series on the exit of the Netherlands from the Holy Roman Empire, this time with a focus on demographics, economics and climate.
#200: Divide and Lose
The Leipziger Teilung
In 1485 two brothers split the electorate of Saxony in two, creating the distinctly different Länder of Thuringia and Saxony in the process. All that after 20 years of successful joint rule and at the risk of materially reducing their family’s power. Why did they do it?
#201: Mapping the World
How two Germans invented America
In 1507 two Germans invented America, or at least the name. The question is how and why? Come along to find out.
#202: Arms and Armour
How Germany became the centre of the most advanced industry of its day
Nürnberg and Augsburg emerged as Europe’s premier arms and armour in the 15th and 16th centuries through skilled craftsmanship, economic strategy, and technological innovation.