Episode 219 – The Fall of Ghent
Singapore is only one true city state left. Why did they go? The fall of Ghent in 1485 is a prime example of how they disappeared.
Episode 218 – Of Hedgehogs and Herons
By 1477 the rules of war that had been enshrined in the laws of chivalry are gone. The contest between the French and the Habsburgs over the inheritance of the Grand Dukes of the West gives us a foretaste of the things to come.
Episode 217 – When Mary Met Maxi
“Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry”, that is what we are told. The reality was very different – invasion, rebellion, execution…
Episode 216 – The Youth of Emperor Maximilian I
The Delights and Horrors of the Childhood of the Last Knight
Episode 215 – The Bold in the Cold
In just three years, between 1473 and 1477, Charles the Bold fritters away the mythical wealth of the Burgundian Dukes…
Episode 214 – The Siege that Woke up an Empire
The siege of Neuss and the trial of Peter von Hagenbach changed the way the Holy Roman Empire worked – and internatioonal law
Episode 213 – Duping The Duke of Burgundy
In the 1460s the emperor Friedrich III does something unexpected – he does something, an engagement to the daughter of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy that will change European history.
Episode 212 – The Library of the Raven King
Today we talk about Matthias Corvinus, the legendary renaissance king of Hungary whose library outshone that of the Medici in Florence and whose standing army was one of the greatest – and most expensive – military forces in 15th century Europe.
Episode 211 – Hitting Rock Bottom
It is November 1462 and the emperor Friedrich III and his young family are huddling together in the cellars of the Hofburg. The citizens of Vienna are shooting cannonballs into the 13th century castle, the walls are crumbling and any moment now the angry crowds may break in. Outside, supporting the insurrection stood his own brother, calling on him to give up.
Episode 210 – Ladislaus Postumus
Ladislaus Postumus, king of Hungary, king of Bohemia and archduke of Austria was the lord of many lands, but ruled none of them, until he tried and died