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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.
Welcome to Season 3 of the History of the Germans, diving into one of the most dramatic and consequential periods of medieval German history — the age of the Hohenstaufen. But before the Hohenstaufen can take centre stage, someone else has to get out of the way first.
It is 1125, and the Salian dynasty is dying with Emperor Henry V in the palace of the Bishop of Utrecht. After a century of Salian rule — marked by civil war, the Investiture Controversy, and a catastrophic weakening of imperial authority — the princes of the realm face a fundamental question: what is an emperor actually for?
In this episode, we set the scene for the next great chapter of German medieval history by exploring the three strategies available to any new emperor seeking to rebuild royal power, and then watch as those strategies are tested almost immediately — at one of the most chaotic and dramatic royal elections the Holy Roman Empire ever produced.
At Mainz in August 1125, four great dynasties — the Hohenstaufen, the Welf, the Babenberg, and the Supplinburg — converge to elect a new king. What follows is a masterclass in medieval political theatre: tearful refusals, procedural confusion, a man jumping on a horse at entirely the wrong moment, and a last-minute betrayal that will echo through German and Italian politics for the next 150 years.
Topics covered in this episode:
Keywords: Holy Roman Empire, Hohenstaufen, Salian dynasty, Lothar III, medieval German history, Welf dynasty, Guelph Ghibelline, election 1125, Frederick of Hohenstaufen, History of the Germans podcast, medieval Europe, Investiture Controversy, House of Babenberg
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
Most other medieval German rulers are all but forgotten, so why has interest in the Hohenstaufen never completely disappeared. They were by no means the most successful emperors, that crown has to go the Ottonians, nor was their reign the most fateful, that award goes to the later Salians.
Frederick Barbarossa and his grandson Frederick II have been such fascinating personalities that almost any age could project their own perceptions and expectations onto them, from champion of national unity to modern man before his time. Time to find out what really happened, who they actually were.
As always a great many things keep happening, some good, some bad.
The age of the Hohenstaufen begins with an emperor who wasn’t a Hohenstaufen. Lothar of Supplinburg was a Saxon duke who had spent his early years in opposition to the reigning Salian house and their allies, the Hohenstaufen. The circumstances of his election victory against Frederick of Hohenstaufen kicks off the long lasting political antagonism between Staufer and Welf, between Guelphs and Ghibellines. But despite the outward differences in background and initial political positioning, Lothar III continued the Salian policy of forcing their will upon the princes and pushing back against the papacy. And he brings a new element to German history – the colonisation of the  East that will ultimately bring about the Baltic empire of the Teutonic Knights and the Hanse
The age of the Hohenstaufen starts with emperor Lothar III who was not a Hohenstaufen at all – how could that happen?
Lothar III takes the reins of the kingdom but soon finds opposition from the Hohenstaufen brothers
The church is split three ways though Bernard of Clairvaux stands ready in the wings to push it just where he wants it
Lothar III is dragged into the schism between Innocent II and Anaclet II. Thanks to the efforts of Bernard of Clairvaux he receives little for his efforts.
Konrad III manages to gain the crown against overwhelming odds. His opponent Henry the proud was the son-in-law of Lothar III and the most powerful prince in the land. The coup resulted in a continuation of the civil war between the houses of Welf and Hohenstaufen. Participation in the Second Crusade was an attempt to break the gridlock that backfired badly
History never repeats itself, but.. another candidate having the royal title snatched from his fingers. Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria.
Konrad III may have made himself king, but his authority is challenged. Feuds brake out all over the realm and he desperately needs a resolution
Suffice to say that Conrad III’s great crusade does not go quite as planned.
The most famous of all the medieval German emperors. His reign divides into three parts, part 1 (1152-1160) when he brings peace to war torn Germany and rebuilds imperial authority, part 2 (1160-1177) where he struggles with the papacy and the Italian Communes, and finally part 3 (1177-1190 a period of consolidation ending in the Third Crusade.
The Holy Roman emperor with the best PR starts with bang. Having hastily put his uncle three feet under he becomes the capstone of the empire
Barbarossa’s background, childhood and education. What is it that made him so exceptional?
Barbarossa will boost the honour of the empire by burning cities, hanging heretics, slaughtering rabble-rousing Romans and inventing the concept of the university.
Rainald von Dassel’s Latin translations have come in for a bit of criticism. First his choice of words almost kills a cardinal, then he invents the Holy Roman Empire
Barbarossa’s attempt to capture Milan faced challenges, until the duke of Bohemia made a daring move.
Milan defeated and the other Italian communes brought into submission, Barbarossa begins a process aimed at establishing Roman Law and the Authority of the (Roman) emperors
The Laws of Roncaglia did not go down well with the communes. It is the tiny city of Crema that rose up first, and fell. And then it was Milan’s turn
Barbarossa brings down the largest army the empire had ever fielded to take Rome, capture Alexander III and subdue the Italian Communes
Barbarossa’s tyrannical rule in Italy achieves the impossible, a Lombard League of the communes who had been at war since they were created.
After the last disastrous campaign, Barbarossa stays six years in Germany before he claims revenge before Alessandria, the “City of Straw”
1176 – The battle between Barbarossa and the Lombard League that (may have) sealed the fate of Northern Italy and still reverberates today
Frederick Barbarossa’s Italian ambitions hit the wall and he has to submit to Pope Alexander III and make peace with the Lombard League
1181 the most powerful vassal of Frederick Barbarossa, his cousin Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria falls. Who pushed him and why?
1182-85 Following the Peace of Venice and the Fall of Henry the Lion, our great emperor has reached the end of the road. Being a man of infinite resource and sagacity he climbs out of the hole, resets his political allegiances and recovers some of his previous standing.
1186-1189 Barbarossa seeks a new source of legitimacy of his power. He finds two of them! And gets ready to go on crusade.
The last act in Barbarossa’s eventful life. In 1189 he sets on the Third Crusade. Along the way he almost attacks Constantinople, defeats the Turkish Sultan and finally drowns
No medieval German ruler had been pressed into national service as a foil of contemporary hopes and beliefs as often as Barbarossa
What was the life of a peasant like in Germany around 1200? To what degree does he participate in the economic boom of the Middle Ages?
