“Let others wage war: you, happy Austria, marry’. Is that really it? Did this family acquire an empire where the sun never sets through just luck and longevity?
That is what we will try to find out in this season where we follow the family from the murder of king Abrecht I in 1308 to the election of emperor Charles V in 1519.
For most of that period the Habsburgs had been languishing in the wilderness. They experienced defeats, divisions and humiliations, were even expelled from their duchy of Austria just before they rose meteorically to world leadership under Maximilian and Charles V. Something must have happened in this period that forged them into the most successful European dynasty. As they say in the music industry, every overnight success was years in the making”.
That is why this season is called “The Fall and Rise of the House of Habsburg” and is dedicated to the question, what made the Habsburgs so special.
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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.
Overview
‘Let others wage war: thou, happy Austria, marry’. Is that really it? Did this family acquire an empire where the sun never sets through just luck and longevity?
The Early Habsburgs (1273-1437)
After a great start in 1273 with the election of Rudolf of Habsburg as king of the romans way back in 1273, the great dynastic engine stalled. Family feuds that did not stop at murder, some seriously ill-judged bets, the Swiss and simple incompetence nearly wiped the family out.
All they had was some made up stories about privileges from Julius Caesar and Nero who all praised the Austrians above all others…
#203: From Rudolf I to Albrecht the Wise 1273-1358
The Beginnings of the Habsburg Dynasty
The Habsburg dynasty, originating from Radobot’s castle in 11th-century Switzerland, rose from obscurity to European prominence when In 1273 Rudolf of Habsburg was elected King of the Romans.
#204: Rudolf the Founder and Forger
The Privilegium Maius
Rudolf IV of Habsburg (1339–1365), son of Albrecht “the Wise,” reigned as Duke of Austria for just seven years but left a lasting mark. By creating myths of divine and heroic origins, Rudolf forged a sense of Habsburg exceptionalism.
#205: Sempach, the Death of a Duke and the Birth of a Nation
The beginnings of the Swiss Confederation
On July 9th, 1386 in a field near the Sempach lake., the armies of archduke Leopold of Austria line up against the forces of the city of Lucerne and the men of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden…
#206: Division, Destruction and Degradation
Albrecht III & IV, Wilhelm, Leopold IV, Ernst the Iron and Friedrich IV
Having sons was crucial in the late Middle Ages, but having too many sons was a problem too – driving the Habsburg to division, destruction and Degradation
#207: Of Land and Lip
How the Habsburgs got their Chin
Where does the Habsburg Jaw come from? Was it Cymburgis of Masovia, and if not, what has that to do with the humiliation of Friedrich of Tirol in 1415?
King Albrecht II (1437-1439)
Whilst most of the Habsburg family was busy destroying what was left of their wealth and reputation, one branch was diligently toiling away in the service of the emperor Sigismund in the hope of rewards beyond imagination….and they were not disappointed.
#208: Boy Meets Princess, Boy Becomes King
King Albrecht II
In just one year 1438 Albrecht II. rises from mid-ranking duke to king of Hungary, king of Bohemia and king of the Romans. Was it just because he married the right girl (always recommended), or was his overnight success decades in the making?
Emperor Friedrich III (1440-1493)
The longest reigning Holy Roman Emperor, but also the emperor with the worst press of the lot. They called him the arch sleepy hat for his hesitancy and reluctance to concede an inch on imperial reform. It did not help that at times his empire had shrunk to the outer edge of his castle grounds – until he lost even those.
However, on closer inspection, one could argue he played a good game with a terrible hand….
#209: The First Habsburg Emperor
Reichserzschlafmütze
Friedrich III was the first Habsburg Emperor, but also the most derided – was he really of “a completely dull sense of manhood and honour?”
#210: Ladislaus Postumus,
Lord of All, Ruler of No One
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
#211 Hitting Rock Bottom
The Siege of the Hofburg in 1462
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….
# 212: The Library of the Raven King
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary
Today we talk a lot 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.
#213: Duping a Grand Duke and the Awakening of Friedrich III
The Gathering at Trier in 1473
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.
#214: A Trial, a Siege and more than Neuss
The Siege of Neuss and the trial of Peter von Hagenbach 1474/1475
When Charles the Bold marched his splendid army into the Rhineland, he got a foretaste of things to come.
#215: The Bold in the Cold, the End of Charles of Burgundy
The Defeats of Charles of Burgundy at Grandson, Murten and Nancy
In just three years, between 1473 and 1477, Charles the Bold fritters away the mythical wealth of the Burgundian Dukes…
Emperor Maximilian I (1486-1519)
The “Last Knight”, the most glamorous of the Holy Roman Emperors. A man able to love as well as holding eternal grudges. It was his luck and diplomacy rather than his prowess in the field that propelled the family not just to the top table in the German speaking lands, but to heights of power no one had ever known.
#216: The Youth of Emperor Maximilian I
A Childhood between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Gone are the days when all you needed to know is fighting and hunting to be an accomplished prince. Now its everything from algebra to alchemy
#217: When Mary Met Maxi
The Burgundian Wedding, 1477
“Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry”, that is what we are told. The reality was very different – invasion, rebellion, execution…
#218: Of Hedgehogs and Herons
The Burgundian War, 1477-1483
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.
#219: The Fall of Ghent
Why there are no more City States
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.
#220: The Burgundian Experience
Maximilian elected King of Romans and imprisoned
More than a decade of fighting for the Low Countries is rewarded by a humiliating rebellion in Bruges. No wonder Maximilian does not like the French nor the Flemish burghers.
#221: Taking Back Control
The Recovery of Tyrol and Austria
Maximilian returned to the Empire in 1489 to find things in a mess. Cousin Sigismund was wasting the family fortune, the enemy still held Vienna and the imperial princes were unhelpful in the extreme
#222: Italian Wars and Spanish Marriages
The End of the Universal Empire
When king Charles VIII of France marched into Italy in 1494, the medieval political world collapsed and is replaced with something new…
The Imperial Reforms of 1495
The unique structure of the Holy Roman Empire emerged over centuries. Most of the time the process was slow to imperceptible, but sometimes it accelerated dramatically, and no more so than at the diet of Worms in 1495.
This was a massive shift that led to a stabilisation of the political structure that prove sufficiently robust to survive the 30 years war and instilled a deep faith in the legal process in the population.
#223: A Diet of Worms (1495 Edition)
The Imperial Reform (Reichsreform) Part I
The long awaited reform of the Holy Roman Empire gets under way – smooth is not the word one would use…blackmail and ruder words are used
#224: The Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire
Imperial Reform of 1495 – Part II
The Reichstag, the assembly of the electors, princes and cities of the Holy Roman Empire was weirder but more effective than usually believed
#225: The Ewige Landfrieden (Public Peace) of 1495
Part Three of the Imperial Reform (Reichsreform)
Maximilian I declared an eternal public peace In 1495 and established two courts, that shaped the unique relationship Germans have with the law
Back to Maximilian I (1493-1519)
#226: A Grand Plan for a Great War
Maximilian’s attempt to encircle the French
Europe’s political landscape is shifting fundamentally. And Maximilian I has a grand plan to get rid of the French, once and for all
#227: Landsknechte versus Swiss Mercenaries
The Swabian (Swiss) War of 1499
Why are the Swiss called the Swiss – and how did the first encounter between the two famous Renaissance forces, the Landsknechte and the Swiss Reisläufer turn out?
#228: The Princes and the Emperor
The Imperial Diet at Augsburg in 1500
In 1500 the imperial estates stripped the Maximilian I of power. Why did they create their own imperial government? And did it work?
#229: How the Habsburgs gained Spain
Joanna the (not?) mad (1504-1555)
Did the Habsburgs gain Spain in the horizontal? Was Joanna of Spain really mad or just mad at/about her husband? Was Philipp just handsome or playing chess with Louis XII to unify Europe? Questions, questions….
#230: The League of Cambrai
Margaret of Austria (1480-1530)
The Italian wars begin for real in 1508 when Margaret of Austria puts together the League of Cambrai to rescue her father, the now “Emperor” Maximilian I
#231: Marrying Bohemia and Hungary
Louis II of Hungary (1506-1526)
The Habsburgs did not acquire the Hungarian and Bohemian crowns in one wedding night, it was an overnights success 250 years in the making
#232: The Ottomans from Mehmet the Conqueror to Selim the Grim
The Ottomans
Between the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the ascent of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottomans doubled their empire, but did not attack Western Europe – why?
#233: Maximilian I Last Days and Legacy
Ottoman Threat, Imperial Election and Debt
Maximilian I died in 1519 – leaving behind the foundations of the Habsburg Empire. What of this was truly his legacy and what just chance….
#234: The Charisma of the Emperor Maximilian
Printing the Image of the House of Habsburg
The first politician to fully exploit the opportunities presented by the printing press was the emperor Maximilian I whose massive program of publications drew in artists like Albrecht Dürer, Hans Burgkmair and Albrecht Altdorfer and laid the foundation for the “Erbcharisma” der Habsburger
Emperor Charles V (1520-1555)
The man who ruled an empire where the sun never set. That being said, he did have three major challenges, the constant rivalry with Francois I, the charismatic French king, the invasion by, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and of course – the Reformation.
#235: The Youth and Election of the Emperor Charles V
Buying the Imperial crown
Charles V grew up to become the most powerful European monarch in centuries, but most of his youth was spent in thrall to his advisors
#236: The Battle of Pavia
The Four Princes who Ruled Europe in the early 16th Century
There is one moment in the 16th century when the political picture flips – the battle of Pavia. Nothing will ever be the same…
#237: From the Treaty of Madrid to the Sack of Rome
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
in 1525, Charles V had his main opponent, the French King Francois I in his power. Still, 2 years later his soldiers sacked Rome and he was about to lose it all again..
#238: The Habsburg Empire at its Zenith
Ferdinand I and the Siege of Vienna 1529
By the Middle of the 16th century the Habsburg empire reached its largest extent as well as its biggest challenge to date at the Siege of Vienna