Episode 102 – The Great Divide
The Investment Controversy came about through a confluence of three major strains, the rise in piety in the wake of improving economic conditions, the establishment of the papacy as a power separate and superior to temporal rulers and thirdly, the opposition of the German magnates against centralising tendency of the emperors, led by the Saxons. And it is the latter part this episode focuses on.
Episode 100 – The Saxon War (Take II)
The conflict between Saxons and the empire is now hitting the hot stage, resulting in a rebellion that precedes Henry IV in Canossa.
Episode 42 – A World Revolution?
Many writers have compared the Investiture controversy to the great world revolutions of 1789 and 1917 – lets look at the arguments
Episode 37 – The two Grooms
The wedding of the 60-year old countess Matilda of Tuscany to the strapping 18-year old Welf IV was organised by the Pope – for power not love
Episode 35 – To Rome! to Rome! – Henry IV takes Revenge on pope gregory VII
Suddenly the boot os on the other foot and emperor Henry IV chases pope Gregory VII out of Rome and into exile in Salerno
Episode 40 – Henry V Has a cunning Plan
Having lured his father into a trap and then deposed, we now have a new king, Last week you heard the story from the father’s perspective, this time we look at it from Henry V’s perspective, and maybe he was not as much of a rotten apple as it looks?
Episode 39 -The Final Betrayal
It is hard to believe, but the last years of Henry IV’s tumultuous reign still held one final humiliation that capped the pain this man had already endured.
Episode 34 – Gaining the Upper Hand
Unperturbed by Henry IV’s release from the ban the German princes elect Rudolph von Rheinfelden as the new king, change the constitution of the empire and start a civil war that is lost when a man loses not his head, but his hand.
Episode 33 – Canossa Finally
It is time – we are finally going to Canossa. Expect imperial power to go up in smoke, greedy mothers-in-laws, frozen passes, hoisted horses and tobogganing empresses.
Episode 32 – Not Pope but False Monk
The rise of the papacy since 1046 is almost linear. Popes free themselves from the Roman aristocracy, take over leadership of the church reform movement and claim universal leadership of Christianity. Conflict with the other universal power, the emperor is inevitable..