Episode 57 – The Siege of Rome 1167
Barbarossa brings down the largest army the empire had ever fielded to take Rome, capture Alexander III and subdue the Italian Communes
Episode 52 – The Honour of The Empire
Barbarossa will boost the honour of the empire by burning cities, hanging heretics, slaughtering rabble-rousing Romans and inventing the concept of the university.
Episode 14 – Otto III The End of a Dream
The emperor Otto III goes to Poland to visit the shrine of his friend St. Adalbert and to make friends with Boleslaw the Brave…
Episode 13: Otto III – The Wonder of the World
Otto III usually seen as a kind and esoteric youth also had a bloody side. He took Rome twice, killing its tyrant Crescentius
Episode 11 – Woe to the Land that is Governed by a child…
The 4-year old Otto III is being crowned in Aachen when messengers appear announcing his father the emperor Otto II had just died
Episode 179 – Meanwhile in the Empire
“Every realm that is divided internally will go to ruin, for its princes have become the comrades of thieves. The Lord has poured out the spirit of deceit among them, so that they grope about at midday as though in darkness, and He has withdrawn the light from their dwellings, so that they are blind and leaders of the blind. And those who wander in the dark run into things, and those who are blind of spirit bring about evil deeds, which occur in disunity. [..]
That was the Golden bull of 1356. we are now in 1422 and things have not necessarily improved. So the next wave of imperial reform has to get under way.
Episode 166/167 – The Great Western Schism – Parts 1 and 2
“And since these especially ruinous harms to all of Christendom are not to be tolerated or suffered any longer, so we have completely agreed – with a well-considered disposition, by means of much and various discussion and counsel, which we have earnestly undertaken concerning this among ourselves and with many other princes and lords of the Holy Empire, for the assistance of the Holy Church, the comfort of Christendom and the honour and profit of the Holy Empire – that we want fully and specifically to remove and depose the above-written Lord Wenceslas as a neglectful procrastinator, dismemberer and one unworthy of the Holy Empire from the same Holy Roman Empire and all the dignities pertaining to it with immediate effect.” End quote
So concluded the Prince Electors of Cologne, Mainz, Trier and the Palatinate on August 20th 1400. King Wenceslaus IV, son of the great emperor Karl IV, king of Bohemia and duke of Luxemburg was to be deposed for his “evil deeds and afflictions [that are] are so clearly manifest and well known throughout the land that they can neither be justified nor concealed” end quote
How could that happen. Last time we looked at the house of Luxemburg, they directly held almost a quarter of the German lands, controlled two of the seven electoral votes, had manoeuvred themselves into pole position to gain the Hungarian and the Polish crown, with even a long-term option on Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol . But now, a mere 22 years later, the great second Carolingian empire lies in tatters. How is that possible? That is what we will look at today.
Episode 165 – Wenceslaus the Lazy and Ruprecht of the Empty Pocket
“And since these especially ruinous harms to all of Christendom are not to be tolerated or suffered any longer, so we have completely agreed – with a well-considered disposition, by means of much and various discussion and counsel, which we have earnestly undertaken concerning this among ourselves and with many other princes and lords of the Holy Empire, for the assistance of the Holy Church, the comfort of Christendom and the honour and profit of the Holy Empire – that we want fully and specifically to remove and depose the above-written Lord Wenceslas as a neglectful procrastinator, dismemberer and one unworthy of the Holy Empire from the same Holy Roman Empire and all the dignities pertaining to it with immediate effect.” End quote
So concluded the Prince Electors of Cologne, Mainz, Trier and the Palatinate on August 20th 1400. King Wenceslaus IV, son of the great emperor Karl IV, king of Bohemia and duke of Luxemburg was to be deposed for his “evil deeds and afflictions [that are] are so clearly manifest and well known throughout the land that they can neither be justified nor concealed” end quote
How could that happen. Last time we looked at the house of Luxemburg, they directly held almost a quarter of the German lands, controlled two of the seven electoral votes, had manoeuvred themselves into pole position to gain the Hungarian and the Polish crown, with even a long-term option on Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol . But now, a mere 22 years later, the great second Carolingian empire lies in tatters. How is that possible? That is what we will look at today.
Episode 164 – The Reformation before the Reformation
Welcome to Season 9 – The Reformation before the Reformation!
This season is about the years 1378-1440, a period of huge upheaval that takes in the decline of the house of Luxemburg, the emergence of the Ottoman empire, the creation of Burgundy as a political entity separate from France, the defeat of the Teutonic Knights and the great western schism with its resolution at the Council of Constance where amongst other things Jan Hus was convicted and burned at the stake. The centrepiece will be the Hussite revolt, the religious uprising that foreshadowed the reformation by a 100 years.
As we have done last season, we kick off with a 10,000 feet overview of where we are in November 1378. What are the economic, social, political and cultural conditions at this moment of transition from one epoch to the next. This episode is a great way to get back into the History of the Germans should you have lost track of the show..
I hope you will join us!
Episode 163 – Succession and Legacy
This is the last episode of this season and it is time to say goodbye to Karl IV, Ludwig the Bavarian, Henry VII, Albrecht of Habsburg, Adolf von Nassau and Rudolf of Habsburg. These have been some eventful 138 years.
When Karl IV died in 1378 he left behind an impressive list of achievements but also a number of failures. And he left behind a son, Wenceslaus he had invested with so much hope and so many crowns, it not only broke the bank but even chunks of the political edifice he had so patiently built.
How and why is what we will discuss in this episode.