History of the Germans

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. Born when the dynasty seemed close to extinction, Rudolf secured Austria’s survival and prestige. Politically, he sought to elevate Vienna by founding the University of Vienna (1365) and beginning construction of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Though he fulfilled his father's ambition to gain the Tyrol, the family fell behind their rivals, namely the Luxemburgs.Rudolf’s most audacious act was the Privilegium Maius, a set of forged charters claiming ancient Roman emperors had granted Austria near-sovereign status, primogeniture, and the unique title of Archduke. Though denounced by Petrarch as absurd, the documents shaped Habsburg identity for centuries and underpinned later power.By creating myths of divine and heroic origins, Rudolf forged a sense of Habsburg exceptionalism. Though dying young without heirs, he truly was “the Founder.”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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

The Habsburg dynasty, originating from Radobot’s castle in 11th-century Switzerland, rose from obscurity to European prominence. In 1273 Rudolf of Habsburg was elected King of the Romans. Far from the later myth of a poor, humble count, Rudolf was wealthy, shrewd, and ruthless. He expanded his family’s holdings through inheritance, war, and diplomacy, eventually securing Austria and Styria after defeating Ottokar II of Bohemia—an acquisition that became the dynasty’s heartland.Rudolf’s hopes to found a hereditary imperial dynasty failed, and his son Albrecht I was murdered in 1308. For decades, the Habsburgs teetered on decline. Friedrich “the Handsome” briefly contended for the throne but left little mark. His brother Albrecht II “the Wise” revived the family, gaining Carinthia and Carniola in 1335 and shifting focus to Austria. Near extinction due to lack of heirs, the dynasty was saved when Albrecht’s wife Joan miraculously bore sons, including Rudolf IV, who would secure the Habsburg future.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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

"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.

Hello and welcome friends of the History of the Germans Podcast.This week I will again showcase an independent history podcast I really like and listen to. And just to avoid any misunderstandings, I do this not for commercial reasons. This is literally so that you can find other great shows and well, I can have a break. Today’s show is one you probably already know since I mention it regularly, Mike Corradi’s A History of Italy. Mike is funny, thorough and something I struggle with enormously, concise. And this recent episode is a prime example. He runs through half of our coming season and half of the season thereafter in 20 minutes. I enjoyed that and I hope it gives you a foretaste of what is to come here and what you can find at A History of Italy.A History of Italy – A podcast on the history of the Italian peninsula from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the presentAnd so, without further ado Mike’s episode 189: “A German Priest and a New Emperor”. 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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

Hello friends of the History of the Germans Podcast. As I mentioned last episode, I am on holiday now, which means I spend my time reading up about the Habsburg and getting into gear for the next season.In the meantime, I will showcase some podcasts I really enjoy and listen to regularly. And one of those is History Rage. The host, Paul Bavill interviews historians and history podcaster about the one thing they really hope people would stop believing. Interview is such a lame term for what he does, it is more of a therapy session for geeks to let out their rage. Professional historians come armed with evidence, fury, and a burning desire to set the record straight. From “Vikings wore horned helmets” to “Britain stood alone in 1940” and “medieval people never bathed,” this is history with attitude, myth-busting with academic rigor, and truth-telling that pulls no punches. In the last 284 episodes he allowed some of the greatest names in history let off steam, including Roger Moorhouse. In this episode you will hear right now, Roger goes after the focus on Stauffenberg in the remembrance of the resistance against the Nazis inside Germany. By doing so, he argues, we are overlooking equally if not more deserving figures like Henning von Tresckow and the other members of the Kreisauer Kreis. And by the way Paul even allowed yours truly to vent about the perennial pun that the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.  That will come out on September 29. So in the meantime here is History Rage with: Stauffenberg: Hero or Hypocrite? The Complex Legacy of the July 20th Plot with Roger MoorhouseI hope you enjoy it.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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

In 1550 Spanish court records show that the Augsburg armorer Kolman Helmschmied was paid an advance of 2,000 ducats for a full armour for king Philipp II. The final price for this piece was 3,000 ducats. At the same time Raphael could charge at max 170 ducats for an altarpiece. Even the Renaissances’ best paid artist, Michelangelo received just 3,000 gold florins for the painting of the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. Armour, along with tapestries, were the most valuable artworks of the 15th and 16th century.That was just one set of armour made for the most powerful monarch of the time. But what about the thousands of soldiers he commanded, did they have armour? Oh yes they did. Not quite as sophisticated and certainly not as decorated, but they did. And where did these thousands of helmets and breast and back plates come from? From the same places where their prince’s fancy metalwork came from, from Nürnberg and Augsburg. Their swords came from Passau and Solingen and their firearms from Suhl. How come these mostly southern Germn cities became the armories of Europe whose output clad the armies that fought the never-ending wars of the 15th, 16th and 17th century? How did they supersede Milan, the centre of weapons production in the preceding century in terms of quality, scale and availability, and create a tradition of metalworking and entrepreneurship that lasts until today?That is what we will look at in this episode.

When you enter the great hall of the Thomas Jefferson building at the Library of Congress in Washington, the first exhibit you will be facing is their Gutenberg Bible. And it is one of the finest Gutenberg bibles around, one of only three surviving pristine copies on vellum. This was the kind of bible that was so expensive to produce, it bankrupted Gutenberg. When the Library of Congress bought it in 1930, they paid $375,000, roughly $7.5m in today’s money. But this is not the most expensive piece in the library’s collection. That would a work by two Germans, Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. And it is not even a book, but a map. Not a small map, it is 2.3m or 91 inches wide and 1.3m or 50 inches tall. And this map, printed in 1507 claimed to be:A DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD ON BOTHA GLOBE AND A FLAT SURFACE WITH THE INSERTIONOF THOSE LANDS UNKNOWN TO PTOLEMYDISCOVERED BY RECENT MENAnd the authors wrote that the three continents known since antiquity, Europe, Africa and Asis, quote "have in fact now been more widely explored, and a fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci (as will be heard in what follows). Since both Asia and Africa received their names from women, I do not see why anyone should rightly prevent this [new part] from being called Amerigen—the land of Amerigo, as it were—or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of perceptive character." End quote. This fourth part, they said was “surrounded on all sides by the ocean”. And indeed, in the left lower corner we find a fourth continent, a thin, stretched thing, with few place names and a western shore that hints at the Peruvian bulge, unmistakably, South America and then to north of it a very indistinguishable blob of land.This map, proudly displayed as America’s Birth Certificate, is full of the most intriguing mysteries. How did Waldseemüller and Ringmann know that the Americas had a western shore, when it was only in 1513, 6 years later, that a European first glanced the Pacific? How did the name America stick though Amerigo Vespucci had neverled an expedition, not even commanded a ship? But most of all, why was this first map of America drawn not by a Spanish or Portuguese navigator, but by two Germans in the employ of the duke of Lorraine, working in St. Die, which is as far away from the sea as one can get in Western Europe. And then, more generally, what did the Germans have to do with the discoveries, the maps and globes that told the world about them? That is what we will explore in this episode.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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

When two brothers, Ernst and Albrecht of Saxony divided up their enormous inheritance that comprised Thuringia, Meissen and the electorate of Sachsen-Wittenberg, they not only undermined their power base as the de facto #2 amongst the imperial principalities and planted the seed for a conflict that would play a key role in the Reformation but they also laid the foundations for the modern Länder of Thuringia and Saxony. And this division was not driven by the usual family feud but came after 20 years of largely harmonious government and a shared childhood trauma. Why they took, or had to take this fateful step, is what we will discuss today.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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

So, why did Holland really leave the empire? Was it because the valiant and tragic countess Jacqueline was “hunted down from one land to the other, all of them mine”. Was it a story of misogyny, betrayal, incompetence and ruthless power politics. Yes, it was. But it was a also a story of economic and climate change and one that links into the herring trade of the Hanseatic League, the decline of Teutonic Knights and even into the Hussite Revolt, topics that seem distant, but mattered. This week we focus on this, the latter part of the storyThe 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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation

Today begins a two part series about how the Low countries modern day Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg shifted out of the Holy Empire. These lands, with the exception of Flanders, had been part of the empire for hundreds of years, ever since Henry the Fowler acquired Lothringia for east Francia in 925 – not by conquest but through diplomacy – as was his way.There are two ways to tell the story of the split away from the empire, one is about the dynastic machinations, the marriages, poisonings and inability to produce male heirs, the other one is about economics and the rising power of the cities. This, the first episode will look at the dynastic story, the pot luck and cunning plans that laid the groundworks for the entity that became known as the Low Countries to emerge, whilst the next one will look at the economic realities that thwarted the ambitions of one of the most remarkable women in late medieval history, Jacqueline of Bavaria, countess of Holland, Seeland and Hainault, and why that was ultimately a good thing, not for her and not for the empire, but for the people who lived in these lands.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.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo 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:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the Reformation