The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

Sep 18 2024 28 ep. 32 mins 10
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356 Podcast artwork

A narrative history podcast taking you from the fall of the House of Hohenstaufen to the Golden Bull, which laid down the constitution of the Holy Roman empire with its Prince-electors, diets, courts and elaborate ceremonies. Episodes appear weekly and are 25-35 min long.

  History  Education  Society & Culture
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Charles IV: Portrait of a Medieval Ruler

Sep 18 2024 40 mins  
Interview with the author Vaclav ZurekThe book is available to pre-order here: Charles IV: Portrait of a Medieval Ruler: Amazon.co.uk: Žurek, Václav, Stone, Ian Finlay: 9788024655239: Books

Ep.26 (163) – Succession and Legacy

Sep 11 2024 24 mins  
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 s

Ep. 25 (162) – Schisms and Deals

Sep 04 2024 29 mins  
For more than a hundred years the Holy Roman Empire was a mess of constant infighting between and within the great princely families. But by the 1360s the consistent policies and elaborate diplomacy of emperor Karl IV had produced a degree of stability not seen by anyone alive. With the home front calm, the emperor can again assume a role on the European stage, setting in train sem

Ep.24 (161) – A Luxemburg Empire

Aug 28 2024 26 mins  
All is well in the empire. The Golden Bull had been debated, agreed, sealed and then celebrated at the great diet in Metz in 1357. The first time in decades that all the Prince Electors had come together and performed the ancient duties of their offices. Even the Dauphin of France had come to do homage to Karl IV for the lands he held inside the empire. But did all the princes join

Ep.23 (160) – The Golden Bull of 1356

Aug 21 2024 26 mins  
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has poured out the spirit of deceit among them, so that they grope about at midday as though in darkness, and He has withdrawn the light from their dwellings, so that they are blind and leaders of the blind.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 thos

Ep.22 (159) – The Rise to Imperial Power, Charles IV journey to Rome

Aug 14 2024 34 mins  
This season has now gone on for 22 episodes. We started with the interregnum of largely absent rulers and after a brief renaissance under Rudolf von Habsburg the empire became a sort of oligarchy where 3 families, the Luxemburgs, the Wittelsbachs and the Habsburgs took turns on the throne. Succession usually involved some form of armed conflict between the contenders and a struggle

Ep. 21 (158) – Prague - A new Rome

Aug 07 2024 32 mins  
“Karl, by the grace of God, King of the Romans, ever august, and King of Bohemia [  ] We have turned over in careful contemplation, and have been diligently pondering howour hereditary kingdom of Bohemia may flourish in all its beauty, thrive in peace, and not fear the loss of its riches to its enemies, and how the general good and benefit of the said kingdom may prosper, ho

Ep. 20 (157) Black Death and other Calamities

Aug 01 2024 34 mins  
In around 1320 near the lake Issy-Kul in Kyrgysistan the rats started dying. Shortly after the inhabitants became affected with terrible diseases. Some started coughing up blood and all who did, died within 3 days. Others developed swellings of the lymph nodes, particularly in the groins and armpits. Roughly half of them died within five days. A small number saw their feet and fing

Ep. 19 (156) – What price a Crown

Aug 01 2024 25 mins  
The year is 1346 and we have, yes, another succession crisis. Without checking through my 1500 pages of transcripts, I have counted a total of 14 contested imperial elections in the 427 years we have covered so far. Henry the Fowler, Herny II, Henry IV, Henry V, Lothar III, Konrad III, Philip of Swabia, Otto IV, Frederick II, Konrad IV, Richard of Cornwall, Adolf of Nassau, Albrech

Ep. 18 (155): The Youth of the Emperor Karl IV

Jul 17 2024 28 mins  
You have heard me complaining regularly over the last 154 episodes that what we report as political ambitions or strategic plans of the kings and emperors was pure conjecture derived from their actions and public statement. But we could never know what they were really thinking because none of them kept a diary, or if they did they did not survive to today.  The subject of tod