RSS Parrot

Ep. 162 – Schisms and Deals

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/09/05/schisms/

Published: September 5, 2024 04:00

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…

Ep. 161 – A Luxemburg Empire

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/08/29/hausmacht/

Published: August 29, 2024 04:00

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.…

Ep. 160 – The Golden Bull of 1356

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/08/22/golden-bull/

Published: August 22, 2024 04:00

“Every realm that is divided internally will go to uin, 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has poured out the spirit of deceit among them, so that they grope about at midday as though in darkness, and He has withdrawn the light…

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

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/08/15/imperium/

Published: August 15, 2024 04:00

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…

Ep. 158 – Prague – The New Rome? Karl IV’s great plans for his capital city

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/08/08/prague/

Published: August 8, 2024 04:00

“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…

Ep. 157 – The Black Death and other Calamities

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/08/01/black-death/

Published: August 1, 2024 09:15

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…

Ep. 156 – What Price a Crown - Karl IV fight for the throne

https://historyofthegermans.com/

Published: July 25, 2024 04:00

The year is 1346 and we have, yes, another succession crisis. Without checking through my 1500 pages of transcripts, I have counted a total f 14 contested imperial elections in the 427 years we have covered so far. Henry the Fowler, Herny II, Henry IV,…

Ep. 155: The Youth of the Emperor Karl IV

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/07/18/youth-of-karl-iv/

Published: July 18, 2024 04:00

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…

Ep. 154 - The Blind King John of Bohemia

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/07/11/154-2/

Published: July 11, 2024 04:00

The noble and gallant King of Bohemia, also known as John of Luxemburg because he was the son of the Emperor Henry of Luxemburg, was told by his people that the battle had begun. Although he was in full armour and equipped for combat, he could see nothing…

Ep. 153 – The Rise of the city of Nürnberg

https://historyofthegermans.com/2024/06/27/153-2/

Published: June 27, 2024 04:00

“In the same way that Jerusalem is the navel of the world, is Nurnberg the navel of Germany” is how Matthäus Dresser described the city in 1581. The astronomer Johannes Regiomontanus moved to Nurnberg in 1471 because there" ...one can easily associate with…