History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification

When Barbarossa drowns in the river Saleph in 1190 the crown transfers to his eldest surviving son, Henry, known to History as Henry VI. This is the first time since the accession to personal rule of Emperor Henry III in 1039 that the imperial crown moves from father to grown up son without a glitch. In the previous 150 years, the passing of an emperor had been a dramatic event where all the cards...

Way back when, in Episode 30 we identified three drivers of the Investiture Controversy. These were: the conflict between the emperor and the princes, the conflict of the emperor with the popes and the rise and rise of piety amongst the lay people. These last 38 episodes we did talk at length about the how the princes established their own territorial lordships against the imperial central power a...

This week we take a tour of how cities in Germany worked around 1200 with a brief detour to look at what happened later and how they differ from Italian and French cities. 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 alw...

This is about the peasants, no kings, emperors, popes, bishops at all. Ok one brother of a duke at the end because I simply cannot help myself. But yes, peasants. What was the life of a peasant in Germany in around 1200 really like? How much do we actually know about their living conditions? Did it differ much from country to country? The correct answer to all of these is – we are not really sure....

We have just spent 15 episodes talking about the life and times of the actual Frederick Barbarossa. Exciting as his life was, his afterlife is almost as interesting. Don’t panic I will not go on for 15 episodes talking about the perception of the great emperor. Just give me 30 minutes and I promise it is worth it. As always, this episode has a dedicated website with the transcript and maps, pictur...

We had the great pleasure to interview Dr. Levi Roach, Prize-winning author and Associate Professor at the University of Exeter about his new book, The Empires of the Normans.. We have encountered the Normans many times in the History of the Germans. This is the chance to get the whole story. It is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce freebooters, of fortunes made and fortunes lost. The Norma...

This week, after 15 episodes we will finally leave the emperor Barbarossa behind, though it is almost impossible to ever get away from him. No other medieval ruler is still so present in the national psyche, not as the man he was but as the myth he was turned into. So today we say goodbye to the man and next time we will take a look at the myth.. As always, this episode has a dedicated website wit...

This week we will discuss how Barbarossa attempts to rebuild a new ideological underpinning of his role and how that leads to renewed conflict with the popes. But then one of the most devastating events of the Middle Ages solves all his issues and presents him with an opportunity to turn the mythmaking up to 11. As always, this episode has a dedicated website with the transcript and maps, pictures...

Following the Peace of Venice and the Fall of Henry the Lion, our great emperor Barbarossa has reached the end of the road. Being a man of infinite resource and sagacity he climbs out of the hole, resets his political allegiances and recovers some of his previous standing. As always, this episode has a dedicated website with the transcript and maps, pictures and additional comments to read along....

This episode deals with, guess what, the fall of Henry the Lion from his position as duke of Saxony and Bavaria. The interesting bit is not so much whether it happened, that is pretty obvious, but why it happened. When I learned about it in school, it was seen as the greatest moment of Barbarossa’s career, taking down the eternal rival of the Hohenstaufen family, but today, historians see it very...

This week we will talk about the great peace conference in Venice where Barbarossa is finally reconciled with the papacy, the Lombards and the Sicilians. It is also the time he has to bend the knee before his implacable foe, Pope Alexander III in a grand ceremony before all of Europe. The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as B...

1176 This week we talk about the next leg in this the fifth Italian campaign Barbarossa undertakes. It involves an aborted battle, attempts at peace, a mediation award, a refusal of support and the most significant battle of not just his reign but one that reverberates into the present day The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it...

(1168-1174) This week we talk about Barbarossa’s next moves after his disastrous fourth Italian campaign. It takes him a few years to come to grips with the failure of his great imperial programme before he makes one last attempt to resurrect it. The siege of Alessandria turned into a nightmare... The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some...

(1162-1167 again) This week we will talk about the second part of the pincer movement that brought that Hohenstaufen construct of imperial power crashing down to earth. The first was the schism in the Latin church and the second was the link-up of almost all northern Italian communes in a coalition against Barbarossa, the Lombard League. The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.54...

This week we do what we have done so many times and seem to be unable to avoid, talk about the conflict between pope and emperor. And that always means trouble, bad decisions and a siege of Rome. But boy, this time is not another standard schism, this time it is showdown. 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 Johan...

1159-1162 This week we will see how the Italian Communes take the Laws of Roncaglia. Not well is the understatement of the 12th century. Prepare for some epic sieges and harsh imperial justice. 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 Creativ...

By September 1158 Barbarossa had completed one of the shortest and most efficient Italian campaigns of the medieval period. He had set off from Augsburg in mid-July and by early September Milan had capitulated. By October, most troop contingents both those from north of the Alps and those of the communes were on their way home and all of Italy was his. Barbarossa meanwhile is not going home. He ta...

(1158) This week we will see Barbarossa try using his freshly minted army to take down the city of Milan, a city of 150,000 and the one commune that he needs to defeat if he really wants to establish imperial rule in Italy 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...

(1155-1158) This week we will see how Barbarossa addresses the big issue he had in his first Italian campaign, the size of the army and how he creates the Holy Roman Empire in the process. 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 Lic...

1153-1155 This week we finally get our narrative going. Barbarossa will boost the honour of the empire by burning cities, hanging heretics, slaughtering rabble-rousing Romans and inventing the concept of the university. With an introduction by Robin Pearson from the History of Byzantium. Check out his website here: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat...

1152 In this episoe we examine Barbarossa's background, childhood and education. What is it that made him so exceptional? And we investigate whether the Cappenberger Head is indeed an individual likeness of the emperor, or just another image of what an emperor is supposed to look like. The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as...

(1149-1152) In his last few years the ill and exhausted king Conrad III relies more and more on his nephew, Frederick, the duke of Swabia called Barbarossa because of his ginger beard. Barbarossa forms the cornerstone linking the warring houses of Welf and Waiblingen. His military capabilities and diplomatic skills propell the barely 30 year old to the top of domestic and international politics. W...

1147-1149 The title is a bit of a spoiler. Suffice to say that Cornad III's great crusade does not go quite as planned. He had set off with an army of between 20,000 and 60,000 from Regensburg in June 1147 making his way doen to Constantinople via Hungary and the Balkans. Ever eager for glory he had set off a month before his rival, king Louis VII of France and he presses on towards Jerusalem. Bef...

1144-1147 - King, not really Emperor Conrad III may have signed a precarious peace with his greatest opponent, Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. But the kingdom remains in turmoil. Feuds are everywhere, devastating the land. His half-brother bishop Otto of Freising sees all that death and destruction as a clear portend of the imminent arrival of the Antichrist. Though Conrad is methodically addressi...

1138-1142 This week we will watch another candidate having the royal title snatched from his fingers. Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria, duke of Saxony, Margrave of Tuscany and Este, richest landowner in Germany and Italy, son-in-law of the previous emperor and his designated successor is a shoo in for the imperial title. Only Conrad of Hohenstaufen, failed anti-king and hero of the Italian campaig...