History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification

1130-1137 - Emperor Lothar III is getting embroiled in the schism between popes Innocent II and Anaclet II. Anaclet II is properly elected and holds Rome whilst Innocent II enjoys the support of the most influential church leader of the time, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Fear of St. Bernard drives Lothar into the camp of Innocent II which means he has to go down to Italy and conquer Rome for the Pope...

Before Lothar III can claim the imperial crown, he needs a pope to give it to him. There's just one problem — in 1130, Rome has two of them. In this episode we take a vital detour to the eternal city, where medieval papal politics are every bit as violent, corrupt, and compelling as anything happening north of the Alps. Murder, torture, family vendettas, a pope dragged through the streets by his h...

The election of Lothar III in 1125 was a humiliation for the House of Hohenstaufen — nephews of the last emperor, passed over in favour of their greatest rival. But Frederick and Konrad of Hohenstaufen are not the type to quietly accept defeat. What follows is nearly a decade of civil war, a daring Italian adventure, and one of the most ambitious power grabs in medieval German history. In this epi...

Welcome to Season 3 of the History of the Germans, diving into one of the most dramatic and consequential periods of medieval German history — the age of the Hohenstaufen. But before the Hohenstaufen can take centre stage, someone else has to get out of the way first. It is 1125, and the Salian dynasty is dying with Emperor Henry V in the palace of the Bishop of Utrecht. After a century of Salian...

In this episode we will come to the end of the Investiture controversy, the end of the Salian dynasty and the end of Season 2 – and ask the question, what was all that about? 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...

In this week’s episode the last of the Salians will find that despite all his efforts, the tide of history cannot be stemmed, almost leaving him in exactly the same place his father ended up in 1076. 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 C...

In this episode we will see whether young Henry V will do any better at ending the conflict between Pope and Emperor, featuring one of the most audacious political moves seen in this conflict. 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...

This week we will talk about the last years of Henry IV, which, as hard as it is to believe, holds a final humiliation that capped the pain this man had already endured. 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 alway...

I did promise you an episode on Matilda of Tuscany, and here it is. But, it is not mine. This episode is from the fantastic podcast "A History of Italy" by Mike Corradi. I cam across it when I was researching the Matilda Episode and I realised in horror, that if I wee to create a Matilda Episode, it would be very much like this one, only worse. So I asked Mike whether I could borrow his work. List...

In 1095 Pope Urban II launches the First crusade. Emperor Henry IV and his allies would rather be strung up below a beehive covered in honey than join a scheme devised by the Gregorian Pope. The lack of support by the high aristocrats did not stop the common people most of whom perish before the crusade had really begun. And some turn their religious fervour into a very different endeavour, bringi...

The wheel of fortune turns again, tumbling our antihero Henry IV down from the heights he had so recently scaled. We will see him sink to the point of utter despair. And all that because a 43 year old woman marries an 18 year old. 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 b...

His coronation barely two months hence, Henry IV leaves Rome without capturing Gregory VII. The Pope's powerful vassal, Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and greatest of Norman warlords was approaching with an army of 36,000. Henry no longer needs Rome, what he needs to do is get back to Germany and bring peace to the war-ravaged country. A u-turn in his policies helps to gain support amongst bishop...

The Rebellion in Germany under control Henry can finally go after his true nemesis, Pope Gregory VII. He sets out for Rome on a journey he thought may just take four months but ended up taking four years.. 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 Co...

Henry IV departs from Canossa having been released from the ban. But does that mean all his troubles are over? Far from it. His enemies in Germany gather to elect a new king and the war of words turns into a war of swords. 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...

It is time - we are finally going to Canossa. Expect imperial power to disappear in smoke, greedy mothers-in-laws, frozen passes, hoisted horses and tobogganing empresses. All that ends with the enduring picture of a king first kneeling before a woman and then before a pope..... That is the the episode you have to listen to! The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phi...

The rise of the papacy since 1046 is almost linear. The popes throw off the chokehold of the roman aristocracy, they take over leadership of the church reform movement from the emperors, and by the end of the pontificate of Alexander II the Holy See has become universal with kings hailing the pope and not the emperor as their overlord. In 1073 Hildebrand, the eminence grise of the last 20 years as...

In 1065 king Henry IV begins his personal rule. After 9 years of regency., the last 3 of which under a government of barons headed by archbishop Anno of Cologne, imperial power is much diminished. Prelates and lords are raiding the imperial purse, when the barons force the young king to dismiss his main adviser, he realises that the previous model of kingship no longer operates. He cannot rely on...

Emperor Henry III is dead. The realm is now in the hands of his widow, Agnes of Poitou who rules on behalf of the six-year-old king Henry IV. Agnes is no Theophanu and no Adelheid. Not that she is incompetent, she just isn't absolutely brilliant, and absolutely brilliant is the baseline necessary to manage this fragile situation. The relationship between the central imperial power and the magnates...

In 1046 Henry III reached the zenith of his rule. He deposed three unworthy popes and replaced them with serious churchmen who will bring the necessary reforms about. Domestically he is in control of the three Eastern European states, Poland, Bohemia and Hungary and the restless Lotharingians seem settled. How did it come about that by 1056 the chronicler writes that " both the foremost men and th...

In 1046 Henry III finally has time to go to Rome and claim the imperial crown. All he wants is get in, get crowned and get out before the Malaria season. He encounters a problem when he finds out that the current pope Gregory VI has bought the papacy for cold hard cash, a sin that could invalidate his coronation. Henry III gets involved, deposes all three competing popes and inadvertently starts a...

The main role of a medieval monarch is to bring peace to his subjects. Peace is not so much absence of major international conflict, but protection from feuding lords. Whilst in France central power is far too weak to maintain any semblance of order giving rise to the Peace of God movement, the empire under Henry III can rely on its monarch to fulfil his role. But his rule is not without tension....

For the first time in almost 70 years the transition from one king/emperor to the next is smooth. Konrad II was not only one of the most successful medieval rulers, he also managed to live long enough for his son Henry III to grow up to adulthood before taking over. Henry III is outwardly quite different from his father, well educated, deeply immersed in the concepts of sacred kingship and immense...

In his last years Konrad tries to further strengthen his power, first by fighting the Hungarians, unseating the duke of Carinthia and a second Italian expedition. Al three of these endeavours backfire. The Hungarians win the war, the duke of Carinthia gets unexpected support from Konrad's son Henry III and the Italian campaign ends in a fiasco entirely of Konrad's making. Despite these setbacks Ko...

The event looming over Imperial politics since around 1000 is the Burgundian succession. King Rudolf III is childless leaving several contenders with varying degrees of blood relations. If Henry II who was a nephew of Rudolf III had outlived the king of Burgundy, thigs would have been easy. But the old codger outlived the sickly emperor. His successor, Konrad II had no real inheritance right to Bu...

In this episode Emperor Konrad II (1024-1039) consolidates his reign adding a secular leg to his control of the imperial church by placing his son Henry on the ducal throne of Bavaria,. This is the first of many ducal and royal titles he will acquire. This push for centralised control leads to a rebellion, led by the emperor's 16-year old stepson, duke Ernst II of Swabia (1012-1030). Ernst fights...