The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356 History of the Germans

This episode is something I never thought I would do, it is a run through the history of the Holy Roman Empire from 919 AD to 1250, pretty much most of the periods I have covered so far. Why do it? If you’re one of those who have listened religiously to all 137 episodes so far and feel completely up to date with what happened in the past, this will not contain much news. However it has been a year since we last talked about the emperors and you may like a refresher about the Ottonians, Salians and Hohenstaufen. Just to get your bearings.
Or if you have only recently joined the HotGPod family – welcome. These next 40 minutes or so should give you a solid rundown of “The story so far”. And if you follow by reading the transcript on my website historyofthegermans.com, you can find links in the text that connect you to episodes that go deeper into the stories behind the short summaries you find here.
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.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod 
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans
To 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 Ottonians
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Frederick Barbarossa and the early Hohenstaufen
Frederick II Stupor Mundi
Saxony and Eastward Expansion
The Hanseatic League
The Teutonic Knights
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

On October 1, 1273 seven princes elected a new king of the Romans. Their choice was a momentous one that set European history further down its path away from a universal empire to separate kingdoms and principalities.
The pope had demanded that they come to a unanimous decision so that the empire could again participate in a crusade to stop the remains of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to be swept away for good.
So why did they chose a modest count from what is now Northern Switzerland called rudolf von Habsburg and not any of the kings, dukes and princes who had been vying for the job and who could count on support from Naples, Rome, Prague and Paris is what we will look into in this episode, the first of our new season “from the Interregnum to the Golden Bull – the Holy Roman empire 1250-1273.
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.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod 
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans
To 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 Ottonians
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Frederick Barbarossa and the early Hohenstaufen
Frederick II Stupor Mundi
Saxony and Eastward Expansion
The Hanseatic League
The Teutonic Knights
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

This week we will look at what the poor count Rudolf of Habsburg does once he had been elected King of the Romans. This is not the first time the electors have chosen a man of much more modest means than themselves. William of Holland and Hermann von Salm had failed to leverage their elevated status into tangible gains. But Rudolf is different. Through a combination of charm, cunning and fecundity he managed to wrestle the duchies of Austria, Styria and Carinthia from its current owner, the immeasurably rich and profoundly vain king Ottokar II of Bohemia. A story of political acumen, personal bravery and dishonourable tactics.
This episode is identical to episode 140 of the History of the Germans Podcast - go and listen there for more German history
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.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod 
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans
To 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 Ottonians
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Frederick Barbarossa and the early Hohenstaufen
Frederick II Stupor Mundi
Saxony and Eastward Expansion
The Hanseatic League
The Teutonic Knights
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

Martin Rady in his highly amusing and exceptionally well written book on the Habsburg said “The remainder of Rudolf’s reign up to his death in 1291 was a failure. He did not manage to have himself crowned emperor by the pope and had to make do with the title of king…it was a false dawn, both for the Holy Roman empire and for the Habsburgs”
I most humbly disagree. The 13 years following the battle of Durnkrut are some of the most transformative for the Empire and the fledgling concept of German and Germany. This episode will try to make the case for Rudolf I, founder of the house of Habsburg and one of the most impactful medieval rulers of the empire.
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.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod 
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans
To 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 Ottonians
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Frederick Barbarossa and the early Hohenstaufen
Frederick II Stupor Mundi
Saxony and Eastward Expansion
The Hanseatic League
The Teutonic Knights
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

After the death of Rudolf von Habsburg the electors chose another, now truly impecunious count, Adolf von Nassau to be king. They chose him over Rudolf’s son Albrecht and over the overwhelmingly most powerful prince in the empire, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia.
This cultured and competent man became known to German history as a Schattenkönig, a shadow of a king, unable to wiggle out of his ties to the overbearing electors. Acting as mercenary in the pay of king Edward of England and failing to create his own Hausmacht in Thuringia, many history books skip over his six years on the throne.
Nevertheless, the events of his election and deposition form another crossroads in the history of the German lands that set the Holy Roman empire further down the path to become neither Holy, nor Roman nor an Empire.
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.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod 
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

The late 13th century was the sniper’s alley for many a powerful family. The disappearance of great dynasties, the Arpads of Hungary, the Premyslids of Bohemia, the Zaehringer, Babenbergs, the counts of Holland to name just a few wasn’t down to lack of fertility but down to violence. Murder became so common, even those who did not have swords sticking out of their chest were presumed poisoned. To save them, some were suspended from the ceiling to flush out harmful substances. Violence was not limited to temporal princes, even the pope was getting slapped down for declaring that every Christian ruler was subject to the Roman Pontiff.
The fact that Albrecht I von Habsburg the new King of the Romans is murdered is therefore not the most interesting thing about him. What is astonishing is how far this man “with only one eye and a look that made you sick” got in his ambitions. Pressured from all sides, the Prince Electors, his own vassals in Austria, the Pope, the Bohemians, still he ploughed on, picking up principalities like others picking daisies. And a wrath of daisies is what did for him in the end…
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.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod 
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans
To 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 Ottonians
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Frederick Barbarossa and the early Hohenstaufen
Frederick II Stupor Mundi
Saxony and Eastward Expansion
The Hanseatic League
The Teutonic Knights
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356