The Early Habsburgs4 Joulu 2025

Ep. 217: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – When Mary Met Maxi

How often have you heard this phrase “Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry". It goes back to a whole string of marriages, first Maximilian of Habsburg married the heiress of the duchy of Burgundy, then his son married the heiress of Spain and finally his grandson married the heiress of Hungary and Bohemia. And bish bash bosh, an empire is created in the horizontal.

That is nice and neat but not exactly true. Sure the marriages happened, but not in the way at least I have been told. There was a lot more drama and a lot more agency than you think. For a whole six months Maximilian, the Last Knight in his shining armour, left Marie of Burgundy to fend off invasions, revolutions and conspiracies on her own. She was imprisoned, her ministers were hanged and she was told marriage to a 7-year old hunchback was her only wayout. How she managed through that and found herself in the very first truly passionate marriage we have heard about in the History of the Germans Podcast, well, that is what we are talking about today.

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

If you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans Podcast

For do it yourself merchandise go to: Merchandise • History of the Germans Podcast

Facebook: @HOTGPod

Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcast

Bluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.social

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Twitter: @germanshistory

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

Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen

Frederick II Stupor Mundi

Saxony and Eastward Expansion

The Hanseatic League

The Teutonic Knights

The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

The Reformation before the Reformation

The Empire in the 15th century

The Fall and Rise of the Habsburgs

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(38)

Ep. 238: The Habsburg Empire at its Zenith - Ferdinand I and the Siege of Vienna

Today we celebrate the topping out of the Habsburg empire. By the middle of the 16th century it reached its furthest extent as a political entity ruled by one man. Over the last 42 episodes we have se...

21 Touko 53min

Ep. 237: How Italy Fell to the Habsburgs - From the Peace of Madrid to the Sack of Rome 1527.

We are coming closer to the end of our series on the Fall and Rise of the House of Habsburg. We have seen the reconsolidation of Austria, the acquisition of Burgundy, the inheritance of Spain and toda...

14 Touko 36min

Ep. 236: Charles V (1520-1555) - The Battle of Pavia

In 1521 four men dominated Europe. They were all in their twenties: King Henry VIII of England, born 1491, King Francois I of France, born 1494, Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Sultan, born that sam...

7 Touko 38min

Ep. 235: The Youth and Election of the Emperor Charles V (1520-1555)

Born during a ball in Ghent on 24 February 1500, Charles of Habsburg would grow up to rule an empire stretching from the Philippines to Prague and from Lima to Lauwersoog. But who was the man behind o...

30 Huhti 40min

Ep. 234: The Charisma of Emperor Maximilian (1493-1519)

Maximilian I died on January 12th, 1519. But his likeness is everywhere. None of his predecessors left behind as many depictions of their life, from being fed by his nurse as a toddler to the Totenbil...

23 Huhti 37min

Ep. 233: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - Last Days and Legacy

The last decade of emperor Maximilian’s reign was overshadowed by all three challenges to the emerging Habsburg empire gaining strength. The Ottoman empire was piling on resources by taking over Syria...

16 Huhti 39min

Ep. 232: The Ottomans – From Mehmet the Conqueror to Selim the Grim (1444-1520)

These last dozen or so episodes we have examined the genesis of two of the three major strategic preoccupations of the Habsburg empire, the rivalry with the French kings and the relationship with the ...

9 Huhti 38min

Ep. 231: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - Marrying Bohemia and Hungary

You have almost certainly seen the image in today’s episode artwork before. It is a family portrait showing Maximilian, his first wife Marie of Burgundy, his son, Philip the Handsome and three childre...

2 Huhti 41min