Ep. 32: Investiture Controversy (1065-1122) - Hildebrand, not Pope but False Monk

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 mus...

21 Huhti 202233min

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 ca...

14 Huhti 202229min

(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 ...

7 Huhti 202231min

(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 fo...

31 Maalis 202234min

1153-1155This 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 ...

24 Maalis 202239min

1152In 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 likene...

17 Maalis 202218min

(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 ...

10 Maalis 202227min

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 ...

3 Maalis 202233min