Ep. 159: Karl IV (1346-1378) - The Rise to Imperial Power
This season has now gone on for 22 episodes. We started with the interregnum of largely absent rulers and after a brief renaissance under Rudolf von Habsburg the empire became a sort of oligarchy wher...
15 Aug 202434min
Ep. 158: Karl IV (1346-1378) - Prague - a new Rome
“Karl, by the grace of God, King of the Romans, ever august, and King of Bohemia [ ] We have turned over in careful contemplation, and have been diligently pondering howour hereditary kingdom of Bohem...
8 Aug 202432min
Ep. 157: The Black Death and other Calamities (1346-1400)
In around 1320 near the lake Issy-Kul in Kyrgysistan the rats started dying. Shortly after the inhabitants became affected with terrible diseases. Some started coughing up blood and all who did, died ...
1 Aug 202434min
Ep. 156: Karl IV (1346-1378) - What Price a Crown
The year is 1346 and we have, yes, another succession crisis. Without checking through my 1500 pages of transcripts, I have counted a total f 14 contested imperial elections in the 427 years we have c...
25 Jul 202425min
Ep. 155: Karl IV (1346-1378) - Youth of an Emperor
You have heard me complaining regularly over the last 154 episodes that what we report as political ambitions or strategic plans of the kings and emperors was pure conjecture derived from their action...
18 Jul 202428min
Ep. 154 - The Blind King John of Bohemia (1296-1346)
The noble and gallant King of Bohemia, also known as John of Luxemburg because he was the son of the Emperor Henry of Luxemburg, was told by his people that the battle had begun. Although he was in fu...
11 Jul 202440min
Ep. 153: The Rise of the City of Nürnberg in the 14th Century
“In the same way that Jerusalem is the navel of the world, is Nurnberg the navel of Germany” is how Matthäus Dresser described the city in 1581. The astronomer Johannes Regiomontanus moved to Nurnberg...
27 Jun 202427min
Ep.152: Ludwig the Bavarian (1314-1347) - The (not so) Ugly Duchess Margarete Maultasch
“The twelve-year-old Margarete, Princess of Carinthia and Tyrol, was travelling from her seat near Meran to Innsbruck for her wedding with the ten-year old Prince Johann of Bohemia. [..]Still and seri...
13 Jun 202435min
