John Wycliffe - a Guest Episode from the History of England

As you are still awaiting your presents, mine has already arrived, which is the chance to make this show. Despite all my occasional moaning and groaning about how much work it is, I have never enjoyed...

25 Dec 202541min

The words High and Late Middle Ages conjures up images of fog rising up over a field where knights in shining armor are trading blows with double handed swords, mighty bishops overseeing the construct...

18 Dec 202539min

By 1477 the rules of war that had been enshrined in the laws of chivalry are gone. The contest between the French and the Habsburgs over the inheritance of the Grand Dukes of the West gives us a foret...

11 Dec 202540min

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 Bur...

4 Dec 202539min

What is it like to grow up the son of the emperor? For most of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire we have covered so far, no idea. There are scarce reports about the way the princes grew up, safe for...

27 Nov 202532min

The rise of the Habsburgs to world domination pivots on one crucial moment, the marriage of Maximilian of Habsburg to Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, last of the Grand Dukes of the...

20 Nov 202540min

The venerable city of Neuss between Cologne and Düsseldorf was founded in 16 BC as a Roman army camp, making it one of the oldest in Germany. Its history is marked by the usual mix of feuds with its a...

13 Nov 202539min

How long can an emperor not be an emperor. The official record stands at 25 years, that is how long Friedrich III had stayed out of the core areas of the Holy Roman Empire. That meant 25 ears of Imper...

6 Nov 202534min