Ep. 235: The Youth and Election of the Emperor Charles V (1519-1555)
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 Apr 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 Apr 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 Apr 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 Apr 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 Apr 41min
Ep.230: Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) - The League of Cambrai
Another Thursday and another episode dealing with another epic fail of our hero, Maximilian I. But despite a military campaign that once again failed for all the usual reasons, no money, no strategy, ...
26 Mars 43min
Ep. 229: Joanna the (not?) Mad (1504-1555) - How the Habsburgs gained Spain
“Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube" – ‘Let others wage war; thou, happy Austria, marry’ is one of the few terms that almost anyone with a cursory interest in European history knows, only rivall...
19 Mars 48min
Ep. 228: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - The Princes and the Emperor.
If there was one group that consistently thwarted Maximilian’s grand plans for world domination, it was the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. He had given in to their demands for Imperial Reform, had ...
12 Mars 26min
