The Empire in the 15th Century

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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:

Johannes Gutenberg’s Pressing Matters

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

It is the invention of the printing press we discuss here, nothing more and nothing less. How did it come about, how did it work and why?

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

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What Has Printing Ever Done For Us?

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

“We should note the force, effect, and consequences of inventions which are nowhere more conspicuous than in those three which were unknown to the ancients, namely printing, gunpowder and the compass. For these three have changed the appearance and the state of the world.” wrote Francis Bacon in 1620. And almost everybody agreed.

Printing changed everything, but how exactly did it change everything? That is a question nobody posed properly until Elisabeth L. Eisenstein got on the academic stage in the 1970s and the debate has not yet stopped.

In this episode I will try to take you through some of Eisenstein’s ideas on the how of the change and, in the end, attempt a raincheck on what we can learn from it for the information revolution we are living through right now. No worries, this is still the History of the Germans, so we will talk facts and dates and processes, with only occasional attempts at breaking into the ivory tower…

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

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Origin Stories - Mainz and Hessen

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

This week we are setting off on our tour of the empire for real. And where better to start than with the most senior, most august of the seven prince Electors, the archbishop of Mainz, archchancellor of the empire, and holder of the decisive vote in imperial elections.

We have already encountered a number of archbishops of Mainz in this podcast, from the treacherous Frederick who tried to overthrow Otto the Great (ep.3), to Willigis, the eminence grise of the empire under Otto II, Otto III and Henry II (ep.10-19) , Adalbert, first advisor and then adversary of Henry V (ep. 40), Peter von Aspelt, the man who put the Luxemburgs on the Bohemian throne (ep. 145) and lots more.

But this series is not about grand imperial politics, but about the grimy territorial skullduggery inside the empire. And for Mainz this is a story that is deeply entangled with the history of Hessen.

Where Mainz is ancient, tracing its’ eminence back to a saint who had come across the water, Hessen was a new kid on the block amongst the imperial princes. But a very successful one. And at its beginning stood the 24 year-old daughter of a saint holding up her baby son to be acclaimed lord by the people, or some such thing.

Maps of Mainz, the Landgraviate of Thuringia and Hessen: Maps • History of the Germans Podcast

As always:

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The Count Palatine on the Rhine

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

This week it is back to the political landscape of the empire. We will travel upriver from Mainz via Worms and the not yet existent cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen to Heidelberg, my old hometown.

And there we will meet the man who held one of the empire’s most confusing titles, the count Palatinate of the Rhine, Elector and High Steward of the Empire. His name is Friedrich, Friedrich der Siegreiche, Frederick the Victorious, and being victorious is barely half of what is interesting about him.

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

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A (very) brief History of the German Universities

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Between the time the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901 and 1933, a total of 31 were awarded to German scientists and politicians. To name just a few, Wilhelm Röntgen (1901), Max Planck (1918), Albert Einstein (1921) and Werner Heisenberg (1932) for Physics, Emil Fischer (1902), Fritz Haber (1918), Walther Nernst (1920) and Hans Fischer (1930) for chemistry, Emil von Behring (1901), Robert Koch (1905) and Otto Warburg (1931) for medicine, Theodor Mommsen (1902), Gerhart Hauptmann (1912) and Thomas Mann (1929) for literature and Gustav Stresemann for peace.

The UK and France received 17 and 15 respectively, whilst the US picked up just 6 during that same period.

How could German universities rise to such dominance during the 19th and early 20th century from very humble beginnings? That is what we will look at in this episode.

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

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The Margraviate of Baden

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

What is it like to be a prince? Well, not quite what it is set out to be, in particular when you are a smaller prince, not in stature, but in land.

The margraves of Baden are such princes. In the 15th century their main territory, a slither of South-West Germany, just 60km long was too small to play on the European, even on the German stage, but too big to escape the need of massive palaces and warfare.

What makes Baden so fascinating is that despite its handicap, it managed to become a medium sized state, one half of Baden-Württemberg. The way there was a long one, involving friendship and loyalty to the death, piratical princesses, alchemy, someone called the Türkenlouis, a sun-shaped city and some skilled diplomacy.

Hyperlink to map of Baden: HABW_06_01.jpg (5750×6500)

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

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Württemberg, or How to Build a Success

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0100

The counts, dukes and ultimately kings of Württemberg had risen to the top by winning the genetic lottery. Their eldest sons tended to be competent, some even extremely so, their wives brought in dowries and sometimes entire counties, and they ruled for long enough that the next generation took over when they were ready.

But all that falls apart in the 15th century. They are suddenly afflicted with the disease of dynasties, states inherited by babies and buffoons, some of them managing to be both. That would normally be the death nail for a noble House, but not this time.

The Landtag, the Estates of Württemberg step in to protect the fledgling state, deposing buffoons when necessary and ruling on behalf of the babies. This is one of the lesser known and even more extraordinary political histories in europe and well worth listening to.

And as a bonus we also investigate why the regions around Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg have become hubs of technology and precision engineering, an area where there was no coal, no mining or any other natural advantage – except for the wine – no seriously, it was the wine.

Can Winegrowing Cause Rural Development? Evidence from Baden-Württemberg | European Review of Economic History | Oxford Academic (https://academic.oup.com/ereh/advance...)

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

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The Trade and Tribulations of the Free Imperial Cities

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Ravensburg, and you are very much forgiven if you cannot place it on the map, is today a town of 50,000 in the far south eastern corner of Baden-Württemberg between Friedrichshafen, home of the Zeppelins, and the city of Ulm and its majestic church tower.

If you have heard of it, it may be because of Ravensburger, the publisher of puzzles and boardgames, but you would not have associated it with any great mercantile or commercial activity.

Nevertheless, in the 15th century it housed the headquarters of a company that held a near monopoly in the trade between Spain and the empire and in certain wares, namely linen and a special cloth variously called barchent, bombast or fustian.

Before we get into Ravensburger and the Grosse Handelsgesellschaft, we need to put the whole region into the context of the free imperial cities of the 15th century.

Trading routes of the HABW_11_03_Ravensburger_Handelsgesellschaft.jpg (4957×3535) (https://www.leo-bw.de/media/kgl_atlas...)

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

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The Fuggers of Augsburg

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Jakob Fugger had been dubbed the Richest Man Who Ever Lived, but there are many more contenders, my favorite being an African, Mansa Musa, the ninth Mansa of the Mali empire whose generous gifts during a visit to Mecca in 1324 triggered a currency crisis.

That is something Jakob Fugger would never have done. He never was a flamboyant banker who impressed his contemporaries with lavish displays of wealth. He was actually fairly dull. If anyone in the firm of Fugger was flamboyant, it was the chief accountant.

So if Jakob is a bit of a pale shadow, the story of what happened in the world of European Finance between 1480 and 1520 is anything but boring. Within just 40 years the heart of the banking industry moved from Florence and Venice where it had held sway since it was invented and moved north, into a medium sized Swabian city, Augsburg.

That is as if JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley closed their doors and in their stead some local players from Scandinavia or Mexico took over the financing of the Global economy.

I am not kidding, something like that really happened back in the late 15th century.

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

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Engraving the German Renaissance

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Last year I went to an exhibition at the Städel museum in Frankfurt that was entitled Holbein and the Renaissance in the North. That is the elder Holbein, the father of the Holbein who came to England. This exhibition has now ended, but there is still a great summary available on the Städel website (https://holbein.staedelmuseum.de/en) .

Though obviously not present at the exhibition, one key focus was the Fugger chapel in the church of St. Anne in Augsburg, one of the earliest and most significant Renaissance building north of the Alps. I wanted to kick off this episode with this chapel and then move on to Holbein, Burgkmair etc. But as I dug deeper and deeper into the late 15th and early 16th century art in Southern Germany, the more connections and links emerged that I hope you will find as fascinating as I did.

Links to artworks:

Fugger chapel: Die Fuggerkapelle | St. Anna Augsburg (https://www.st-anna-augsburg.de/die-f...)

Riemenschneider Heilig Blut Altar: The Altar of the Holy Blood | Reliquarian (https://reliquarian.com/2013/03/02/th...)

The Hare: Young Hare, 1502 - Albrecht Durer - WikiArt.org (https://www.wikiart.org/en/albrecht-d...)

Schongauer St. Anthony: Martin Schongauer | Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...)

Rhinocerus: Albrecht Dürer | The Rhinoceros | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...)

Ritter, Tod und Teufel and other works: Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/albr...)

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

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Agnes Bernauer - Love and War in Bavaria – (Part 1)

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

When I first recorded this episode, my nose was so bunged up, I could barely speak. So I cloned my voice and produced a whole episode using an Ai generated version of me. That was a cool experiment, but ultimately, a canned voice is not the same thing.

Fortunately, I am now fully recovered, and I have now re-recorded the same episode again, and this time the names of towns and cities will bear a bit more resemblance to what they are actually called.

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

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The Landshuter Hochzeit – Love and War in Bavaria (Part 2)

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

On November 14th and 15th 1475 one of the grandest events in the history of the Holy Roman Empire took place, the Landshuter Hochzeit, the nuptials of Georg, the Rich, son of Ludwig, the Rich and grandson of Heinrich, the Rich, all of them dukes of Bayern-Landshut, and Hedwig, the daughter of king Kasimir IV of Poland and Lithuania.

The event attracted 10,000 guests, amongst them the Counts Palatine on the Rhine, the Dukes of Württemberg, the archduke Maximilian of Austria and the emperor Friedrich III himself. It lasted several days during which the eminent invitees as well as the citizens of Landshut ate, drank, danced and watched an endless row of tournaments, plays and musical performances.

The fame of these festivities reverberated through the ages, so that in the 19th century the burghers of the town decided to stage the event again, initially annually and nowadays every 4 years. The reenactment involves over 2,000 participants, and culminates in a procession through the city, complete with bridal carriage, musicians and Landsknechte, all in splendid historical costumes.

Which leaves us with more questions than answers. How come the most powerful ruler of central Europe, Kasimir King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania married one of his precious daughters to the son of the ruler of half a duchy, hundreds of miles from his capital; secondly, how such a duke became so rich he could afford to stage an event that counted amongst the grandest weddings of this already very ostentatious century; and lastly, why Landshut is today a gorgeous, but only medium sized country town, and by no means the beating heart of Bavarian commerce, culture and politics.

That is what we are going to explore in this episode.

How Holland was Lost to the Holy Roman Empire (Part 1 - the Politics)

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Today begins a two part series about how the Low countries modern day Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg shifted out of the Holy Empire. These lands, with the exception of Flanders, had been part of the empire for hundreds of years, ever since Henry the Fowler acquired Lothringia for east Francia in 925 – not by conquest but through diplomacy – as was his way.

There are two ways to tell the story of the split away from the empire, one is about the dynastic machinations, the marriages, poisonings and inability to produce male heirs, the other one is about economics and the rising power of the cities.

This, the first episode will look at the dynastic story, the pot luck and cunning plans that laid the groundworks for the entity that became known as the Low Countries to emerge, whilst the next one will look at the economic realities that thwarted the ambitions of one of the most remarkable women in late medieval history, Jacqueline of Bavaria, countess of Holland, Seeland and Hainault, and why that was ultimately a good thing, not for her and not for the empire, but for the people who lived in these lands.

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

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How Holland was Lost to the Holy Roman Empire (Part 2 - the Economy)

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

So, why did Holland really leave the empire? Was it because the valiant and tragic countess Jacqueline was “hunted down from one land to the other, all of them mine”. Was it a story of misogyny, betrayal, incompetence and ruthless power politics. Yes, it was.

But it was a also a story of economic and climate change and one that links into the herring trade of the Hanseatic League, the decline of Teutonic Knights and even into the Hussite Revolt, topics that seem distant, but mattered.

This week we focus on this, the latter part of the story

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

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Arms and Armour

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

In 1550 Spanish court records show that the Augsburg armorer Kolman Helmschmied was paid an advance of 2,000 ducats for a full armour for king Philipp II. The final price for this piece was 3,000 ducats. At the same time Raphael could charge at max 170 ducats for an altarpiece. Even the Renaissances’ best paid artist, Michelangelo received just 3,000 gold florins for the painting of the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. Armour, along with tapestries, were the most valuable artworks of the 15th and 16th century.

That was just one set of armour made for the most powerful monarch of the time. But what about the thousands of soldiers he commanded, did they have armour? Oh yes they did. Not quite as sophisticated and certainly not as decorated, but they did. And where did these thousands of helmets and breast and back plates come from? From the same places where their prince’s fancy metalwork came from, from Nürnberg and Augsburg. Their swords came from Passau and Solingen and their firearms from Suhl.

How come these mostly southern Germn cities became the armories of Europe whose output clad the armies that fought the never-ending wars of the 15th, 16th and 17th century? How did they supersede Milan, the centre of weapons production in the preceding century in terms of quality, scale and availability, and create a tradition of metalworking and entrepreneurship that lasts until today?

That is what we will look at in this episode.

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

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Divide and Lose, the Leipziger Teilung

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

When two brothers, Ernst and Albrecht of Saxony divided up their enormous inheritance that comprised Thuringia, Meissen and the electorate of Sachsen-Wittenberg, they not only undermined their power base as the de facto #2 amongst the imperial principalities and planted the seed for a conflict that would play a key role in the Reformation but they also laid the foundations for the modern Länder of Thuringia and Saxony.

And this division was not driven by the usual family feud but came after 20 years of largely harmonious government and a shared childhood trauma. Why they took, or had to take this fateful step, is what we will discuss today.

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

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Mapping the World, or how Germans invented America

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

When you enter the great hall of the Thomas Jefferson building at the Library of Congress in Washington, the first exhibit you will be facing is their Gutenberg Bible. And it is one of the finest Gutenberg bibles around, one of only three surviving pristine copies on vellum. This was the kind of bible that was so expensive to produce, it bankrupted Gutenberg. When the Library of Congress bought it in 1930, they paid $375,000, roughly $7.5m in today’s money.

But this is not the most expensive piece in the library’s collection. That would a work by two Germans, Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. And it is not even a book, but a map. Not a small map, it is 2.3m or 91 inches wide and 1.3m or 50 inches tall.

And this map, printed in 1507 claimed to be:

A DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD ON BOTH

A GLOBE AND A FLAT SURFACE WITH THE INSERTION

OF THOSE LANDS UNKNOWN TO PTOLEMY

DISCOVERED BY RECENT MEN

And the authors wrote that the three continents known since antiquity, Europe, Africa and Asis, quote "have in fact now been more widely explored, and a fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci (as will be heard in what follows). Since both Asia and Africa received their names from women, I do not see why anyone should rightly prevent this [new part] from being called Amerigen—the land of Amerigo, as it were—or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of perceptive character." End quote.

This fourth part, they said was “surrounded on all sides by the ocean”. And indeed, in the left lower corner we find a fourth continent, a thin, stretched thing, with few place names and a western shore that hints at the Peruvian bulge, unmistakably, South America and then to north of it a very indistinguishable blob of land.

This map, proudly displayed as America’s Birth Certificate, is full of the most intriguing mysteries. How did Waldseemüller and Ringmann know that the Americas had a western shore, when it was only in 1513, 6 years later, that a European first glanced the Pacific?

How did the name America stick though Amerigo Vespucci had neverled an expedition, not even commanded a ship? But most of all, why was this first map of America drawn not by a Spanish or Portuguese navigator, but by two Germans in the employ of the duke of Lorraine, working in St. Die, which is as far away from the sea as one can get in Western Europe.

And then, more generally, what did the Germans have to do with the discoveries, the maps and globes that told the world about them? That is what we will explore in this episode.

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

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