Ep. 108: Colonisation of the East(700-1200) - From Saxony to Saxonies
History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 551 Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2023
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
These last few episodes you may have wondered how all this hangs together. This week we will try to resolve this question. What we will talk about is how the great stem duchy of Saxony fell apart. And there are two stories about that. One is the story of Henry the Lion and his fall in 1180. That story has been repeated over and over again and put into a context of rivalry between the Welf and the Hohenstaufen, between Guelfs and Ghibellines. It makes for a great story of betrayal and revenge. But it is also partly wrong and more importantly, not the whole story. The whole story is one about princely opposition against centralising tendencies, about an antagonism between the south and the north and about a broad trend of fragmentation of power that engulfed not just the empire but also Italy, Poland, Denmark and others.
It is the resulting environment of warring mid-sized principalities that allowed alternative structures like the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Knights to emerge. So let’s get straight into it.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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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:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
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The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Episode 108, from Saxony to |
| 0:10.9 | Saxonese. |
| 0:13.2 | These last few episodes, you may have wondered how this all hangs together. |
| 0:17.2 | Now this week we'll try to resolve the question. |
| 0:20.4 | What we'll talk about is how the great St stem duchy of Saxony fell apart. |
| 0:25.3 | And there are two stories about that. |
| 0:27.7 | One is the story of Henry the Lion and his fall in 1180. |
| 0:31.3 | That story has been repeated over and over again and put into a context of rivalry between |
| 0:35.7 | the wealth and the Hohenstaufen, between the between the Gavs and the Ghibellins. |
| 0:39.9 | It makes for a great story of betrayal and revenge, but it is partly wrong, and more importantly, |
| 0:45.3 | not the whole story. The whole story is one about princely opposition against centralizing tendencies, |
| 0:51.1 | about an antagonism between the south and the north, and about a broad trend |
| 0:54.8 | of fragmentation of power that engulfed not just the empire, but also Italy, Poland, Denmark |
| 1:00.0 | and others. |
| 1:01.6 | It is the resulting environment of warring mid-sized principalities that allowed alternative |
| 1:06.6 | structures like the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Knights to emerge. |
| 1:12.7 | So, let's get into it. |
| 1:19.4 | But before we start, let me tell you that the history of the Germans podcast is advertising free thanks to the generous support from patrons. And you can become a patron too and enjoy |
| 1:24.2 | exclusive bonus episodes and other privileges from the price of a |
| 1:27.7 | latte per month. |
| 1:29.6 | All you have to do is sign up at patreon.com slash History of the Germans or on my website |
| 1:34.5 | history of the Germans.com. |
... |
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