Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans, episode 140, Rudolf von Habsburg

and the Golden King Otokar II of Bohemia.

Now this week we'll look at what poor Count Rudolf of Habsburg does once he had been

elected King of the Romans.

This is not the first time the electors have chosen a man of much more modest means than themselves.

William of Holland and Hermann von Zalm had failed to leverage their elevated status into tangible gains.

But Rudolf is different. Through a combination of charm, cunning and fecundity, he managed to wrestle

the Duchies of Austria, Styria and Carinthia from its current owner, the immeasurably rich

and the profoundly vain King Otocar the Second of Bohemia, a story of political acumen,

personal bravery and dishonorable tactics.

But before we start, let me thank our patrons one more time. They are the ones who keep

this show on the road, and they get mentioned at the start of the podcast. As you may have noticed, I normally just read out the first name in initial,

but some have asked to have their full name read out.

So I asked the whole patron community how they want me to proceed.

That was a genuine question and not just me fishing for compliments,

but I must say I'm a little bit overwhelmed

by the nice things you guys had to say about the podcast.

On the subject itself, it seems that the views are very divided.

Some like the anonymized versions,

other really want me to read out their full name.

So I've concluded to read out the names of those of you who really

want me to, and stick with the previous version for everyone else. I hope that works for you.

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