Ep. 143: Albrecht I (1298-1308) -The Murder of a King
History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 551 Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The late 13th century was the sniper’s alley for many a powerful family. The disappearance of great dynasties, the Arpads of Hungary, the Premyslids of Bohemia, the Zaehringer, Babenbergs, the counts of Holland to name just a few wasn’t down to lack of fertility but down to violence. Murder became so common, even those who did not have swords sticking out of their chest were presumed poisoned. To save them, some were suspended from the ceiling to flush out harmful substances. Violence was not limited to temporal princes, even the pope was getting slapped down for declaring that every Christian ruler was subject to the Roman Pontiff.
The fact that Albrecht I von Habsburg the new King of the Romans is murdered is therefore not the most interesting thing about him. What is astonishing is how far this man “with only one eye and a look that made you sick” got in his ambitions. Pressured from all sides, the Prince Electors, his own vassals in Austria, the Pope, the Bohemians, still he ploughed on, picking up principalities like others picking daisies. And a wrath of daisies is what did for him in the end…
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.
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
For do it yourself merchandise go to: Merchandise • History of the Germans Podcast
Facebook: @HOTGPod
Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcast
Bluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.social
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Twitter: @germanshistory
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
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, episode 143, the murder of a king. |
| 0:11.3 | Albrecht the first von Habsburg. |
| 0:14.2 | The late 13th century was the sniper's alley for many a powerful family. |
| 0:19.8 | The disappearance of great dynasties, the |
| 0:21.6 | Arpats of Hungary, the premises lids of Bohemia, the Ceringa, Barbenbergs, their counts |
| 0:26.4 | of Holland, to name just a few, wasn't down to lack of fertility, but down to violence. |
| 0:32.9 | Murder had become so common, even those who did not have swords sticking out of their chest, were presumed |
| 0:38.3 | poisoned. |
| 0:39.3 | To save them, some were suspended from the ceiling to flush out harmful substances. |
| 0:45.3 | And violence was not limited to temporal princes, even the Pope was getting slapped down |
| 0:49.3 | for declaring that every Christian ruler was subject to the Roman pontiff. |
| 0:58.7 | The fact that Dalbrich Iwbricht Iwbosbuk the new King of the Romans was murdered is therefore not the most interesting thing about him. |
| 1:02.7 | What is astonishing is how far this man, with only one eye and a look that made you sick, |
| 1:08.3 | got in his ambitions. |
| 1:10.3 | Pressured from all sides, the Prince Electors, his own vassals in Austria, the Pope, the Bohemians. |
| 1:15.9 | Still, he plowed on picking up principalities like others were picking daisies. |
| 1:22.2 | And a wrath of daisies is what did for him in the end. |
| 1:29.2 | Before we start the story proper, I want to thank not only the patrons who keep this show on the road by signing up on patreon.com slash history of the Germans, |
| 1:37.6 | or by making a one-time donation at Historyof the Germans.com slash support. |
| 1:42.0 | But I want to break a lance for all of you, who keeps supporting the show |
| 1:45.2 | by telling friends and family about it, by posting on social media, and particularly on Facebook |
| 1:50.1 | and Twitter, or by reading and commenting on my website. Our podcast, like the History of the Germans, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dirk Hoffmann-Becking, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dirk Hoffmann-Becking and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.