Ep. 144: Henry VII (1308-1313) -The Rise of the House of Luxembourg
History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 551 Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On November 27th, 1308 the prince electors chose Henry VII, count of Luxemburg to be their new king of the Romans and future emperor. Little did they know that this decision will give rise to a dynasty that will rule the empire for as many decades as the Ottonian, the Salian and the Hohenstaufen had. A dynasty that featured such emblems of chivalric pride as the blind king John of Bohemia, builders of cities and empires like Charles IV and finally, in a faint mirror image of the height of medieval imperial power, an emperor who engineers the deposition of three popes and the appointment of a new one, whilst foreshadowing the wars of religion by murdering the reformer Jan Hus.
Today’s episode explores the backstory of the house of Luxemburg who have been around since Carolingian times. They were the “Where is Wally“ of the rich tapestry of High Medieval History, always somewhere in the picture, but never really in the foreground. Two women feature highly, the empress Kunigunde, wife of emperor Henry II and Ermesinde, who successful ruled the county for 47 years.
But the real step up came when Henry VII, barely 30 years old and running a county much diminished after the disastrous battle of Worringen became the only viable candidate to kingship. How that happened is what we will talk about in this episode..
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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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans, Episode 144, The Rise of the House |
| 0:10.5 | of Luxembourg. |
| 0:13.1 | On November 27, 1308, the Prince electors chose Henry the 7th, Count of Luxembourg, to be their |
| 0:20.3 | new King of the Romans and future |
| 0:22.7 | emperor. |
| 0:24.2 | Little did they know that this decision will give rise to a dynasty that will rule the empire |
| 0:28.5 | for as many decades as the Otonians, the Salians and the Hoend Stauffen did. |
| 0:33.4 | A dynasty that featured such emblems of chivalric pride as the blind king John of Bohemia, |
| 0:39.1 | builders of cities and empires like Charles IV, and finally in a faint mirror image of the |
| 0:45.0 | height of medieval imperial power, an emperor who engineers the deposition of three popes and the |
| 0:50.5 | appointment of a new one, whilst foreshadowing the wars of religion by murdering |
| 0:55.1 | the reformer Jan Hus. Today's episode explores the backstory of the House of Luxembourg, |
| 1:03.0 | who have been around since Carollingian times. They were the where is Wally of the rich tapestry |
| 1:08.4 | of high medieval history, always somewhere in the picture, but never really in the foreground. |
| 1:13.6 | Two women feature highly, the Empress Kunigunda, wife of Emperor Henry II, and Hermes Sinder, |
| 1:19.6 | who successfully ruled the county for 47 years. |
| 1:23.6 | Then the real step-up came when Henry the 7th, barely 30 years old and running a county |
| 1:29.4 | much diminished after the disastrous Battle of Warringen, became the only viable candidate |
| 1:34.6 | to kingship. |
| 1:36.2 | Now how that happened is what we're going to talk about in this episode. |
| 1:42.5 | Before we start, let me remind you that the History of the Germans podcast is advertising |
| 1:45.9 | free thanks to the generosity of our patrons. |
... |
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