Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Season 10, The Empire in the 15th century.

I typed, what does a typical German town look like into perplexity AI, and it came up with

half-timbered houses, cobble streets

and alleys, medieval architecture, greenery and decorations, and regional variations.

And that's not half bad, unless you come to Berlin, Hamburg, Munich or Cologne in search of

any of the above. But at some point in time even Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne

were full of half-timbered houses on cobble streets and alleys

overlooked by medieval churches and town halls.

And some of the smaller cities like Rottenburg-Opter Tauber,

Nordlingen, Itchstein, Miltenberg, Lübeck, Essling, and literally hundreds

more do indeed have all of the above features.

But these are very rarely medieval.

In fact, most of these half-timbered houses and even city walls date from the 15th and 16th

century, not from the high Middle Ages in the 15th and 16th century, not from the high Middle Ages

in the 12th and 13th. Many German histories skip over this period in order to get to the

Reformation, which I think is a shame, because the 15th century did not just shape the physical

appearance of the country, but much of its geographical and mental makeup.

This is the time when the Empire reaches its most challenging phase.

This is not the difficult second album, this is more Tina Turner in 1982 when her cover

of shame, shame, shame reached only number 47 in the Netherlands charts.

The Empress Sigismund and Frederick III were blessed with very long reigns.

But they did not bless the Empire very much with their presence.

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