Ep. 192: Duchy of Württemberg - Turning Wine into Winning
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The counts, dukes and ultimately kings of Württemberg had risen to the top by winning the genetic lottery. Their eldest sons tended to be competent, some even extremely so, their wives brought in dowries and sometimes entire counties, and they ruled for long enough that the next generation took over when they were ready.
But all that falls apart in the 15th century. They are suddenly afflicted with the disease of dynasties, states inherited by babies and buffoons, some of them managing to be both. That would normally be the death nail for a noble House, but not this time.
The Landtag, the Estates of Württemberg step in to protect the fledgling state, deposing buffoons when necessary and ruling on behalf of the babies. This is one of the lesser known and even more extraordinary political histories in europe and well worth listening to.
And as a bonus we also investigate why the regions around Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg have become hubs of technology and precision engineering, an area where there was no coal, no mining or any other natural advantage – except for the wine – no seriously, it was the wine.
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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Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Episode 192, Wurttemberg, or How to Build a Success, which is also episode 8 of season 10, the empire in the 15th century. |
| 0:18.6 | The counts, dukes and ultimately kings of Wittenberg had risen to the top by winning the genetic lottery. |
| 0:25.2 | Their eldest sons tended to be competent, some even extremely so. |
| 0:29.6 | Their wives brought in dowries in sometimes entire counties, |
| 0:33.5 | and they ruled for long enough that the next generation took over when they were ready. |
| 0:39.0 | But all that falls apart in the 15th century, they are suddenly afflicted with a disease of |
| 0:44.0 | dynasties, that states are inherited by babies and buffoons, some of them managing to be both. |
| 0:51.4 | And that would normally be the death nail for a noble house, but not this time. |
| 0:57.6 | The Lantuck, the estates of Wurtenberg, step in to protect the fledgling state, deposing |
| 1:03.2 | buffoons when necessary and ruling on behalf of the babies. This is one of the lesser-known |
| 1:09.5 | and even more extraordinary political histories of Europe, |
| 1:12.6 | and one well worth listening to. |
| 1:14.6 | And as a bonus, we also investigate why the region around Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg |
| 1:21.6 | have become hubs of technology and precision engineering, |
| 1:25.6 | an area where there was no coal, no mining, or any |
| 1:30.2 | other natural advantage, except for the wine. No, seriously, it was the wine. |
| 1:39.2 | But before we start, let me uncork a nebuchadnezzar of gratitude for all the patrons who keep this show |
| 1:45.9 | on the road by signing up on History of the Germans.com slash support. And specifically I want to |
| 1:52.4 | thank Christian Wenzel, Carrie, Jacob of the Crooked Shade with a big apology for the delayed response |
| 1:59.6 | to his super, super nice message. |
| 2:02.5 | Andreas, Lynn, Stuart Eves, and Cote, who've already signed up. |
| 2:08.9 | And then I wanted to point you to another history podcast. |
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