Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, episode 200, divide and loose, the Leipzig-Taylung,

which is also episode 15 of season 10, the empire in the 15th century.

When two brothers, Ernst and Albrecht of Saxony divided up their enormous inheritance

that comprised Thuringia, Meissen and the

electorate of Saxon-Wittemark, then not only undermined their power base as the de facto

number two amongst the imperial principalities, and planted the seed for a conflict that would

play a key role in the Reformation, but they also laid the foundations for the modern lender

of Thuringia and Saxony.

And this division was not driven by the usual family feud but came after 20 years of largely

harmonious joint government and a shared childhood trauma.

Why they took or had to take this fateful step is what we will discuss today.

And big, big thank you to all of you who responded to the question I asked last week

about whether you enjoy going down the various rabbit holes that opened up as the Empire fragmented.

I was expecting a somewhat biased result.

After all, anyone who was keen on a straightforward and more rapid narrative is unlikely to

listen for two years in the hope such an acceleration may finally appear.

But what I did not expect was that so many of you contacted me on various channels to tell

me how much they enjoyed these deviations, even going so far as to describe them as the core and the main value they see in the show.

So, no further debate. We'll continue our meandering walk around the Empire.

And since this is the 200th episode, instead of mentioning those patrons whose turn it is to have their names called out,

I will today honor 11 patrons of the show who have been supporting continuously from as long ago as 2021,

and have hence made an outstanding contribution to the show.

...