Ep. 210: Ladislaus Postumus (1440-1457) - Lord of all, Ruler of No One
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our journey today will take us away from the emperor Friedrich III who will spend most of the episode holed up in his castle at Wiener Neustadt, fretting and gardening.
Instead we look at the dramatic life of his younger cousin, Ladislaus Postumus, king of Hungary, king of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. This will take us back to Prague and its complex religious politics, to Vienna where the people fall for the alluring promises of a populist and to Hungary where one of the greatest generals of the age squares up against Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople.
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 | We do apologise for the delay to this service. We are aware that you have a choice of podcasts |
| 0:05.2 | and very much appreciate that you have today again chosen the History of the Germans. |
| 0:10.6 | Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans, episode 210. Ladis Las posthumous, Lord of all, |
| 0:18.3 | ruler of no one, which is also episode 8 of season 11, the fall and rise of the |
| 0:23.6 | House of Habsburg. |
| 0:25.6 | Our journey today will take us away from the Emperor Friedrich III, who will spend most |
| 0:29.8 | of the episode hold up in his castle at Vienna Neustadt, fretting and gardening. |
| 0:34.9 | Instead, we will look at the dramatic life of his younger cousin, Ladislas |
| 0:39.0 | posthumous, king of Hungary, king of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. And this will take us back |
| 0:44.5 | to Prague and its complex religious politics, to Vienna, where the people fall for the alluring |
| 0:50.4 | promises of a populist, and to Hungary, where one of the greatest generals of the |
| 0:54.9 | age, squares up against Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople. |
| 1:00.6 | But before we start, a quick reminder that the history of the Germans is not solely driven by |
| 1:06.3 | my mojo, but by the generosity of our patrons. And you can become a patron too by signing up on |
| 1:12.3 | Historyof the Germans.com slash support. And then I want to say special thanks to |
| 1:17.4 | Mats Ha, Anna J, Henry W, Curie N, Klaus K, Alucard Z and Dan, who've already signed up |
| 1:27.0 | on Historyof the Germans.com |
| 1:29.3 | slash support. |
| 1:30.3 | With that, back to the show. |
| 1:33.3 | Now last week we ended on Friedrich III's journey to Rome, a journey that brought him the |
| 1:39.3 | Imperial Crown and a wife, Eleanor of Portugal. |
| 1:43.3 | Now there is no free lunch in particular, no free lunch with the Pope. |
... |
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