Ep. 216: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - The Youth of an Emperor
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is it like to grow up the son of the emperor? For most of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire we have covered so far, no idea. There are scarce reports about the way the princes grew up, safe for tales like the emperor Ludwig the Bavarian being kidnapped by his pet monkey. But now, as the Late Middle Ages make way for the Renaissance, we can see the boy who would be king at play, being fed by his nursemaid and pretending to be a knight at a tournament.
And even better, this emperor is Maximilian, the last Knight, one of the most iconic rulers of his time. Come along as we descend into the delights and terrors of his epic childhood, complete with mythmaking in drawings and woodcuts.
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.
As always:
Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com
If you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans Podcast
For do it yourself merchandise go to: Merchandise • History of the Germans Podcast
Facebook: @HOTGPod
Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcast
Bluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.social
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Twitter: @germanshistory
To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans, Episode 216, the youth of Emperor |
| 0:09.2 | Maximilian I, which is also episode 14 of season 11, the fall and rise of the house |
| 0:14.6 | of Habsburg. |
| 0:17.0 | Now what is it like to grow up the son of the emperor? |
| 0:20.9 | For most of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire we have covered so far? |
| 0:24.1 | No idea. |
| 0:26.1 | There are scarce reports about the way princes grew up. |
| 0:28.9 | I'll say for tales like that the Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian was kidnapped by his pet |
| 0:33.8 | monkey when he was a baby. |
| 0:35.9 | But now as the late Middle Ages give way to the Renaissance, we can see the boy who would |
| 0:41.0 | be king at play, being fed by his nursemaid and pretending to be a knight at a tournament. |
| 0:48.8 | And even better, this emperor is Maximilian, the last knight, one of the most iconic |
| 0:53.6 | rulers of the time. |
| 0:55.8 | Come along as we descend into the delights and terrors of his epic childhood, complete with |
| 1:01.4 | myth-making in drawings and woodcuts. |
| 1:05.4 | But before I start, just a few things. |
| 1:07.9 | Part two of the Barbarossa series I did with the History of Venice and the History of |
| 1:11.8 | Italy is out and it's well worth listening to. |
| 1:15.0 | I've uploaded the full three episodes both on the Patreon feed and on the website membership |
| 1:20.2 | site so you can listen to it advertising free. |
| 1:23.9 | And as always, if you want to keep this show as it is, go to History of the Germans.com |
| 1:29.3 | slash support and become a patron as Ralph M., Wei Chun L, Stephen M, Frank Maxie, Edward H, Hamuski, Christopher G and Jonathan G have already done. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dirk Hoffmann-Becking, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dirk Hoffmann-Becking and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.