Ep. 218: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – The Death of Mary of Burgundy
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By 1477 the rules of war that had been enshrined in the laws of chivalry are gone. The contest between the French and the Habsburgs over the inheritance of the Grand Dukes of the West gives us a foretaste of the things to come.
This war isn’t just fought between the opposing armies lining up for the decisive battle, but include wholesale starving out of the population, funding local uprisings and using propaganda and bribery to incite rebellions on the enemy’s homefront.
No one in 15th century Northern Europe is better at this new game than the industrious spider, king Louis XI of France. But a plucky 18-year old Austrian duke who had arrived in Ghent with not much more than the clothes on his back, abundant energy and a budding military genius gave him a run for his huge amounts of money, until tragedy struck.
Lots of deception, drama and devastation today….
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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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, episode 218 of Hedgehogs and Herons, |
| 0:11.0 | the war that made the House of Habsburg. |
| 0:15.0 | By 1477 the rules of war that had been enshrined in the laws of chivalry are gone. The contest between |
| 0:22.9 | the French and the Habsburgs over the inheritance of the Grand Dukes of the West gives us a |
| 0:27.3 | foretaste of the things to come. This war isn't just fought between the opposing armies lining |
| 0:33.2 | up for the decisive battle, but include wholesale starving out of the population, funding |
| 0:38.9 | local uprisings, and using propaganda and bribery to incite rebellions on the enemy's |
| 0:43.9 | home front. |
| 0:46.3 | No one in 15th century Northern Europe is better at this new game than the industrious spider, |
| 0:52.3 | King Louis XI of France. |
| 0:55.3 | But a plucky 18-year-old Austrian duke who had arrived in Ghent with not much more than |
| 0:59.5 | the clothes on his back, abundant energy and a budding military genius, gave him a run for his |
| 1:05.0 | huge amounts of money, until tragedy struck. |
| 1:10.4 | Lots of deception, drama and devastation today. |
| 1:14.4 | But before we start, let me tell you again about the history of the German's trip that may or may not happen. |
| 1:20.5 | The idea is to travel on a barge on the Ryan River from Ashaffenburg to Cologne or maybe beyond. |
| 1:26.3 | The boat looks luxurious and lovely and we could see Frankfurt, Mainz, the castles |
| 1:31.4 | on the Middle Rhine, Bonn, Cologne and of course Aachen. |
| 1:35.9 | Some of you have told me that they would be interested, but at this point there's not enough |
| 1:40.5 | of you for me to go ahead with it. |
| 1:43.0 | So if that is something you would be interested in and you are free for a week, end of |
| 1:47.1 | June, early July, let me know at History of the Germans at gmail.com. |
... |
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