Ep. 221: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – Taking Back Austria and Tyrol
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After 13 years of fighting in the Low Countries, Maximilian, the newly elected king of the Roman, returns home to a rammed full inbox. There is his cousin, the dissolute count Sigismund of Tyrol who is about to sell out the family fortune to the dukes of Bavaria. The king of Hungary is still occupying Vienna – and there is a new heiress out on the market, Anne of Brittanny.
Some of the issues he tackles together with his now seriously elderly father, the emperor Friedrich III, others are very much his own tasks. In the process Friedrich creates a structurally new political entity, the Swabian League, Maximilian builds a relationship with Jakob Fugger, the money man who will grease the cogs of the Habsburg empire, and once again they fight, one battle after another.
And despite tremendous success, this period from 1489 to 1493, ends with some epic humiliation, not in war, but in love. “No man on earth has ever been disgraced as I have been at the hands of the French” is how he summarised it.
Come along and watch as the plot thickens.
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 221 taking back control. |
| 0:10.0 | After 13 years of fighting in the low countries, Maximilian the newly elected King of the Romans |
| 0:16.0 | returns home to a rammed full inbox. |
| 0:19.0 | There's his cousin, the dissolute Count Sigismund |
| 0:22.5 | of Tyrol, who is about to sell out the family fortune to the Dukes of Bavaria. The King of Hungary |
| 0:28.1 | is still occupying Vienna, and there's a new heiress out on the market, Anne of Brittany. |
| 0:34.6 | Some of the issues he tackles together with his now seriously elderly father, the Emperor |
| 0:39.0 | Fiddique III, others are very much his own tasks. |
| 0:43.5 | In the process, Friedrich creates a structurally new political entity, the Swabian League. |
| 0:49.8 | Maximilian builds a relationship with Jakob Fugger, the money man who will grease the |
| 0:54.5 | Cox of the Habsburg Empire, and once again they fight one battle after another. |
| 1:02.8 | And despite tremendous success, the spirit from 1489 to 1493 ends with some epic humiliation. Not in war, but in love. No man on earth has ever been |
| 1:16.5 | disgraced as I have been at the hands of the French is how Maximilian summarized it. Come along and |
| 1:24.8 | watch as the plot thickens. |
| 1:28.3 | But before we start, let me just mention that once again one of us is taking part in |
| 1:34.0 | University Challenge, the UK version of Quiz Bowl. |
| 1:38.7 | Being selected to represent your school in this tournament is the highest honor a true nerd |
| 1:43.9 | can aspire to. |
| 1:45.7 | So congratulations to a fellow listener, Kai Medewick, who skillfully captained the Manchester |
| 1:51.1 | team into the quarterfinals. |
| 1:54.1 | If you want to watch them, you can do that on the BBC IPlayer. |
| 1:59.4 | And if you feel like supporting other great nerdy talents by ensuring the continued availability |
... |
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