Ep. 223: Imperial Reform 1495 – The Diet of Worms
History of the Germans
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We are now 7 episodes into the action-packed life of emperor Maximilian and he is only 35 years old. We still have another 24 years to go and they will be again full of wars, outlandish schemes, including one where he wants to make himself pope and of course marriages that create an empire. But if you look into German history schoolbooks, the thing that Maximilian is most famous for is what we will discuss today, the Imperial reforms that start in earnest in 1495 and will go through some iterations, before being largely completed in 1555.
Of the 1495 reforms, the Ewige Landfrieden is the most impactful. And it begins as follows quote:
“..from this moment on, no person of whatever rank, status, or condition shall make war on others, or rob, declare feud with, invade, or besiege them, or help anyone else to do so in person or through servitors; or violently occupy any castle, town, market, fortress, village, farmstead, or hamlet, or seize them illegally against another's will, or damage them with fire or in any other way, or assist by word or deed or in any other way support or supply any perpetrators of such deeds, or knowingly harbor, house, feed, or give drink, aid, and comfort to such persons.”
That sounds great. Who could possibly disagree with that? Why did it take months and months of negotiations to agree this?
Let’s find out.
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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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
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The Reformation before the Reformation
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans. Episode 223, A Diet of Worms in 1495. |
| 0:13.8 | We're now seven episodes into the action-packed life of Emperor Maximilian and he's only 35 years old. |
| 0:19.9 | We still have another 24 years to go and there will be again full of wars and outlandish schemes, |
| 0:25.6 | including one way he wants to make himself pope and of course marriages that create an empire. |
| 0:30.6 | But if you look into German history school books, |
| 0:33.6 | the thing that Maximilian is most famous for is what we'll discuss today. |
| 0:38.8 | The imperial reforms at Star and Ernest in 1495, they will go through some iterations before |
| 0:44.0 | being loudly completed in 1555. |
| 0:47.8 | So of these 1495 reforms, the Eviegel Landfrieden, the eternal peace, is the most impactful. |
| 0:56.8 | And it begins as follows, quote, |
| 1:04.4 | From this moment on, no person or whatever rank, status or condition shall make war on others, or rob, declare feud with, invade or besiege them, or help anyone else to do so in person or through servitors. |
| 1:12.6 | Or violently occupy any castle, town, market, fortress, village, farmstead or hamlet, |
| 1:18.6 | or seize them illegally against another's will, or damage them with fire, or any other way, |
| 1:23.6 | or assist by word or deed, or in in any other way support or supply any perpetrators |
| 1:29.9 | of such deeds, annoyingly harbor, house, feed or give drink, aid and comfort to such persons. |
| 1:37.8 | That sounds great. |
| 1:40.0 | Who could possibly disagree with that? |
| 1:42.8 | Why did it take months and months of negotiations to agree this? |
| 1:47.0 | Well, let's find out. |
| 1:52.0 | First up, why was reform suddenly needed? |
| 1:56.0 | It is hard to nail down the point in time when things were really wrong for the Holy Roman Empire. |
| 2:02.5 | It might have been as long ago as 1077 when the Empire Henry IV had to kneel before the |
... |
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