Ep. 48: Welf vs Staufer - Konrad III (1137-1152) - Konrad's Conundrum

History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification

Dirk Hoffmann-Becking

Education, History, Society & Culture

4.9 • 551 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

1144-1147 - King, not really Emperor Conrad III may have signed a precarious peace with his greatest opponent, henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. But the kingdom remains in turmoil. Feuds are everywhere, devastating the land. His half-brother bishop Otto of Freising sees all that death and destruction as a clear portend of the imminent arrival of the Antichrist. Though Conrad is methodically addressing his underlying weaknesses, he needs a boost to his authority and he needs is quick. The traditional route of an imperial coronation in Rome is a no go for a long list of reasons. In this desperate situation news arrive that the most fragile of the crusader states, the county of Edessa had fallen to the Muslims. Is this the opportunity Conrad had been praying for? All that plus the usual accoutrements of mad saints, power crazy popes and treacherous nephews... 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 Facebook: @HOTGPod Twitter: @germanshistory Instagram: history_of_the_germans Reddit: u/historyofthegermans Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans.
0:10.0	Episode 48, Conrad's conundrum.
0:13.0	I apologize for the audio quality in today's episode.
0:17.0	I've got a near infection in my right ear, making my delivery even more lopsided than normal.
0:23.0	I guess good old Bernard of Clairvour had cursed me for all the unpleasant things I've
0:26.5	said about him.
0:27.7	Anyway, in today's episode we examined King Conrad's options to establish his authority
0:33.8	from a weak starting point.
0:36.4	By a more than unexpected set of circumstances, he suddenly
0:39.8	finds himself at the head of one of the largest armies a German ruler has fielded in a long,
0:44.9	long time, if ever. Before we start, just a reminder. The history of the Germans' podcast
0:52.6	is advertising free, thanks to the generous support
0:55.3	from patrons. And you can become a patron too and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and other
1:01.0	privileges from the price of a latte per month. All you have to do is sign up at patreon.com
1:07.5	slash History of the Germans or on my website, history of the Germans.com.
1:13.2	You find all the links in the show notes. And thanks a lot to Carla, Amy and Rich who've already
1:18.2	signed up. Last week, we ended with Conrad achieving a somewhat precarious piece with one of
1:26.1	his main opponents, the Duke of Saxony, Henry the
1:29.2	Lion. He had been unable to unseat the whelves as dukes of Saxony after four years
1:35.1	of war, and now must accept their almost independent rule in this, the largest of the stem duchies.
1:42.7	Conrad did, however, gained something. Henry the line, or more
1:46.5	accurately his mother as his guardian, renounced the claim on the Duchy of Bavaria.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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.