Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans.

Episode 57, The Hand of God.

This week we do what we have done so many times, seem to be unable to avoid.

Talk about the conflict between Pope and Emperor.

And that always means trouble, bad decisions and a siege of Rome.

But boy, this time it's not another standard schism.

This time it's showdown.

But before we start, just a reminder.

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patreon.com slash history of the Germans or on my website, historyof the Germans.com.

You find all the links in the show notes. And thanks a lot to Paul, Garrett and Gunner,

who've already signed up. Now last week we had left Barbarossa standing in the smouldering ruins

of what was once Western Europe's

largest city, Milan.

His harsh justice here and in the small town of Kramer had broken communal resistance in Italy

for now.

But despite the military success, several strands of Barbarossa's policy were already

coming apart. When the Staufer had set out his reign,

he saw a good relationship with the papacy as a crucial element of his longer-term plan. The antagonism

between Rome and Germany had culminated in the so-called investiture controversy that had broken the

back of the salient

...