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History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification

Ep. 74: Otto IV (1198-1215) - The War that Broke the Empire

History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification

Dirk Hoffmann-Becking

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.9551 Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The kingdom is in turmoil. Two pretenders fight for supremacy. On the one side, Philipp of Swabia, son of the emperor Barbarossa, brother of Emperor Henry VI. and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. In the opposite corner stands Otto IV., son of Henry the Lion, protégé of king Richard the Lionheart and preferred candidate of pope Innocent III. protagonists are the imperial princes who play the two kings against each other for their personal gain, swearing fealty one day and breaking it the next. It only ends with murder most foul. As always, this episode has a dedicated website with the transcript and maps, pictures and additional comments to read along. It is to be found at https://historyofthegermans.com/74-2/ 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

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Episode 74, a breaking of oaths.

0:10.2

The kingdom is in turmoil. Two pretenders fight for supremacy. On the one side, Philip of Svavia,

0:17.1

son of the emperor Barbarossa, brother of Emperor Henry VI, and head of the House of

0:21.7

Hounstaufen.

0:23.3

In the opposite corner stands Otto IV, son of Henry the Lion, protege of King Richard

0:28.6

the Lionheart and preferred candidate of Pope Innocent III.

0:33.0

But the main protagonists are the Imperial Princes, who play the two kings against each other

0:37.3

for their personal gain, swearing fealty one day and breaking it the next. The main protagonists are the Imperial Princes, who play the two kings against each other for

0:37.5

their personal gain, swearing fealty one day and breaking it the next.

0:42.4

It only ends with murder most foul.

0:45.7

Now before we start, just a reminder.

0:48.1

The history of the Germans podcast is advertising free thanks to the generous support from

0:52.2

patrons, and you can become a patron too and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and other privileges

0:58.0

from the price of a latte per month.

1:00.0

All you have to do is sign up at patreon.com slash history of the Germans or on my website

1:06.0

history of the Germans.com.

1:08.0

You find all the links in the show notes.

1:10.0

And thanks a lot to Josh, Oliver and Alexander, who have already signed up.

1:14.8

And thanks a lot to Josh, Oliver, and thanks a lot to Josh, Oliver and Alexandre who've already

1:22.9

signed up.

1:24.9

Here we are, in the midst of a civil war.

1:28.3

Well, as we will see, it isn't the kind of civil war where two determined sides relentlessly

...

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