History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 190, the Baltic Crusades, The Wendish Crusade Part 1, Henry the Lion.

Hello again.

Last week we met the Bolts and took a quick tour around the Baltic Sea.

This week we will start looking at our first military campaign of the Baltic Crusades, the Wendish

Crusade. Now before we march off into the lands of the pagans we need to get

some background. More specifically we need to look at the politics

and current state of affairs in the Holy Roman Empire. Now in the 189 episodes of the History of the Crusades Podcast that have preceded this episode,

we've never once really

once really sat down and examined the Holy Roman Empire in any great detail.

We've mentioned it quite a bit, but have never really zoomed in to take a closer look.

Well, that's about to change. It's time for the Holy Roman

Empire to have some time in the spotlight. What was the Holy Roman Empire? Well, it was a complex system of territories in

Central Europe, ruled over by a Holy Roman Emperor. The first Emperor was Charlemagne, crowned by Pope Leo the Third on Christmas Day in the year 800.

The Empire lasted a smidge over 1,000 years until its dissolution in the year 1806.

Now we are not going to do a blue-by-blow history of the Holy Roman Empire from Charlemagne onwards.

That would be a podcast series in itself.

No, we will be trying to get a grip on the politics of the Holy Roman Empire as it was in the year 1147, the year

when the crusade against the Wens commenced.

Now the territory that composed the Holy Roman Empire was a complicated patchwork of

duchies, kingdoms and territories, each ruled over by a king, prince or duke, each with its own army and each with its own system of

facilege.

...