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PODCAST

History of the Germans

Dirk Hoffmann-Becking

A narrative history of the German people from the Middle Ages to Reunification in 1991. Episodes are 25-35 min long and drop on Thursday mornings. "A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad". Gregory of Tours (539-594) HotGPod is now entering its 9th season. So far we have covered: Ottonian Emperors (# 1- 21) - Henry the Fowler (#1) - Otto I (#2-8) - Otto II (#9-11) - Otto II (#11-14) - Henry II (#15-17) - Germany in 1000 (#18-21) Salian Emperors(#22-42) - Konrad II (#22- 25) -

history

All Episodes

34:43

Episode 120 - Money, Money, Money

History of the Germans ·

2023/09/14

This was supposed to be an episode where we talk about the challenges the Hanse was facing after the victory over the Danes and the Peace of Stralsund. But that is not to be. Listeners Mehmet and Nina pointed out a few gaps in what I had been talking about last week and now these need to be filled. It is all good talking about the trading network and the flow of goods across the Baltic and northern Germany. But what about the opposing flow, the flow of money? How do the Merchants get paid? How can

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29:54

Episode 119 – What is the Hansa?

History of the Germans ·

2023/09/07

That was the question king Edward IV asked the representatives of the Steelyard in 1469. And he had a good reason to ask, because tensions between the English and the Hansa had escalated, ships were captured, and people got killed. He wanted to know who to negotiate with and in particular, who could sign a binding agreement that would put an end to this. The answer he got was not very satisfactory.... The episode webpage with transcripts and further links is available hereThe music for the show is

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44:57

Episode 118 – Pirates

History of the Germans ·

2023/08/31

In 1878 workmen building the Speicherstadt, the magnificent city of warehouses in the harbour of Hamburg made a gruesome discovery. In the mud of the Grasbrook, an island at the entrance of the medieval harbour of Hamburg emerged two piles of wood connected by a wooden bar. An ancient beacon guiding ships. What made it so special was what was nailed on to the bar, human skulls. Whoever these men were, they had been decapitated and their heads displayed as a warning. One of these skulls was quickly

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35:23

Episode 117 – Embargoes

History of the Germans ·

2023/08/24

The Hanseatic League undergoes a fundamental transformation in the second half of the 14th century. It turned from a guild of merchants trading across the Baltic and the North Sea into an alliance of trading cities. An alliance that has proven that it can fight and win wars against major territorial powers. That sits quite uncomfortably with the existing European rulers who wonder what to do with this alien inside their body politic.The Hanse had acquired a wide range of trading privileges in their

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33:52

Episode 116 – The War with Denmark Part 2

History of the Germans ·

2023/08/17

The Hanseatic League is first and foremost an organisation driven by commerce and commerce rarely sees the necessity of war. But in 1360 the organisation that had only just transitioned from a community of merchants to an alliance of cities found itself in gridlock with Waldemar Atterdag, Waldemar Dawn, king of Denmark. Waldemar’s objective throughout his 35-year reign was to rebuild the kingdom of Denmark that had virtually disintegrated under his predecessors. And for that he needed money. That

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36:36

Episode 115 – The War with Denmark Part I

History of the Germans ·

2023/08/10

By the end of the 13th century the key foundations of the Hanseatic League are laid. The trade routes that connect the Baltic to Western Europe are largely under the control of merchants who had come from Northern Germany and settled along the Baltic shore. Four great Kontors in Novgorord, Bergen, Bruges and London have been set up. The cities that make up the League, from Tallin to Cologne have gained city laws, built their walls and selected their city councils. We are now entering the Calamitous

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33:03

Featuring The Scandinavian History Podcast

History of the Germans ·

2023/08/03

As you sure know there are many exceptional history podcasts out there and I occasionally mention them here. And one of those is the Scandinavian History Podcast by Mikael Shankman. What is great about Mikael’s podcast is that it covers quite a few of the events we discuss here as well, but from the Scandinavian perspective. So, I thought you may enjoy his episode 55, the Hanse where he goes straight into one of our recent subjects, the Kontor in Bergen. I hope you will enjoy this episode.Mikael's

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20:48

Episode 114 - The London Steelyard

History of the Germans ·

2023/07/27

If like many of you, you are listening to this podcast on your morning or evening commute and you happen to live in London, you may be one of the 20 million souls going through Cannon Street Station every year. Few of them will be aware that under their feet lay the vestiges of the great Hanseatic Kontor in London that goes back to 1176. If people know about the Steelyard, it is mainly through the portraits of merchants painted by Holbein between 1532 and 1536 at a time when the Kontor had only

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33:53

Episode 113 – Bergen and Bruges

History of the Germans ·

2023/07/20

Today we will talk about the Bryggen, the famous Hanseatic Kontor or trading post in Bergen in western Norway. Bergen itself was never a member of the Hanseatic League, but like The St. Peter’s yard in Novgorod, the steelyard in London and the Kontor of Bruges, the Bryggen in Bergen was a key element of the Hanseatic trading network.The trade in stockfish from Bergen was never on the same scale as the herring trade off Scania or the trade in beeswax and furs from Novgorod, but it was an important

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39:19

Episode 112 - Grain and Beer

History of the Germans ·

2023/07/13

This week we will kick off with the string of cities along the Baltic Coast from Lübeck up to Königsberg (modern day Kaliningrad). Who founded them and why? And why so many? Who were the people who came to live there, how did they organise themselves and most importantly, what did they produce and what did they trade? We will dwell on the most splendid of those, Gdansk or Danzig in German, the one city in the Baltic that could give Lübeck a run for its money, a place that developed as six separate

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29:51

Episode 111: Hewing and Herring

History of the Germans ·

2023/07/06

“on its eastern side the sea breaks through and cuts off the western side of Skaane; and this sea commonly yields each year an abundant haul to the nets of the fishers. Indeed, the whole sound is apt to be so thronged with fish that any craft which strikes on them is with difficulty got off by hard rowing, and the prize is captured no longer by tackle, but by simple use of the hands.” So writes the the late 12th century Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus about Zealand, the island he believed to be

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28:45

Episode 110 - Livonian Cities

History of the Germans ·

2023/06/29

“In the monastery of Segeberg there was a man of worthy life, and with venerable gray hair, Meinhard by name, a priest of the Order of Saint Augustine. He came to Livonia with a band of merchants simply for the sake of Christ and only to preach. For German merchants, bound together through familiarity with the Livonians, were accustomed to go to Livonia, frequently sailing up the Daugava River.” So begins the chronicle of Henry of Livonia, a German missionary who tells about the foundation of the

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38:14

Episode 109 – The Gotlandfahrer

History of the Germans ·

2023/06/22

If I put the word Hanseatic into Google Search I get as result number 4 “Hanseatic King’s Lynn -Visit West Norfolk”. I can say with absolute confidence that there is not a single German individual, place or organisation that a small town in England would choose to not just associate with but incorporate itself into its history, safe for the Hanseatic League. They may play Zedoch the Priest at the coronation but that is because both Handel and Price Charles are considered English with German roots

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33:25

Episode 108 – From Saxony to Saxonies

History of the Germans ·

2023/06/08

These last few episodes you may have wondered how all this hangs together. This week we will try to resolve this question. What we will talk about is how the great stem duchy of Saxony fell apart. And there are two stories about that. One is the story of Henry the Lion and his fall in 1180. That story has been repeated over and over again and put into a context of rivalry between the Welf and the Hohenstaufen, between Guelfs and Ghibellines. It makes for a great story of betrayal and revenge. But it

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34:57

Episode 107 - The House of Wettin

History of the Germans ·

2023/06/01

If you ever come to Dresden, and if you like art, architecture and history, you very much should, you may want to turn into Augustusstrasse right by the Residenzschloss. What you fnd there is the largest porcelain artwork in the world, 102 metres long and made from 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles. This is the “Fürstenzug”, the procession of princes. It was made to celebrate 800 years of the House of Wettin who ruled over what we now know as the land of Saxony. It portrays 35 margraves, electors,

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29:43

Episode 106 – How to make a Mark in Brandenburg

History of the Germans ·

2023/05/25

This week we continue our walkabout of the major centres of power in the North of Germany that emerged during the 12th and 13th century. We talked about Holstein and Lübeck and now it is time to talk about the march of Brandenburg which means we need to talk about a character that had bit part roles on the podcast for quite some time, Albrecht the Bear. He was one of the longest lasting protagonists in the story of the German Middle Ages, playing a role in the reigns of Henry V, Lothar III, Konrad

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33:07

Episode 105 – The Foundation of Lübeck

History of the Germans ·

2023/05/18

This week we will look at one of the great mysteries of German medieval history, how Lübeck could become the second largest City in the Holy Roman empire within just 100 years from its foundation. Lübeck lies on a small river, the Trave that goes into a small Sea, the Baltic. Not only is the Baltic comparatively small, the peoples who live on its shores are no slouches. They have been famed for travelling as far south as Constantinople and as far north as Greenland for centuries. So how did the

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31:43

Episode 104 - The Making of Holstein

History of the Germans ·

2023/05/11

In today’s episode we finally get closer to the history of the Hanseatic League. We will take a look at some of the fundamental changes in the Saxon policy towards the east that were ushered in during the reign of Lothar of Supplinburg and shaped events for a long period thereafter. It is in these decades that the Saxon magnates will realise that raiding and plundering of the lands east of the Elbe is no longer the financially most attractive option. A great organised migration from the

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38:10

Episode 103 – All the Duke’s Men

History of the Germans ·

2023/05/04

This week we talk about what happens after the fight for independence is won. As had happened countless times before in history, precious freedoms gained in bloody struggles can be lost easily in the subsequent peace, not to the old adversary, but to new, homegrown usurpers. That is at least one way of telling the story, the other being, that every major political upheaval is followed by a period of consolidation that embeds the gains made and truncates the excesses that appeared during the

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29:25

Episode 102 – The Great Divide

History of the Germans ·

2023/04/20

This week we will hit the arguably most important set of events in medieval German history often summarised under the banner of the Investiture Controversy. The Investment Controversy came about through a confluence of three major strains, the rise in piety in the wake of improving economic conditions, the establishment of the papacy as a power separate and superior to temporal rulers and thirdly, the opposition of the German magnates against centralising tendency of the emperors, led by the Saxons

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