In this episode, we look at the latter half of the 12th century within Inner Europe; namely, this means looking at the rule of Frederick I "Barbarossa", perhaps the most powerful Staufer emperor, and one who would change much about how the empire worked, and how it perceived itself compared to the powers around it. Part of this change meant dealing with pan-elite factions which had risen in perennial opposition to Imperial power, materialized most in the Welf threat within Saxony and Bavaria led by Henry the Lion. The efforts to remake the Empire would in effect also remake Inner Europe, as we shall see in later episodes.

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Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Haverkamp, Alfred. Medieval Germany 1056-1273. Oxford University Press, 1988.

Cantor, Norman. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. Harper Perennial, 1993.

Davies, Norman. Moorhouse, Roger. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. Jonathan Cape, 2002.

Wilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University, 2020.