In this episode, we continue our survey of Inner Europe during the Investiture Struggles by examining the rules and administrations of many consolidating duchies and kingdoms, including Swabia, Bavaria, Austria, Carantania, Hungary, Croatia, and Duklja. As survival becomes less of a concern, confirming the co-rule of a region's traditions takes the top priority.

New episodes every Thursday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

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

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

Fine, John VA Jr. The Early Medieval Balkans. University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Berend, Nora. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. Wiszewski, Przemyslaw. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland, C.900-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Obolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500-1453. Praeger Publishers, 1971.

Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1948.

In this episode, we look at 4 independent short stories, linked through a similar setting and time, that of the warband states of Eastern Central Europe in the changing times of the Investiture Controversy. All will face an interesting historical cycle, a fall and rebirth, which will result in a new place for the warriors of the realm in a greater and lesser military aristocracy.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

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

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

Berend, Nora. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. Wiszewski, Przemyslaw. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland, C.900-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1948.

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

Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades: Second Edition. Penguin Books, 1998.

Davies, Norman. God’s Playground: A History of Poland Volume 1: Origins to 1795. Columbia University Press, 2005.

In this episode, we finally reach the climax of simmering tensions between papal and imperial authority over the western church. A reform movement, built on reaction against urban decadence in the Mediterranean, Burgundy, and Lorraine, clashes with the imperial church, built on converting, militarizing, and bringing order to the rough Inner European frontier. Some of the largest personalities in Medieval History become involved, and the consequences will take a couple episodes to unpack.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

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

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

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

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

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