<description>&lt;p&gt;How often have you heard this phrase&lt;em&gt; “Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry".&lt;/em&gt; It goes back to a whole string of marriages, first Maximilian of Habsburg married the heiress of the duchy of Burgundy, then his son married the heiress of Spain and finally his grandson married the heiress of Hungary and Bohemia. And bish bash bosh, an empire is created in the horizontal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That is nice and neat but not exactly true. Sure the marriages happened, but not in the way at least I have been told. There was a lot more drama and a lot more agency than you think. For a whole six months Maximilian, the Last Knight in his shining armour, left Marie of Burgundy to fend off invasions, revolutions and conspiracies on her own. She was imprisoned, her ministers were hanged and she was told marriage to a 7-year old hunchback was her only wayout. How she managed through that and found herself in the very first truly passionate marriage we have heard about in the History of the Germans Podcast, well, that is what we are talking about today.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;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&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.windrep.org/Michel_Rondeau" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Michel Rondeau&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;under&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://imslp.org/wiki/Flute_Sonata_in_E-flat_major%2C_H.545_%28Bach%2C_Carl_Philipp_Emanuel%29" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Common Creative Licence 3.0&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As always:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://historyofthegermans.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;www.historyofthegermans.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you wish to support the show go to: &lt;a href="https://historyofthegermans.com/support-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Support • History of the Germans Podcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Facebook: &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/HOTGPod/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;@HOTGPod&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Threads: &lt;a href="https://www.threads.net/@history_of_the_germans_podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;@history_of_the_germans_podcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bluesky: &lt;a href="https://bsky.app/profile/hotgpod.bsky.social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;@hotgpod.bsky.social&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instagram: &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/history_of_the_germans/?hl=en-gb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;history_of_the_germans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Twitter: &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/germanshistory?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;@germanshistory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So far I have:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/ottonians" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;The Ottonians&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/salian-emperors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/salian-emperors-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/salian-emperors-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Frederick II Stupor Mundi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/saxony-and-eastward-expansion" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Saxony and Eastward Expansion&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/the-hanseatic-league" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;The Hanseatic League&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/the-teutonic-knights" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;The Teutonic Knights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://podfollow.com/the-holy-roman-empire-1250-1356" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;The...</description>

History of the Germans

Dirk Hoffmann-Becking

Ep. 217 – When Mary Met Maxi, the Burgundian Wedding

DEC 4, 202539 MIN
History of the Germans

Ep. 217 – When Mary Met Maxi, the Burgundian Wedding

DEC 4, 202539 MIN

Description

How often have you heard this phrase “Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry". It goes back to a whole string of marriages, first Maximilian of Habsburg married the heiress of the duchy of Burgundy, then his son married the heiress of Spain and finally his grandson married the heiress of Hungary and Bohemia. And bish bash bosh, an empire is created in the horizontal.

That is nice and neat but not exactly true. Sure the marriages happened, but not in the way at least I have been told. There was a lot more drama and a lot more agency than you think. For a whole six months Maximilian, the Last Knight in his shining armour, left Marie of Burgundy to fend off invasions, revolutions and conspiracies on her own. She was imprisoned, her ministers were hanged and she was told marriage to a 7-year old hunchback was her only wayout. How she managed through that and found herself in the very first truly passionate marriage we have heard about in the History of the Germans Podcast, well, that is what we are talking about today.

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

If you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans Podcast

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcast

Bluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.social

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Twitter: @germanshistory

To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.

So far I have:

The Ottonians

Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy

Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen

Frederick II Stupor Mundi

Saxony and Eastward Expansion

The Hanseatic League

The Teutonic Knights

The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

The Reformation before the Reformation