Ep. 123: The Hanseatic League - Decline and Fall (Part 1)

1474-1531 was a time of immense change and upheaval for the Hanseatic League, and not just for them. The Habsburg empire is bedded into being, England’s war of the Roses is over, in the North the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth stretches all the way from Kyiev to Gdansk. The kingdoms and princes are getting stronger. Columbus tries to sail to India and Vasco da Gama actually sails to India. Luther nails his 95 theses on the doors of the churches of Wittenberg. All is in flux, and so is the Hanse and Lübeck, its most important city.
Well, is it still the most important city? What about Danzig/Gdansk and Hamburg who take advantage of shifting trade flows whilst Lübeck finds itself on the sidelines. Who do they blame? The Dutch and the Danes. Cometh the time, cometh the man – his name is Jürgen Wullenwever and he has all the solutions, or does he?..
The episode webpage with transcripts and further links is available here (historyofthegermans.com/2023/10/06/123-2)
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 (windrep.org/Michel_Rondeau) under Common Creative Licence 3.0 (imslp.org/wiki/Flute_Sonata_in_E-flat_major%2C…).
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So far I have:
The Ottonians (podfollow.com/ottonians)
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy (podfollow.com/salian-emperors)
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen (podfollow.com/salian-emperors-2)
Frederick II Stupor Mundi (podfollow.com/salian-emperors-1)
Saxony and Eastward Expansion (podfollow.com/saxony-and-eastward-expansion)
The Hanseatic League (podfollow.com/the-hanseatic-league)
The Teutonic Knights (podfollow.com/the-teutonic-knights)
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356 (podfollow.com/the-holy-roman-empire-1250-1356)
The Reformation before the Reformation (podfollow.com/1803590966)
The Empire in the 15th century (historyofthegermans.com/15thcentury)
The Fall and Rise of the Habsburgs (historyofthegermans.com/habsburg)

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