Lothar III may almost be forgotten today, but he may well have been the last of the Holy Roman Emperors who had control over the realm — despite having acted as papal groom. The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H. His election required elaborate playacting and a last minute change of sides. The German princes who elect him hope for a change of policy away from centralising power.
The papacy is equally full of hope that this German ruler will be tame like a Frenchman. One every request of a Papal legate it is yes, sir, yes sir. The princes are given opportunities to grow their wealth in the east without much interference. Lothar even debases him so far as to provide the Strator service to the pope, the first king of the Romans to act as papal groom. But soon that harmonious picture changes.
As papal weakness does not translate into concessions to the emperor, positions harden. Meanwhile the church undergoes reform 2. I hope you had an enjoyable festive season and feel reinvigorated to dive into another period of German history. I definitely am. I know that six weeks is a long break but I have not been idle.
Books had to be read, podcasts and radio shows needed to be listened to, scripts had to be written. I hope you will find that the wait was worth it. Halfway between Berlin and Frankfurt stands the Kyffhauser Mountain. In a grotto underneath it, legend says, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa sleeps with his army of knights and their horses ready to strike when the right hour comes.
Above him are the ruins of the castle of Kyffhaeuser, one of the largest fortresses built in the high Middle Ages, and over these ruins stands an 81m tall tower, the Kyffhaeuser memorial.
