Ep. 25 (162) – Schisms and Deals

For more than a hundred years the Holy Roman Empire was a mess of constant infighting between and within the great princely families. But by the 1360s the consistent policies and elaborate diplomacy of emperor Karl IV had produced a degree of stability not seen by anyone alive. With the home front calm, the emperor can again assume a role on the European stage, setting in train seminal events that will reverberate across the centuries…