Why Guys Should Think About the Holy Roman Empire | Ep. 1

This is the first episode in a series covering the Holy Roman Empire. Lately, there’s been a lot of guys thinking about the Roman Empire, but that’s nothing new. More than any other empire-builders in the Western world, the Romans have been studied, admired, idealized, and emulated by succeeding empires through the twentieth century, for better and for worse. In this first episode, I make the case that there is another empire worthy of our attention, one that went further than almost any other civilization in associating itself with ancient Rome, right down to its name: the Holy Roman Empire. Many consider Charlemagne’s imperial coronation in Rome as the starting point of the Holy Roman Empire, but the real story begins further even further back in time. We will wind the clock back to late antiquity, when ancient Rome was still around and a people known as the Franks emerged under the infamous Merovingian dynasty. Sources & further reading: - History of the Franks (Gregory of Tours) - Chronicle of Fredegar Continuations - Liber Historiae Francorum - Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire (Peter H. Wilson) - The Merovingian Kingdoms (Ian Wood) - From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader (Alexander Callander Murray) Music & footage: - Scenes from Rome HBO - Gioachino Rossini : The Barber Of Seville - Overture - Beethoven - Symphony No.7 in A major - II, Allegretto - Verdi’s Requiem: II. Dies Irae - Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre - Dvorak - Sinfonia dal Nuovo mondo - Allegro con fuoco 0:00 - Guys are thinking about the Roman Empire right now 1:17 - There is another empire worth thinking about 5:15 - Origins of the Franks 9:05 - Introducing the Merovingians 12:45 - Gregory of Tours, the “Father of Frankish History“ 14:35 - Clovis I, the first king of the Franks 19:15 - What made Clovis a “Great Man“ = CHECK OUT THE AUDIO-ONLY PODCAST = You can listen to the audio-only version of this episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and elsewhere.