Ep. 208 - Boy Meets Princess, Boy Becomes King (Albrecht II)

<p>Last week we saw the family slowly climbing out of the hole that Friedrich IV of the Tyrol had dug them. But despite all these consolidation efforts, the family was still in the second league of European princely families. </p><p>Then, just 25 years after Ernst the Iron married down into minor Polish royalty, his first cousin once removed, Albrecht V became King of Hungary, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia, all in one single year, 1438.&nbsp;</p><p>How was that possible? Here is friend of the podcast, Eneas Silvio Piccolomini summarizing events: quote </p><p><em>Albrecht grew up and married Elizabeth, daughter of King Sigismund. She was a very beautiful woman, who lived with him most virtuously. After the Bohemians had turned to heresy and terrorised all their neighbours with wars, he alone, with great strength, protected Moravia and Austria, and the damage he inflicted upon the Bohemians was not less than the damage he took from them. </em></p><p><em>He was always in arms and...