Rudolph II

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2008

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the coterie of brilliant thinkers gathered in 16th century Prague by the melancholic emperor Rudolph II. In 1606 the Archdukes of Vienna declared: “His majesty is interested only in wizards, alchemists, Kabbalists and the like, sparing no expense to find all kinds of treasures, learn secrets and use scandalous ways of harming his enemies…He also has a whole library of magic books. He strives all the time to eliminate God completely so that he may in future serve a different master.”The subject of this coruscating attack was the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, and his court at Prague. Rudolph had turned Prague into a collector’s cabinet for the wonders and curiosities of the age – the great paintings of Northern Italy were carried to him over the Alps, intricate automatons constructed to serve drinks, maps and models of the heavens were unwound and engineered as the magnificent city of Prague itself was rebuilt in the image of its dark and thoughtful patron in chief. But Rudolf’s greatest possessions were people - the astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the magus John Dee and the philosopher Giordano Bruno had all found their way to his city. Far from the devilish inquisitor of the archdukes’ imaginations, Rudolf patronised a powerhouse of Renaissance ideas. With Peter Forshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Exeter; Howard Hotson, Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford; Adam Mosley, Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Wales, Swansea.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
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0:44.3	forward slash radio for I hope you enjoy the program.
0:47.2	Hello in 1606 the Archduks of Vienna declared of their ruler
0:52.1	his majesty is interested only in
0:54.8	Wizards, alchemists, cavalists and the like, bearing no expense to find all kinds of
1:00.0	treasures, learn secrets and use scandalous ways of harming his enemies. He also has a whole library
1:06.0	of magic books. He strives all the time to eliminate God completely so that he may in future serve
1:12.4	a different master.
1:14.0	The subject of this attack was the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and is court at Prague.
1:19.0	Rudolf had filled Prague with the wonders of the age.
1:21.0	The great paintings of Italy were carried over the Alps, intricate automatons. with the possessions were people. The astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the Magus John
1:35.0	D and the philosopher Giudano Bruni had all found their way to his city. Far from
1:39.9	the devilish Inquisitor of the Archduce imagination,, Rudolf patronized a powerhouse of Renaissance ideas.
1:45.8	With me to discuss the Court of Rudolf II II, a Howard Hodgson, lecturer in Modern History
1:50.6	at the University of Oxford, Adam Mosley, lecturer in the Department of History
	...

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