Heart of Europe
A History of the Holy Roman Empire
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Heart of Europe
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Narrated by:
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Napoleon Ryan
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By:
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Peter H. Wilson
About this listen
The Holy Roman Empire lasted 1,000 years, far longer than ancient Rome. Yet this formidable dominion never inspired the awe of its predecessor. Voltaire quipped that it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Yet as Peter H. Wilson shows, the Holy Roman Empire tells a millennial story of Europe better than the histories of individual nation-states.
Heart of Europe traces the empire from its origins within Charlemagne's kingdom in 800 to its demise in 1806. By the mid-tenth century, its core rested in the German kingdom, and ultimately its territory stretched from France and Denmark to Italy and Poland. Yet the empire remained abstract, with no fixed capital and no common language or culture. The source of its continuity and legitimacy was the ideal of a unified Christian civilization, but this did not prevent emperors from clashing with the pope over supremacy. Though the title of Holy Roman Emperor retained prestige, rising states such as Austria and Prussia wielded power in a way the empire could not. While it gradually lost the flexibility to cope with political, economic, and social changes, the empire was far from being in crisis until the onslaught of the French revolutionary wars.
©2016 Peter H. Wilson (P)2017 TantorCritic Reviews
What listeners say about Heart of Europe
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-08-2020
Not what I expected
Although academically just fine , this piece could easily be misinterpreted as a tale of an accounting firm and its struggles with the Human Resourses department.
Making the “thirty years war” seem like a group of sweater vests sitting at a conference table arguing the finer points of calligraphy for example.
It is a history but not of great people doing great deeds or follies. I know things happened in the massive chunks of soil between France and Kiev . I’m almost positive that at some point an army of sword wielding lunatics fought another army of sword wielding lunatics but I must of skipped that part of the book ..
It is what it is the tale can not be improved with alcohol.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jack Fleming
- 07-12-2017
Deep dive into The Holy Roman Empire
Very enjoyable linkage of the history of the church and empire at start. Given the vast expanse of the history of the emperor it has a number of interesting interactions with the history of the reformation, the conceptualisation of imperialism and the French revolution. Overall does much to counter the narrative of the Empire being an institution that long outlasted it's usefulness. The 20th century historical interprations have come at the Empire with a nationalist focus or a nation state interpretation nor a progressive constitutional center of reform. well worth a read I certainly walked away knowing far more and being far more interested in the subject matter overall
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JayD
- 26-10-2019
An extremely detailed appraisal of the Empire
The book has a classical structure where a premise or point of conjecture is examined in detail that doesn’t always lend itself well to an audiobook. Narrative elements are subordinate to this examination of facts which can, at times, become quite tedious for the casual listener. Despite this and other peculiarities of the book I did quite enjoy it, particularly for the greater perspective on European history it engenders. Its summary chapters regarding the EU bring the book’s meticulous conceptualisation of the Empire into the present day are particularly well-conceived.
I’ve read a great deal of criticism regarding Napoleon Ryan’s narration, and I too found it a bit off-putting at first. But his pronunciation of German is refreshingly good and I found his narration suited the work quite well. In fact, by the time I finished the book I found that I rather liked his eccentric style, and missed it when I started on another book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Zac
- 13-08-2019
Thorough and detailed
A truely indepth analysis of the Holy Roman Empire. If you want a simplified chronological history this is not the book for you.
The level of information given regarding the sociopolitical, economic and religious history of the HRE and its impact on Europe is enormous.
It can be fairly dry at times and doesn't lend itself well to intermittent listening, but overall its a very informative listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Someone
- 26-07-2021
Amazing Stuff
very detailed in-depth analysis of HRE and europe in general. Good narrator as well! I have say it is one of the best audiobooks on the subject 10/10
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-04-2021
Great Approach to the Subject
Challenges commonly-held stereotypes and assumptions about an incredibly complex and engaging time of European history.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 24-05-2021
Very little content about topic
Expecting a history of the HRE but the audiobook has instead much to say about those around that entity
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Omar
- 13-03-2022
Look, I finished it
This is a history of all the bits that you didn't want to know about the HRE. It is non-chronological, constantly jumping all over the place to make a point. Any sentence may include any time period, in any order, a point about the 13th century may suddenly include a reference to the 18th to support the claim.
You hear an awful lot about the institutions of the empire, but you don't get a map of understanding how the empire changed and developed. There isn't a mention of any wars, except in passing.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Daniel
- 29-11-2017
Absolutely disjointed, pointless, mind-numbing
Dull and mostly irrelevant jumpings from this to that with no congruence
Not even interesting. Droning narrator doesn't help much either.
I cannot go on I must return this title and get Durant or something instead.
Disappointing
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1 person found this helpful