Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 39

[cahn]

Last post, along with the usual 18th-century suspects, included the Ottonians; changing ideas of conception and women's sexual pleasure; Isabella of Parma (the one who fell in love, and vice versa, with her husband's sister); Henry IV and Bertha (and Henry's second wife divorcing him for "unspeakable sexual acts"). (Okay, Isabella of Parma was 18th century.)

Comments

Re: What the term Holy Roman Empire actually meant

[mildred_of_midgard]

The famous quip of your friend Voltaire not withstanding, it was Roman, holy, and an Empire.

In Barbarossa's day, yes, much less so when Voltaire was writing. That reminds me, when I got to this part of the podcast a couple months ago, I made a note to ask: does anyone know what the source for that Voltaire quip is? Do we know for sure if it's a real quote, or like "she cried and she took"?