Cologne is in an intermediate phase around the year 900. In the whole region of the former Frankish Middle Kingdom of Lothar the question is going around, which empire can protect it better? To which sub-kingdom of Charles the Great's former Frankish empire do people feel more attached? The West Frankish Empire, which later became France? Or to the Eastern Frankish Empire, which later becomes the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany?

Only recently, the Vikings sacked Cologne in 881. While the people of Cologne are still busy rebuilding, new dangers are already approaching. The Magyars, also known as the Hungarians, are attacking the East Frankish Empire like the Huns in late antiquity. But it is not all bad at this time. Monastic life flourished and even minted coins designating Cologne as holy testify to the city's upswing here at the end of the early Middle Ages.

Cologne and the Rhineland at the end of the 9th century. For quite some time, the various heirs of the once great but now fragmented Frankish Empire have been fighting each other. The Vikings take advantage of this political instability and plunder the rich Rhineland, the heart of the Frankish Empire.

The answers to all your questions regarding the show or other topics about me or the history of Cologne.

The death of Charlemagne's son Emperor Louis the Pious starts a good old Frankish habit. Breaking up empires to equally share it to a emperor's sons. Cologne or rather the political leadership of Cologne, Archbishop Gunthar plays a key role in the middle of the 9th century.

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Cologne during the Carolingian dynasty. A city in the heart of the Eastern Frankish Empire. In this episode we once again take a walk through the Cologne that might have been in the 9th century.

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In the 9th century, a magnificent cathedral was built in Cologne. The predecessor of today's Cologne Cathedral in the form of a Carolingian basilica. Everything about this Romanesque building including two legends are this time the main part of this episode.

After 30 years of war between 772 and 804, Charlemagne subjugated the pagan Saxons in Northern Germany. With fire and sword, he brings the Frankish rule into the region and Christianity. With Cologne as the center of power as Archdiocese of Cologne for the next 1,000 years.

A fateful encounter at the end of the 8th century. A young priest named Hildebold is celebrating mass in a small village church just outside the city of Cologne. A huntsman enters the church and is immediately taken by the priest's modesty and piety. What Hildebold does not know, however. This man is not a hunter. He is Charlemagne. Why does the King of the Franks disguise himself as a hunter here in Cologne? You will find out in this episode.

At the beginning of the 8th century, the power of the Merovingian kings has declined. The high officials at the royal court hold the real power. It is the rise of the Carolingians, who gradually worked their way up from the Merovingians as court officials. So powerful are they now that they even fight among themselves for power and who can continue to make the Merovingian king dance like a puppet to be the real ruler of the Frankish Empire. A bloody conflict arises between two Carolingians: stepmother Plektrudis in Cologne and her stepson Karl Martell. The conflict has its beginning but also its end in Cologne.