The BEST episodes directed by Bernhard Von Dadelsen

#1 - Charles IV and the Black Death

The Germans - Season 2 - Episode 4

The reign of Charles IV (1316–1378) ranks among the most dramatic periods in German history. Around the middle of the 14th century, the Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of the German population. The king who ruled during this time of terror was a member of the House of Luxembourg. Charles IV was born in Prague in 1316. His father, John, had married a Bohemian princess and had thereby become one of the most powerful men in the empire. In 1346, the ambitious Luxembourger succeeded in having his son Charles elected as an rival king to the reigning Louis of Bavaria by paying exorbitant bribes. Charles’s position in the empire was initially weak, but the situation changed with the sudden death of Louis, just a few months after the election.