The Holy Roman Empire

11th c. imperial crown

Europe in 1500

Europe in 1600

The “patchwork carpet” of Holy Roman Empire, 1648

Europe in 1714

What is the Holy Roman Empire?

political entity that covered a large portion of Europe

centered on Germany A.D. 800-1806

History of the Holy Roman Empire

476 – fall of the Roman Empire to Germanic tribes

History of the Holy Roman Empire

800 – Charlemagne crowned “emperor” by Pope Leo III

– Charlemagne = king of the Franks, a Germanic tribe

– Carolingians believe the title of Roman emperor in the west had been suspended, not ended, with Rome’s fall in 476

– est. church backing for HRE & Carolingians

History of the Holy Roman Empire

1152-1190 – reign of Frederick I, aka Barbarossa, who adds “Holy” to title of “Roman Emperor”

1254 – origin of the term “Holy Roman Empire”

mid-15th c. – Habsburgs gain the imperial throne, which remains hereditary

1512 – name changes to “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”

History of the Holy Roman Empire

1806 – Francis II gives up imperial title– Francis II =

Habsburg ruler of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia

– after losses to Napoleon, who dictates HRE’s dissolution

1815 – German Confederation replaces the HRE

German Confederation = 39 states

How was the Holy Roman Emperor selected?

First voted king of the Romans. From the 14th c. forward, the voters were the main dukes and bishops of the German kingdom, called electors. There were 7 and then 8 electors.

Second the new king went to Rome to be crowned Emperor by the pope. Later emperors gave up this practice; Charles V was the last emperor to receive papal coronation in 1530.

What powers did the Holy Roman Emperor have?

Very little … from the later Middle Ages forward his power was mostly symbolic. Most real legal and administrative power was held in the territorial and municipal levels.

Peace of Westphalia (1648) gave almost complete sovereignty to the ≈300 states of the HRE. Henceforward the HRE primarily existed in name only. Habsburg emperors focused on consolidating their own states in Austria, etc.

Voltaire’s Famous Quote (1756)

“This agglomeration which was called and still calls itself the

Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an

empire in any way.”