Holy Roman Empire

Not to be confused with Roman Empire.

the Battle of Austerlitz.

The Holy Roman Empire (Latin: Sacrum Romanum Imperium, German: Heiliges Rmisches Reich) was a multiethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806.[6] The largest territory of the
empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though
it included the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of
Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other
territories.[7][8][9]

1 Name
In various languages the Holy Roman Empire was known
as: Latin: Sacrum Imperium Romanum, German: Heiliges Rmisches Reich, Italian: Sacro Romano Impero,
Czech: Svat e msk, Slovene: Sveto rimsko cesarstvo, Dutch: Heilige Roomse Rijk, French: SaintEmpire romain germanique.[19] Before 1157, the realm
was merely referred to as the Roman Empire.[20] The
term sacrum (holy, in the sense of consecrated) in
connection with the medieval Roman Empire was used
beginning in 1157, under Frederick I Barbarossa (Holy
Empire) the term was added to reect Fredericks
ambition to dominate Italy and the Papacy;[21] the form
Holy Roman Empire is attested from 1254 onward.[22]

On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish

king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in
Western Europe after more than three centuries. The title
continued in the Carolingian family until 888, after which
it was contested by the rulers of Italy in a series of civil
wars until the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar,
in 924. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was
crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of
Charlemagne[10] and beginning a continuous existence of
the empire for over eight centuries.[11][12][13] Some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin
of the empire,[14][15] while others prefer the coronation of
Otto I as its beginning.[16][17] Scholars generally concur,
however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and
principles constituting the empire, describing a gradual
assumption of the imperial title and role.[8][14]

In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the

name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German: Heiliges Rmisches Reich Deutscher Nation, Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanic),[23][24] a form rst used in a document in 1474.[21] The new title was adopted partly because the Empire had lost most of its Italian and Burgundian (Kingdom of Arles) territories by the late 15th
century,[25] but also to emphasize the new importance of
the German Imperial Estates in ruling the Empire due to
the Imperial Reform.[26] However, by the end of the 18th
century, the term 'Holy Roman Empire of the German
Nation' had fallen out of ocial use. As Hermann Weisert points out, Documents were thirty times as likely to
omit this 'national' sux as include it. [27]

The precise term Holy Roman Empire was not used until the 13th century, but the concept of translatio imperii[lower-alpha 5] was fundamental to the prestige of the
emperor, the notion that he held supreme power inherited
from the emperors of Rome.[8] The oce of Holy Roman
Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently
controlled by dynasties. The German prince-electors, the
highest ranking noblemen of the empire, usually elected
one of their peers as "King of the Romans", and he would
later be crowned emperor by the Pope; the tradition of
papal coronations was discontinued in the 16th century.
The empire never achieved the extent of political unication formed in France, evolving instead into a decentralized, limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of
sub-units, principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial
Cities, and other domains.[9][18] The power of the emperor was limited, and while the various princes, lords,
and kings of the empire were vassals and subjects who
owed the emperor their allegiance, they also possessed
an extent of privileges that gave them de facto sovereignty
within their territories. Emperor Francis II dissolved the
empire on 6 August 1806, after its defeat by Napoleon at

In a famous assessment of the name, the French

Enlightenment writer Voltaire remarked sardonically:
This agglomeration which was called and which still calls
itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.[28]

2 History
2.1 Carolingian forerunners
Further information: Carolingian Empire
The Western Roman Empire, which began its terminal
collapse in 408, was notionally reborn nearly four cen1

2
turies later through translatio imperii, the transfer of rule,
to Charlemagne, King of the Franks. Charlemagne was
crowned Emperor on Christmas Day 800 by Pope Leo
III,[29][30] some historians claim unexpectedly.[31]

2 HISTORY
dukes. After that, the king managed to control the appointment of dukes and often also employed bishops in
administrative aairs.[35]:21213
The kingdom had no permanent capital city.[36] Kings
traveled between residences (called Kaiserpfalz) to discharge aairs. However, each king preferred certain
places; in Ottos case, this was the city of Magdeburg.
Kingship continued to be transferred by election, but
Kings often had their sons elected during their lifetimes,
enabling them to keep the crown for their families. This
only changed after the end of the Salian dynasty in the
12th century.

The Carolingian imperial crown was disputed among the

Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with rst the western king (Charles the Bald) and then
the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the
death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian
Empire broke asunder, never to be restored. According to
Regino of Prm, each part of the realm elected a kinglet
from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat,
those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only ter- In 955, Otto won a decisive victory over the Magyars
ritories in Italy. The last such emperor was Berengar I of in the Battle of Lechfeld.[34]:707 In 951, Otto came to
Italy, who died in 924.
the aid of Adelaide, the widowed queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her, and taking control
over Italy.[35]:21415 In 962, Otto was crowned Emperor
2.2 High Middle Ages
by Pope John XII,[34]:707 thus intertwining the aairs of
the German kingdom with those of Italy and the Pa2.2.1 Formation
pacy. Ottos coronation as Emperor marked the German
kings as successors to the Empire of Charlemagne, which
Around 900, autonomous stem duchies (Franconia, through the concept of translatio imperii, also made them
Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony and Lotharingia) reemerged in consider themselves as successors to Ancient Rome. AdEast Francia. After the Carolingian king Louis the Child ditionally, in 963, Otto deposed the current pope John
died without issue in 911, East Francia did not turn to XII and chose Pope Leo VIII as the new pope (although
the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the John XII and Leo VIII both claimed the papacy until 964,
realm but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of when John XII died).
Franconia, as Rex Francorum Orientalium.[32]:117 On his
deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival,
Henry the Fowler of Saxony (r. 91936), who was elected
king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919.[32]:118 Henry reached a
truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a rst
victory against them in the Battle of Riade.[32]:121

The Holy Roman Empire in 1400

The Holy Roman Empire from 962 to 1806

This also renewed the conict with the Eastern Emperor

in
Constantinople, especially after Ottos son Otto II (r.
Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolng
96783)
adopted the designation imperator Romanorum.
(or Ottonian) dynasty, would continue to rule the EastStill,
Otto
formed marital ties with the east when he marern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the
ried
the
Byzantine
princess Theophanu.[34]:708
[33]
Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor,
was elected King in Aachen in 936.[34]:706 He overcame Their son, Otto III, came to the throne only three years
a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several old, and was subjected to a power struggle and series of

2.2

High Middle Ages

regencies until his age of majority in 994. Up to that time,

he had remained in Germany, while a deposed Duke,
Crescentius II, ruled over Rome and part of Italy, ostensibly in his stead.
In 996 Otto III appointed his cousin Gregory V, the rst
German Pope.[37] A foreign pope and foreign papal ofcers were seen with suspicion by Roman nobles, who
were led by Crescentius II to revolt. Otto III's former
mentor Antipope John XVI briey held Rome, until the
Holy Roman Emperor seized the city.[38]
Otto died young in 1002, and was succeeded by his cousin
Henry II, who focused on Germany.[35]:21517
Henry II died in 1024, and Conrad II, rst of the Salian
Dynasty, was elected king only after some debate among
dukes and nobles. This group eventually developed into
Adhemar de Monteil carries the Holy Lance
the college of Electors.
2.2.2

Investiture controversy

Kings often employed bishops in administrative aairs

and often determined who would be appointed to ecclesiastical oces.[39]:101134 In the wake of the Cluniac Reforms, this involvement was increasingly seen as inappropriate by the Papacy. The reform-minded Pope Gregory VII was determined to oppose such practices, which
led to the Investiture Controversy with King Henry IV
(r. 10561106).[39]:101134 He repudiated the Popes interference and persuaded his bishops to excommunicate
the Pope, whom he famously addressed by his born name
Hildebrand, rather than his regnal name Pope Gregory
VII.[39]:109 The Pope, in turn, excommunicated the king,
declared him deposed, and dissolved the oaths of loyalty
made to Henry.[11][39]:109 The king found himself with
almost no political support and was forced to make the
famous Walk to Canossa in 1077,[39]:12224 by which he
achieved a lifting of the excommunication at the price of
humiliation. Meanwhile, the German princes had elected
another king, Rudolf of Swabia.[39]:123 Henry managed
to defeat him but was subsequently confronted with more
uprisings, renewed excommunication, and even the rebellion of his sons. His second son, Henry V, reached
an agreement with the Pope and the bishops in the 1122
Concordat of Worms.[39]:12334 The political power of
the Empire was maintained, but the conict had demonstrated the limits of any rulers power, especially in regard
to the Church, and it robbed the king of the sacral status
he had previously enjoyed. The Pope and the German
princes had surfaced as major players in the political system of the empire.
2.2.3

Hohenstaufen dynasty

When the Salian dynasty ended with Henry Vs death in

1125, the princes chose not to elect the next of kin, but
rather Lothair, the moderately powerful but already old
Duke of Saxony. When he died in 1137, the princes again

aimed to check royal power; accordingly they did not elect

Lothairs favoured heir, his son-in-law Henry the Proud
of the Welf family, but Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen
family, the grandson of Emperor Henry IV and thus a
nephew of Emperor Henry V. This led to over a century of strife between the two houses. Conrad ousted the
Welfs from their possessions, but after his death in 1152,
his nephew Frederick I Barbarossa succeeded him and
made peace with the Welfs, restoring his cousin Henry
the Lion to his albeit diminished possessions.
The Hohenstaufen rulers increasingly lent land to ministerialia, formerly non-free service men, whom Frederick
hoped would be more reliable than dukes. Initially used
mainly for war services, this new class of people would
form the basis for the later knights, another basis of imperial power. A further important constitutional move at
Roncaglia was the establishment of a new peace mechanism for the entire empire, the Landfrieden. This was an
attempt to abolish private feuds, between the many dukes
and other people, and to tie the Emperors subordinates
to a legal system of jurisdiction and public prosecution of
criminal acts a predecessor of the modern concept of
"rule of law". Another new concept of the time was the
systematic foundation of new cities by the Emperor and
by the local dukes. These were partly caused by the explosion in population, and they also concentrated economic
power at strategic locations. Before this, cities had only
existed in the form of old Roman foundations or older
bishoprics. Cities that were founded in the 12th century
include Freiburg, possibly the economic model for many
later cities, and Munich.
Frederick I, also called Frederick Barbarossa, was
crowned Emperor in 1155. He emphasized the Romanness of the empire, partly in an attempt to justify the power of the Emperor independent of the (now
strengthened) Pope. An imperial assembly at the elds of
Roncaglia in 1158 reclaimed imperial rights in reference
to Justinians Corpus Juris Civilis. Imperial rights had
been referred to as regalia since the Investiture Contro-

The Holy Roman Empire at its maximal extent during the

Crusades.

versy, but were enumerated for the rst time at Roncaglia.

This comprehensive list included public roads, taris,
coining, collecting punitive fees, and the investiture, the
seating and unseating of oce holders. These rights were
now explicitly rooted in Roman Law, a far-reaching constitutional act.
Fredericks policies were primarily directed at Italy,
where he clashed with the increasingly wealthy and freeminded cities of the north, especially Milan. He also
embroiled himself in another conict with the Papacy
by supporting a candidate elected by a minority against
Pope Alexander III (115981). Frederick supported a
succession of antipopes before nally making peace with
Alexander in 1177. In Germany, the Emperor had repeatedly protected Henry the Lion against complaints by rival
princes or cities (especially in the cases of Munich and
Lbeck). Henry gave only lackluster support to Fredericks policies, and in a critical situation during the Italian
wars, Henry refused the Emperors plea for military support. After returning to Germany, an embittered Frederick opened proceedings against the Duke, resulting in
a public ban and the conscation of all his territories. In
1190, Frederick participated in the Third Crusade and
died in Asia Minor.
During the Hohenstaufen period, German princes facilitated a successful, peaceful eastward settlement of lands
that were uninhabited or inhabited sparsely by West Slavs.
German speaking farmers, traders, and craftsmen from
the western part of the Empire, both Christians and Jews,
moved into these areas. The gradual Germanization
of these lands was a complex phenomenon that should
not be interpreted in the biased terms of 19th-century
nationalism. The eastward settlement expanded the inuence of the empire to include Pomerania and Silesia,
as did the intermarriage of the local, still mostly Slavic,
rulers with German spouses. The Teutonic Knights were
invited to Prussia by Duke Konrad of Masovia to Christianize the Prussians in 1226. The monastic state of the
Teutonic Order (German: Deutschordensstaat) and its
later German successor state of Prussia were, however,
never part of the Holy Roman Empire.

2 HISTORY
Under the son and successor of Frederick Barbarossa,
Henry VI, the Hohenstaufen dynasty reached its apex.
Henry added the Norman kingdom of Sicily to his domains, held English king Richard the Lionheart captive,
and aimed to establish a hereditary monarchy when he
died in 1197. As his son, Frederick II, though already
elected king, was still a small child and living in Sicily,
German princes chose to elect an adult king, resulting
in the dual election of Frederick Barbarossas youngest
son Philip of Swabia and Henry the Lions son Otto of
Brunswick, who competed for the crown. Otto prevailed
for a while after Philip was murdered in a private squabble in 1208, until he began to also claim Sicily.
Pope Innocent III, who feared the threat posed by a union
of the empire and Sicily, now supported Frederick II, who
marched to Germany and defeated Otto. After his victory, Frederick did not act upon his promise to keep the
two realms separate though he had made his son Henry
king of Sicily before marching on Germany, he still reserved real political power for himself. This continued
after Frederick was crowned Emperor in 1220. Fearing Fredericks concentration of power, the Pope nally
excommunicated the Emperor. Another point of contention was the crusade, which Frederick had promised
but repeatedly postponed. Now, though excommunicated, Frederick led the Sixth Crusade in 1228, which
ended in negotiations and a temporary restoration of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Despite his imperial claims, Fredericks rule was a major turning point towards the disintegration of central
rule in the Empire. While concentrated on establishing a modern, centralized state in Sicily, he was mostly
absent from Germany and issued far-reaching privileges
to Germanys secular and ecclesiastical princes: In the
1220 Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis, Frederick gave up a number of regalia in favour of the bishops, among them taris, coining, and fortication. The
1232 Statutum in favorem principum mostly extended
these privileges to secular territories. Although many
of these privileges had existed earlier, they were now
granted globally, and once and for all, to allow the German princes to maintain order north of the Alps while
Frederick concentrated on Italy. The 1232 document
marked the rst time that the German dukes were called
domini terr, owners of their lands, a remarkable change
in terminology as well.
2.2.4 Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a signicant regional
power during the Middle Ages. In 1212, King Pemysl
Otakar I (bearing the title king since 1198) extracted a
Golden Bull of Sicily (a formal edict) from the emperor
Frederick II, conrming the royal title for Otakar and his
descendants and the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a
kingdom. Czech kings should be exempt from all future
obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for partic-

2.3

Late Middle Ages

The Reichssturmfahne, a military banner during the 13th and

early 14th centuries.

Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the reign of Holy Roman

Emperor Charles IV

ipation in the imperial councils. Charles IV set Prague to

be the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor and thus it also
became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.
2.2.5

Interregnum

After the death of Frederick II in 1250, the German

kingdom was divided between his son Conrad IV (died
1254) and the anti-king, William of Holland (died 1256).
Conrads death was followed by the Interregnum, during
which no king could achieve universal recognition, allowing the princes to consolidate their holdings and become
even more independent rulers. After 1257, the crown was
contested between Richard of Cornwall, who was supported by the Guelph party, and Alfonso X of Castile,
who was recognized by the Hohenstaufen party but never
set foot on German soil. After Richards death in 1273,
the Interregnum ended with the unanimous election of
Rudolf I of Germany, a minor pro-Staufen count.

An illustration from Schedelsche Weltchronik depicting the structure of the Reich: The Holy Roman Emperor is sitting; on his left
are three ecclesiastics; on his right are four secular electors.

territories (not at the level of the Empire), power became

increasingly bundled: Whoever owned the land had jurisdiction, from which other powers derived. It is important
to note, however, that jurisdiction at this time did not include legislation, which virtually did not exist until well
into the 15th century. Court practice heavily relied on
traditional customs or rules described as customary.

During this time territories began to transform into the

predecessors of modern states. The process varied greatly
2.2.6 Changes in political structure
among the various lands and was most advanced in those
territories that were most identical to the lands of the old
Further information: Medieval commune, Stdtebund,
Germanic tribes, e.g. Bavaria. It was slower in those scatHanseatic League, Imperial immediacy and Feudalism in
tered territories that were founded through imperial privthe Holy Roman Empire
ileges.
During the 13th century, a general structural change in
how land was administered prepared the shift of political power towards the rising bourgeoisie at the expense
of aristocratic feudalism that would characterize the Late
Middle Ages. Instead of personal duties, money increas2.3 Late Middle Ages
ingly became the common means to represent economic
value in agriculture. Peasants were increasingly required
to pay tribute for their lands. The concept of property Further information: Late Middle Ages and Pomerania
began to replace more ancient forms of jurisdiction, al- during the Late Middle Ages
though they were still very much tied together. In the

2 HISTORY
was mostly scattered and dicult to administer, these territories were relatively compact and thus easier to control. In 1282, Rudolf I thus lent Austria and Styria to
his own sons. In 1312, Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg was crowned as the rst Holy Roman Emperor
since Frederick II. After him all kings and emperors relied on the lands of their own family (Hausmacht): Louis
IV of Wittelsbach (king 1314, emperor 132847) relied
on his lands in Bavaria; Charles IV of Luxembourg, the
grandson of Henry VII, drew strength from his own lands
in Bohemia. Interestingly, it was thus increasingly in the
kings own interest to strengthen the power of the territories, since the king proted from such a benet in his
own lands as well.

2.3.2 Imperial reform

Further information: Vehmic court
The crown of the Holy Roman Empire (2nd half of the 10th century), now held in the Schatzkammer (Vienna)

2.3.1

Rise of the territories after the Hohenstaufen

The diculties in electing the king eventually led to the

emergence of a xed college of Prince-electors (Kurfrsten), whose composition and procedures were set
forth in the Golden Bull of 1356, which was valid until 1806. This development probably best symbolizes the
emerging duality between emperor and realm (Kaiser und
Reich), which were no longer considered identical. The
Golden Bull also set the election system of the Holy Roman Emperor. The emperor now had to be elected by a
majority rather than by consent of all seven electors. For
electors the title became hereditary, and they were given
the right to mint coins and to exercise jurisdiction. Also
their sons were to know the imperial languages German,
Italian, and Czech.[40]

The constitution of the Empire was still largely unsettled at the beginning of the 15th century. Although some
procedures and institutions had been xed, for example
by the Golden Bull of 1356, the rules of how the king,
the electors, and the other dukes should cooperate in the
Empire much depended on the personality of the respective king. It therefore proved somewhat damaging that
Sigismund of Luxemburg (king 1410, emperor 1433
37) and Frederick III of Habsburg (king 1440, emperor
145293) neglected the old core lands of the empire and
mostly resided in their own lands. Without the presence
of the king, the old institution of the Hoftag, the assembly
of the realms leading men, deteriorated. The Imperial
Diet as a legislative organ of the Empire did not exist
at that time. Even worse, dukes often went into feuds
against each other that, more often than not, escalated
into local wars.

The shift in power away from the emperor is also revealed

in the way the post-Hohenstaufen kings attempted to sustain their power. Earlier, the Empires strength (and nances) greatly relied on the Empires own lands, the socalled Reichsgut, which always belonged to the king of
the day and included many Imperial Cities. After the
13th century, the relevance of the Reichsgut faded, even
though some parts of it did remain until the Empires end
in 1806. Instead, the Reichsgut was increasingly pawned
to local dukes, sometimes to raise money for the Empire,
but more frequently to reward faithful duty or as an attempt to establish control over the dukes. The direct governance of the Reichsgut no longer matched the needs of
either the king or the dukes.
The kings beginning with Rudolf I of Germany increasingly relied on the lands of their respective dynasties to
support their power. In contrast with the Reichsgut, which Map of the Empire showing division into Circles in 1512

2.5

Baroque period

Simultaneously, the Church was in a state of crisis too,

with wide-reaching eects in the Empire. The conict
between several papal claimants (two anti-popes and the
legitimate Pope) was only resolved at the Council of Constance (141418); after 1419, much energy was spent on
ghting the Hussites. The medieval idea of unifying all
Christendom into a single political entity, of which the
Church and the Empire were the leading institutions, began to decline.
With these drastic changes, much discussion emerged in
the 15th century about the Empire itself. Rules from the
past no longer adequately described the structure of the
time, and a reinforcement of earlier Landfrieden was urgently called for. During this time, the concept of reform emerged, in the original sense of the Latin verb Carta itineraria europae (by Waldseemller, 1520 dedicated to
re-formare, to regain an earlier shape that had been lost. Emperor Charles V.)
When Frederick III needed the dukes to nance war
against Hungary in 1486 and at the same time had his son,
later Maximilian I elected king, he was presented with
the dukes united demand to participate in an Imperial
Court. For the rst time, the assembly of the electors and
other dukes was now called the Imperial Diet (German
Reichstag) (to be joined by the Imperial Free Cities later).
While Frederick refused, his more conciliatory son nally convened the Diet at Worms in 1495, after his fathers death in 1493. Here, the king and the dukes agreed
on four bills, commonly referred to as the Reichsreform
(Imperial Reform): a set of legal acts to give the disintegrating Empire back some structure. Among others, this act produced the Imperial Circle Estates and the
Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court); structures that wouldto a degreepersist until the end of
the Empire in 1806.
However, it took a few more decades until the new regulation was universally accepted and the new court actually
began to function; only in 1512 would the Imperial Circles be nalized. The King also made sure that his own
court, the Reichshofrat, continued to function in parallel to the Reichskammergericht. In this year, the Empire
also received its new title, the Heiliges Rmisches Reich
Deutscher Nation (Holy Roman Empire of the German
Nation).

2.4

Reformation and Renaissance

Further information: German Reformation and German

Renaissance
See also: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
In 1516, Ferdinand II of Aragon, grandfather of the
future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, died. Due to
a combination of (1) the traditions of dynastic succession in Aragon, which permitted maternal inheritance
with no precedence for female rule; (2) the insanity of
Charless mother, Joanna of Castile; and (3) the insistence
by his remaining grandfather, Maximilian I, that he take
up his royal titles, Charles initiated his reign in Castile and

Aragon, a union which evolved into Spain, in conjunction

with his mother. This ensured for the rst time that all
the realms of what is now Spain would be united by one
monarch under one nascent Spanish crown. The founding territories retained their separate governance codes
and laws. In 1519, already reigning as Carlos I in Spain,
Charles took up the imperial title as Karl V. The balance (and imbalance) between these separate inheritances
would be dening elements of his reign, and would ensure that personal union between the Spanish and German crowns would be short-lived. The latter would end
up going to a more junior branch of the Habsburgs in
the person of Charless brother Ferdinand, while the senior branch continued rule in Spain and in the Burgundian inheritance in the person of Charless son, Philip II
of Spain.
In addition to conicts between his Spanish and German inheritances, conicts of religion would be another
source of tension during the reign of Charles V. Before Charless reign in the Holy Roman Empire began, in
1517, Martin Luther launched what would later be known
as the Reformation. At this time, many local dukes saw it
as a chance to oppose the hegemony of Emperor Charles
V. The empire then became fatally divided along religious lines, with the north, the east, and many of the
major citiesStrasbourg, Frankfurt and Nuremberg
becoming Protestant while the southern and western regions largely remained Catholic.

2.5 Baroque period

Main articles: Early Modern history of Germany and
Pomerania during the Early Modern Age
Further information: Baroque period, Protestant Union,
Catholic League (German) and Thirty Years War
Charles V continued to battle the French and the Protestant princes in Germany for much of his reign. After
his son Philip married Queen Mary of England, it ap-

2 HISTORY
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RA

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OF
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Freiburg

Teschen

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B. OF
FREISING

Augsburg

Biberach

Oderberg
Troppau

Friedland

Netolitz

E. OF
BAVARIA

Neuburg

Ulm

Rottweil

Ratibor

Kolin

Furth

Regensburg

Pinz

FR
AN
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MT

Montbeliard

Kirchheim

Rain

Buchenberg

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Dou

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Da
Herbrech

Kosel

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Elbe

Kelheim
Ingolstadt

Konigsbronn

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Cham

B. OF
REGENSBURG

Eichstdt

A
Beuthen

Hermanitz
Gitschin

Pilsen

Mies

Amberg

Altdorf

Weissenburg

Alerheim

Donauwrth

WRTTEMBERG
Tbingen

ttingen
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linge
n

KINGDOM
OF
BOHEMIA

Weiden

Nuremberg

Ahausen

Aalen

Gmnd

Stuttgart

Sasbach

P. OF PFALZ
SULZBACH

Erlangen
Furth

M. OF
ANSBACH

Hall

D. OF

Alpirsbach

Breisach

Vesoul

Pforzheim

B. OF
BAMBERG

Castell

Schaftersheim

Rothenburg
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Heilbronn

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LIE
B. OF

BAR

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Mo

D. OF

LORRA
INE
D. OF

Ehnheim

Mergentheim

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ppsb

Bunzlau

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Eger

IL
ES
I
Oppeln

Leitmeritz

Strasburg

Turkheim

Pontarlier

Phili

ls

Braunau

lda

Spires

Rastatt

Zabern

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MAINZ

nhei

Man

PALATINATE
Heidelberg

Landau

Weissenburg
Hagenau

Wartenberg

OF
S

P. OF
BRIEG

Schweidnitz
Hirschberg

r
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Waldstein

Prague

Bamberg

Kitzingen

Hchst
Worms
Frankenthal

Kaiserslauten

SaarbruckenZweibrcken

Joarhimsthal

Kaaden

Breslau

Goldberg

Friedland
Zittau
Tetschen
Aussig

Ossegg

M. OF
BAYREUTH

D.

P.
LIEGOF
NI Liegnitz
TZ

Gorlitz
Lobau

Konigstein
Klostergrab

VOGTLAND

Kulmbach

B. OF
WRZBURG

A. OF

P. OF
WOHLAU
Steinau

Bautzen

Dresden
Pirna

lde Chemnitz

Mu

Zwickau

Coburg

Schweinfurt

UPPER LUSATIA

Ktzschenbroda
Meissen

Freiberg

Altenburg

Mo

FRANCE

Grimma

Rochlitz
Jena

Rudolstadt

Lech

GE

TR

Darmstadt

Glogau
Sagan

Wohlau

ONY

Leipzig

E. OF SAX

Weimar

Arnstadt

SAXONY

Hanau

Mayence

P. OF
RCKEN
ZWEIB

Vancy

Fran

Kreuznach

SPONHEIM
Luxemburg

FU

OF

Grnberg

Torgau
Breitenfeld
Merseburg

Erfurt

OF

Gelnhausen

C. OF

Diedenhofen

B.

Kottbus

Halle
Nordhausen

C. OF
SCHWARZC.
BURG
HEN OF
NEN
BER
G

kfurt

Hchst

Veldenz

Montmedy

Fulda

C. OF
ISENBERG

Guben

ER

er
Wes

Friedberg

Zllichau

Oder
Krossen

Dben

Gotha

LD

Lbben

Wittenberg

ANHA

P. OF

Muhlhausen

D.

Ehrenbreitstein

Lahn

Treves

rra

HERSFELD

Giessen

ine

Coblenz

A.
O

Bouillon

Cassel We

Fu

Rh

ND
S

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OF HESSEDARMSTADT

Schwiebus

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b
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L. OF lda
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P. OF

POLAND

Frankfort

Kpenick Spre

Jterbog

Halberstadt
Quedlinburg

Dr

Walkenried Hohnstein

Hersfeld

Virnelburg

LA

OF BURG
Magdeburg
A.
DE
AG
Rosslau
M

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C. OF
WALDECK

Driesen

Landsberg

Netze
Kstrin

Berlin

Klln
Potsdam

tel

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Marburg

Bonn

Wetzlar

ER

but

Ne

D. OF
WESTPHALIA

C. OF
MARK

D. OF
BERG

Deutz
Cologne

Limburg

Brwalde

Mittelmark

Spandau

Brandenburg

Leine

TH

D. OF
JLICH

Aix-la-Chapelle
Liege

BERG

Namur

EN-

Fleurus

Schwedt

Finow Canal
Fehrbellin

E. OF BRANDENBURG
Rathenow

Altmark

lfen

Wo

Goslar

E
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Cambray

Jlich

Neerwinden

NE

Charleroi

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Louvuin

Vossem
Steenkerque

Senee
Mons

D. OF KAL

Dusseldorf

Me

Mechlin
Brussels

COL

Conde

Havelberg

Stendal

Greifenhagen

Gartz

Brunswick

Lutter am Barenberg

Detmold

B. OF
PADERBORN

Prignitz
Werben

Alle

Celle

Hildesheim

Hameln

Paderborn

Lipp

Dortmund
Ruhr

Antwerp
Ghent

NIS

Tournai

Valenciennes

A. OF

Lille

Arrus

Mnster

B. OF
MNSTER
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C. OF
LIPPE

Dannenberg

D. OF
BRUNSWICK
LNEBURG

Hanover

Rinteln

C.
OF
RAVENSBERG

Stargard

EV Wesel
ES

Osnabrck

Ukermark

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LO

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B. OF VERDE

Meppen

Bentheim

Steinfurt
Stadtlohn

Donitz

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Neu-Brandenburg

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GUSTROW

SCHWERIN
Elb

Wolgast

PO

Anklam

Gustrow

Schwerin

B. OF KAMMIN

Kolberg

Greifswald

ES
T

Demmin

Wismar

D. OF
MECKLENBURG

Lauenburg

Luneburg
Bremen

Wildeshausen

S
ED D
IT AN
UN ERL
H
ET

OF NB
UE
LA

Eger

OF
FR
ISIA

C.

ST

P.
Artlenburg

Oldenburg

52

UR

Altona

LD
O

EA

Ratzeburg
Hamburg

Stade

A. OF
BREMEN

Ribnitz
Rostock

OF
B. BECK
L

Lbeck

Himmelpforten

Elseth

EA

Eutin

Segeberg

Gluckstadt

HADELN

Emden

Koslin

Neukamp

Stralsund

Heiligenhafen

HOLSTEINGOTTORP

Rendsburg

HOLSTEINGLUCKSTADT
Ritzebttel

Greetsiel

48

D. OF
PRUSSIA

Stolp

Bergen
Kiel

Eid
er

North Sea

50

22

20

18

a
Baltic Se

RUGEN
54

Swedish from 1648

Krainburg

EN

Wrttemberg

Save

Hesse-Kassel

Laibach

D. OF
SAVOY

Rovereto

P. OF
PIEDMONT

D. OF
MILAN

VENETIAN
REPUBLIC

Gorz
Gradisca

Trieste

Adriatic Sea

D. OF
CARNIOLA

Neustadtl

OTTOMAN
EMPIRE

20

40

60

80

100

Miles

The Empire after the Peace of Westphalia, 1648

Religion in the Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the Thirty Years
War

peared that France would be completely surrounded by

Habsburg domains, but this hope proved unfounded when
the marriage produced no children. In 1555, Paul IV
was elected pope and took the side of France, whereupon an exhausted Charles nally gave up his hopes of
a world Christian empire. He abdicated and divided his
territories between Philip and Ferdinand of Austria. The
Peace of Augsburg ended the war in Germany and accepted the existence of the Protestant princes, although
not Calvinism, Anabaptism, or Zwingliism.

intervened in the conict and strengthened those ghting

Imperial power, but also seized considerable territory for
themselves. The long conict so bled the Empire that it
never recovered its strength.
At the Battle of Vienna (1683), the Army of the Holy
Roman Empire, led by the Polish King John III Sobieski,
decisively defeated a large Turkish army, ending the western colonial Ottoman advance and leading to the eventual
dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. The
HRE army was half Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth
forces, mostly cavalry, and half Holy Roman Empire
forces (German/Austrian), mostly infantry.
The actual end of the empire came in several steps.
The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the
Thirty Years War, gave the territories almost complete
sovereignty. The Swiss Confederation, which had already
established quasi-independence in 1499, as well as the
Northern Netherlands, left the Empire. The Habsburg
Emperors focused on consolidating their own estates in
Austria and elsewhere.

Germany would enjoy relative peace for the next six

decades. On the eastern front, the Turks continued to
loom large as a threat, although war would mean further
compromises with the Protestant princes, and so the Emperor sought to avoid it. In the west, the Rhineland increasingly fell under French inuence. After the Dutch
revolt against Spain erupted, the Empire remained neutral; de facto allowing the Netherlands to depart the em- 2.6 Modern period
pire in 1581, a succession acknowledged in 1648. A side
eect was the Cologne War, which ravaged much of the Main article: 18th century history of Germany
upper Rhine.
After Ferdinand died in 1564, his son Maximilian II became Emperor, and like his father, accepted the existence
of Protestantism and the need for occasional compromise
with it. Maximilian was succeeded in 1576 by Rudolf II,
a strange man who preferred classical Greek philosophy
to Christianity and lived an isolated existence in Bohemia.
He became afraid to act when the Catholic Church was
forcibly reasserting control in Austria and Hungary and
the Protestant princes became upset over this. Imperial
power sharply deteriorated by the time of Rudolfs death
in 1612. When Bohemians rebelled against the Emperor,
the immediate result was the series of conicts known as
the Thirty Years War (161848), which devastated the
Empire. Foreign powers, including France and Sweden,

2.6.1 Prussia and Austria

Further information: AustriaPrussia rivalry, Kingdom
of Prussia and Habsburg Monarchy
By the rise of Louis XIV, the Habsburgs were chiey dependent on their hereditary lands to counter the rise of
Prussia, some of whose territories lay inside the Empire.
Throughout the 18th century, the Habsburgs were embroiled in various European conicts, such as the War of
the Spanish Succession, the War of the Polish Succession
and the War of the Austrian Succession. The German

9
dualism between Austria and Prussia dominated the empires history after 1740.

2.6.2

3 Institutions

French Revolutionary Wars and nal dissolution

Main article: Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

From 1792 onwards, revolutionary France was at war

Part of the imperial coat, 1857

Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1789

with various parts of the Empire intermittently.

The German mediatization was the series of
mediatizations and secularizations that occurred between 17951814, during the latter part of the era of
the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era.
Mediatization was the process of annexing the lands of
one sovereign monarchy to another, often leaving the
annexed some rights. Secularization was the redistribution to secular states of the secular lands held by an
ecclesiastical ruler such as a bishop or an abbot.

The Holy Roman Empire was not a highly centralized

state like most countries today. Instead, it was divided
into dozenseventually hundredsof individual entities
governed by kings,[41] dukes, counts, bishops, abbots and
other rulers, collectively known as princes. There were
also some areas ruled directly by the Emperor. At no
time could the Emperor simply issue decrees and govern
autonomously over the Empire. His power was severely
restricted by the various local leaders.
From the High Middle Ages onwards, the Holy Roman
Empire was marked by an uneasy coexistence of the
princes of the local territories who were struggling to take
power away from it. To a greater extent than in other medieval kingdoms such as France and England, the Emperors were unable to gain much control over the lands that
they formally owned. Instead, to secure their own position from the threat of being deposed, Emperors were
forced to grant more and more autonomy to local rulers,
both nobles and bishops. This process began in the 11th
century with the Investiture Controversy and was more or
less concluded with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Several Emperors attempted to reverse this steady dissemination of their authority, but were thwarted both by the
papacy and by the princes of the Empire.

The empire was dissolved on 6 August 1806, when the

last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) abdicated, following a military
defeat by the French under Napoleon at Austerlitz (see
Treaty of Pressburg). Napoleon reorganized much of the
Empire into the Confederation of the Rhine, a French
satellite. Francis House of Habsburg-Lorraine survived
the demise of the empire, continuing to reign as Emperors
of Austria and Kings of Hungary until the Habsburg em- 3.1 Imperial estates
pires nal dissolution in 1918 in the aftermath of World
Main article: Imperial State
War I.
The Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced
by a new union, the German Confederation, in 1815, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded the North German Confederation, a forerunner of the German Empire which
united the German-speaking territories outside of Austria
and Switzerland under Prussian leadership in 1871. This
served as the predecessor-state of modern Germany.

The number of territories in the Empire was considerable, rising to approximately 300 at the time of the Peace
of Westphalia. Many of these Kleinstaaten (little states)
covered no more than a few square miles, or included
several non-contiguous pieces, so the Empire was often
called a Flickenteppich ("patchwork carpet").
An entity was considered a Reichsstand (imperial estate)

10

3 INSTITUTIONS

if, according to feudal law, it had no authority above it the eighth elector. A candidate for election would be exexcept the Holy Roman Emperor himself. The imperial pected to oer concessions of land or money to the elecestates comprised:
tors in order to secure their vote.
Territories ruled by a hereditary nobleman, such as
a prince, archduke, duke, or count.

After being elected, the King of the Romans could theoretically claim the title of Emperor only after being
crowned by the Pope. In many cases, this took several
years while the King was held up by other tasks: frequently he rst had to resolve conicts in rebellious northern Italy, or was in quarrel with the Pope himself. Later
Emperors dispensed with the papal coronation altogether,
being content with the styling Emperor-Elect: the last
Emperor to be crowned by the Pope was Charles V in
1530.

Territories in which secular authority was held by a

clerical dignitary, such as an archbishop, bishop, or
abbot. Such a cleric was a prince of the church. In
the common case of a prince-bishop, this temporal
territory (called a prince-bishopric) frequently overlapped with his often-larger ecclesiastical diocese,
giving the bishop both civil and clerical powers.
The Emperor had to be male and of noble blood. No
Examples include the three prince-archbishoprics:
law required him to be a Catholic, but as the majority
Cologne, Trier, and Mainz.
of the Electors adhered to this faith, no Protestant was
ever elected. Whether and to what degree he had to be
Free imperial cities, which were subject only to the
German was disputed among the Electors, contemporary
jurisdiction of the emperor.
experts in constitutional law, and the public. During the
Middle Ages, some Kings and Emperors were not of GerFor a list of Reichsstnde in 1792, see List of Imperial man origin, but since the Renaissance, German heritage
Diet participants (1792).
was regarded as vital for a candidate in order to be eligible
for imperial oce.[42]

3.2

King of the Romans

3.3 Imperial Diet (Reichstag)

Main article: King of the Romans

A prospective Emperor had rst to be elected King of Main article: Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)
The Imperial Diet (Reichstag, or Reichsversammlung) was
the legislative body of the Holy Roman Empire and theoretically superior to the emperor himself. It was divided
into three classes. The rst class, the Council of Electors,
consisted of the electors, or the princes who could vote
for King of the Romans. The second class, the Council
of Princes, consisted of the other princes. The Council
of Princes was divided into two benches, one for secular rulers and one for ecclesiastical ones. Higher-ranking
princes had individual votes, while lower-ranking princes
were grouped into colleges by geography. Each college
had one vote.
The Seven Prince-electors

the Romans (Latin: Rex romanorum; German: rmischer

Knig). German kings had been elected since the 9th century; at that point they were chosen by the leaders of the
ve most important tribes (the Salian Franks of Lorraine,
Ripuarian Franks of Franconia, Saxons, Bavarians and
Swabians). In the Holy Roman Empire, the main dukes
and bishops of the kingdom elected the King of the Romans. In 1356, Emperor Charles IV issued the Golden
Bull, which limited the electors to seven: the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the archbishops
of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier. During the Thirty Years
War, the Duke of Bavaria was given the right to vote as

The third class was the Council of Imperial Cities, which

was divided into two colleges: Swabia and the Rhine. The
Council of Imperial Cities was not fully happy with the
others; it could not vote on several matters such as the
admission of new territories. The representation of the
Free Cities at the Diet had become common since the
late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, their participation was
formally acknowledged only as late as in 1648 with the
Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years War.

3.4 Imperial courts

The Empire also had two courts: the Reichshofrat (also
known in English as the Aulic Council) at the court of
the King/Emperor, and the Reichskammergericht (Impe-

3.7

Administrative seats of the emperor

rial Chamber Court), established with the Imperial Reform of 1495.

3.5

Imperial circles

11

3.7 Administrative seats of the emperor

From 794 Aachen
13281347 and 17421745 Munich
13551437 and 15761611 Prague
14371576 and 16111806 Vienna

4 Demographics
4.1 Largest cities
Largest cities or towns of the Empire by year:
1050: Regensburg 40,000 people. Rome 35,000.
Mainz 30,000. Speyer 25,000. Cologne 21,000.
Trier 20,000. Worms 20,000. Lyon 20,000. Verona
20,000. Florence 15,000.[45]
Double-headed eagle with coats of arms of individual states,
symbol of the Holy Roman Empire (painting from 1510)

As part of the Imperial Reform, six Imperial Circles

were established in 1500; four more were established in
1512. These were regional groupings of most (though
not all) of the various states of the Empire for the purposes of defence, imperial taxation, supervision of coining, peace-keeping functions and public security. Each
circle had its own parliament, known as a Kreistag (Circle Diet), and one or more directors, who coordinated
the aairs of the circle. Not all imperial territories were
included within the imperial circles, even after 1512; the
Lands of the Bohemian Crown were excluded, as were
Switzerland, the imperial efs in northern Italy, the lands
of the Imperial Knights, and certain other small territories like the Lordship of Jever.

3.6

Army

13001350: Prague 77,000 people. Cologne

54,000 people. Aachen 21,000 people. Magdaburg
20,000 people. Nuremberg 20,000 people. Vienna
20,000 people. Danzig 20,000 people. Strasbourg
20,000 people. Lbeck 15,000 people. Regensburg
11,000 people.[46][46][47][47][48][48][49][50]
1500: Prague 70,000. Cologne 45,000. Nuremberg
38,000. Augsburg 30,000. Danzig 30,000. Lbeck
25,000. Vratislav 25,000. Regensburg 22,000.
Vienna 20,000. Straburg 20,000. Magdeburg
18,000. Ulm 16,000. Hamburg 15,000.[51]
1600: Prague 100,000. Vienna 50,000. Augsburg
45,000. Cologne 40,000. Nuremberg 40,000.
Hamburg 40,000. Magdeburg 40,000. Breslau
40,000. Strasbourg 25,000. Lbeck 23,000.
Regensburg 20,000. Ulm 21,000. Frankfurt am
Main 20,000. Munich 20,000.[51]

Main article: Army of the Holy Roman Empire

The Army of the Holy Roman Empire (German Reichsarmee, Reichsheer or Reichsarmatur; Latin exercitus imperii) was created in 1422, and came to an end even before the Empire as the result of the Napoleonic Wars. It
must not be confused with the Imperial Army (Kaiserliche
Armee) of the Emperor.
Despite appearances to the contrary, the Army of the Empire did not constitute a permanent standing army which
was always at the ready to ght for the Empire. When
there was danger, an Army of the Empire was mustered
from among the elements constituting it,[43] in order to
conduct an imperial military campaign or Reichsheerfahrt. In practice, the imperial troops often had stronger
local allegiances than their loyalty to the Emperor.

5 See also
Carolingian Empire
Gothic art
Habsburg Monarchy
History of Germany
Holy Roman Emperor
List of Frankish kings
List of German monarchs
List of states in the Holy Roman Empire

12

Translatio imperii
Western Roman Empire
Papal States and the Empire
Third Rome and Third Reich (claims to succession)
Austrian empire and Austria-Hungary (Next Habsburg Empires)

Notes

[1] The Empire had no ocial capital, though there was a

number of imperial seat cities, which varied throughout
history:
e.g. Vienna
(Continuous Imperial Residenz City, 14831806)
Regensburg
(Eternal Diet, 16631806)
Prague
(13461437, 15831611)
[2] German, Latin, Italian, Czech, Polish, Dutch, French,
Frisian, Slovene, Sorbian and other languages.
[3] Roman Catholicism constituted the single ocial religion
of the Empire until 1555.
[4] Lutheranism was ocially recognized in the Peace of
Augsburg of 1555, and Calvinism in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. Those two constituted the only ocially
recognized Protestant denominations, while various other
Protestant confessions such as Anabaptism, Arminianism,
etc. coexisted illegally within the Empire.
[5] transfer of rule

References

[1] Atlas of Europe in the Middle Ages, Ostrovski, Rome,

1998, page 70
[2] Holy Roman Empire 1500 The German Empire
[3] Reich und Glaubensspaltung, Deutschland 15001600 by
Horst Rabe, p.27
[4] Introduction to Global Politics by Richard W. Mansbach,Kirsten L. Taylor
[5] Nation und Nationalismus in Deutschland, 17701990 by
Otto Dann
[6] Holy Roman Empire, Encyclopdia Britannica Online.
Retrieved 15 February 2014.

REFERENCES

[9] Lonnie R. Johnson, Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors,

Friends (1996), Oxford University Press, p. 23.
[10] Norman F. Cantor (1993), Civilization of the Middle Ages,
pp. 212215
[11] Bamber Gascoigne. History of the Holy Roman Empire. HistoryWorld.
[12] Norman Davies, A History of Europe (Oxford, 1996), pp.
316317.
[13] While Charlemagne and his successors assumed variations of the title emperor, none termed themselves Roman
emperor until Otto II in 983. Holy Roman Empire, Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
[14] Bryce, pp. 23
[15] Heer, Friedrich (1967). The Holy Roman Empire. New
York: Frederick A. Praeger. pp. 18. ISBN 978-0-29717672-5.
[16] Davies, pp.317,1246.
[17] Martin Arbage, Otto I, in Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2 (Routledge, 2004), p. 810: Otto can
be considered the rst ruler of the Holy Roman empire,
though that term was not used until the twelfth century.
[18] The Holy Roman Empire, Heraldica.org.
[19] Joachim Ehlers: Natio 1.5 Deutschland und Frankreich,
in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, Bd. 6, Sp. 1037 f.
[20] Peter Hamish Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, 1495
1806, MacMillan Press 1999, London, p. 2.
[21] Whaley 2011, p. 17
[22] Peter Moraw, Heiliges Reich, in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, Munich & Zrich: Artemis 19771999, vol. 4, col.
20252028.
[23] Peter Hamish Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, 1495
1806, MacMillan Press 1999, London, page 2; The Holy
Roman Empire of the German Nation at the Embassy of
the Federal Republic of Germany in London website
[24] History of The Holy Roman Empire. historyworld. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
[25] Whaley 2011, pp. 1920
[26] Hans K. Schulze: Grundstrukturen der Verfassung im Mittelalter, Bd. 3 (Kaiser und Reich). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart
[u. a.] 1998, p. 5255.
[27] Hermann Weisert, 'Der Reichstitel bis 1806', Archiv
fr Diplomatik, Schriftgeschichte, Siegel- und Wappenkunde, 40 (1994), pp. 441513.

[7] James Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire (The MacMillan

Company, 1913), p.183.

[28] Original text: Ce corps qui sappelait et qui sappelle encore

le saint empire romain n'tait en aucune manire ni saint,
ni romain, ni empire. In Essai sur l'histoire gnrale et sur
les murs et l'esprit des nations, Chapter 70 (1756)

[8] Joachim Whaley, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire:

Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493
1648 (2012), pp. 1720.

[29] Pagden, Percy (2008). Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year

Struggle Between East and West (First ed.). Random
House. p. 147.

13

[30] Bryce, James (1968). The Holy Roman Empire. Macmilan.

[31] Christmas Day, Rome, 800 AD (Great Empires)
[32] Taylor, Bayard; Hansen-Taylor, Marie (1894). A history
of Germany from the earliest times to the present day. New
York: D. Appleton & Co. p. 117.
[33] Robert S. Hoyt and Stanley Chodorow, Europe in the Middle Ages (Harcourt brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1976) p. 197.
[34] Magill, Frank (1998). Dictionary of World Biography II.
London: Fitzroy Dearborn.
[35] Cantor, Norman F. (1994). The Civilization of the Middle
Ages. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-092553-6.
[36] Brockmann, Stephen (2006). Nuremberg: The imaginary
capital. Rochester, NY: Camden House. p. 15. ISBN
1-57113-345-3.
[37] Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontis
from St. Peter to Benedict XVI, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 138.
[38] Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen. How to See the Vatican
[39] Barraclough, Georey (1984). The Origins of Modern
Germany. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. Inc. ISBN
978-0-393-30153-3.
[40] Zlat bula Karla IV. na Ptejte se knihovny
[41] The only prince allowed to call himself king of a territory in the Empire was the King of Bohemia (after 1556
usually the Emperor himself). Some other princes were
kings by virtue of kingdoms they controlled outside of the
Empire
[42] Caspar Hirschi, Wettkampf der Nationen, Wallstein Verlag
2005, Gttingen, p. 393399.
[43] Andr Corvisier, John Childs, A dictionary of military history and the art of war (1994), p. 306
[44] The German Myth of the East: 1800 to the Present by
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius
[45] isites.harvard.edu Venice Seminar MIT.
[46] Urban World History: An Economic and Geographical
Perspective by Luc-Normand Tellier. Google Books.
[47] papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca
[48] The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, Volume 2
George Thomas Kurian and James D. Smith III. Google
Books.
[49] The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, c.
1300c. 1415 Rosamond McKitterick and Michael Jones.
Google Books.
[50] The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, c.
1300c. 1415 Rosamond McKitterick and Michael Jones.
Google Books.
[51] Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Biobibliographical handbook, Volume 1 By John Flood,
Google Books

8 Further reading
Arnold, Benjamin, Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany. (Cambridge University Press,
1991)
Bryce, James, The Holy Roman Empire. 1899 edition.
Coy, Jason Phillip et al. The Holy Roman Empire,
Reconsidered, (Berghahn Books, 2010).
Evans, R. J. W., Michael Schaich and Peter H.
Wilson, eds. The Holy Roman Empire 14951806
(2011) articles by scholars
Donaldson, George. Germany: A Complete History
(Gotham Books, New York, 1985).
Heer, Friedrich. Holy Roman Empire (2002).
Hoyt, Robert S. and Chodorow, Stanley, Europe in
the Middle Ages (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1976).
Scribner, Bob. Germany: A New Social and Economic History, Vol. 1: 14501630 (1995).
Whaley, Joachim. Germany and the Holy Roman
Empire, Volumes 1 and 2, (Oxford UP, 2012).
Wilson, Peter H. The Holy Roman Empire 1495
1806 (2011) excerpt and text search.
Zophy, Jonathan W. ed., The Holy Roman Empire:
A Dictionary Handbook. Greenwood Press, 1980.

8.1 In German
Heinz Angermeier, Das Alte Reich in der deutschen
Geschichte. Studien ber Kontinuitten und Zsuren, Mnchen 1991
Karl Otmar Freiherr von Aretin, Das Alte Reich
16481806. 4 vols. Stuttgart, 19932000
Peter Claus Hartmann, Kulturgeschichte des Heiligen
Rmischen Reiches 1648 bis 1806. Wien, 2001
Georg Schmidt, Geschichte des Alten Reiches.
Mnchen, 1999
Deutsche Reichstagsakten

9 External links
The constitutional structure of the Reich
Das Heilige Reich (German Museum of History,
Berlin)
List of Wars of the Holy Roman Empire

14

Deutschland beim Tode Kaiser Karls IV. 1378

(Germany at the death of emperor Charles IV.)
taken from Meyers Kleines Konversationslexikon
in sechs Bnden. Bd. 2. Leipzig u. Wien : Bibliogr.
Institut 1908, map inserted after page 342
Books and articles on the Reich
The Holy Roman Empire
Comparison of the Holy Roman Empire and the European Union in 2012 by The Economist

9.1

Maps

The Holy Roman Empire, 11381254

The Holy Roman Empire c. 1500
The Holy Roman Empire in 1648
The Holy Roman Empire in 1789 (interactive map)

EXTERNAL LINKS

15

10
10.1

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File:Adhemar_de_Monteil_carries_the_Holy_Lance.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Adhemar_

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