An outline, era by era

Holy Roman Empire

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in central Europe, ruled by an emperor who was elected by powerful princes. It is usually dated from the coronation of Otto I as emperor in Rome in 962, though some count it from Charlemagne's coronation in 800. It lasted until 1806. At its core lay the German kingdom, and at times it also took in Italy, Burgundy and Bohemia.

The empire was never a centralised state. Its emperors shared power with dukes, bishops, free cities and, later, hundreds of small territories. It mattered for its long quarrel with the papacy, for its role in shaping Germany and Italy, and for its unusual constitution. The name 'Holy Roman Empire' was a medieval claim to continue the Roman Empire under the protection of the Church.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Otto I defeats the Magyars and is crowned emperor

    Event

    What happened

    In 955 Otto I, king of the East Franks, defeats a Magyar army at the Lechfeld near Augsburg. In 951 he had already taken the Lombard crown in Italy. On 2 February 962 Pope John XII crowns him emperor in Rome.

    The rest is history

    Otto's victory ended the Magyar raids on the German lands and made him a hugely respected ruler. His coronation tied the German kingship to the imperial title, and later kings of Germany regularly sought a coronation in Rome. Historians generally take 962 as the start of the medieval empire, although the name 'Holy Roman Empire' came into use only later. In 963 Otto deposed John XII, which showed how closely the emperor and the papacy were linked.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryWidukind of Corvey. Deeds of the Saxons (Res gestae Saxonicae). Latin chronicle, c. 967-973.Contemporary Saxon account of Otto's reign and the Lechfeld victory.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.
    3. BookReuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages, c. 800-1056. London: Longman, 1991.

  2. The Investiture Controversy and Canossa

    Event

    What happened

    In 1075 Pope Gregory VII forbids lay rulers to invest bishops, and Emperor Henry IV rejects this. In 1076 Henry declares Gregory deposed, and Gregory excommunicates Henry. In January 1077 Henry stands before Gregory at the castle of Canossa in Italy and is absolved.

    The rest is history

    The dispute challenged the old idea that emperors ruled as God's chosen agents over the Church. German princes used the conflict to press their own claims against Henry. The quarrel went on for decades and ended with the Concordat of Worms in 1122, which separated the bishop's spiritual investiture from his royal lands. The settlement reduced imperial control over the Church, and historians still debate how far it weakened the monarchy.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGregory VII. Register (Registrum). Papal letters, 1073-1085, including the letter on Canossa of 1077.Gregory's own account of Henry's penance.
    2. BookRobinson, I. S. Henry IV of Germany, 1056-1106. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
    3. BookWilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

  3. Frederick Barbarossa and the Lombard League

    Event

    What happened

    Frederick I Barbarossa, crowned emperor in 1155, tries to reassert imperial rights over the wealthy cities of northern Italy. In 1167 the cities form the Lombard League against him. In 1176 his army is defeated at Legnano, and the Peace of Constance in 1183 confirms the cities' self-government under nominal imperial overlordship.

    The rest is history

    The outcome showed the limits of imperial power in Italy. The cities kept their liberties and grew into the independent communes of the later Middle Ages. Frederick turned his attention to Germany, where he built a strong base. He died in 1190 on the Third Crusade, drowning in the river Saleph in Cilicia.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryOtto of Freising and Rahewin. The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa (Gesta Friderici). Latin chronicle, c. 1157-1160.Contemporary account of Frederick's early reign.
    2. BookMunz, Peter. Frederick Barbarossa: A Study in Medieval Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969.
    3. BookFreed, John B. Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

  4. Frederick II and the end of Hohenstaufen rule

    Event

    What happened

    Frederick II, crowned emperor in 1220, rules both Germany and Sicily and is in repeated conflict with the popes. He is excommunicated several times, and in 1245 Pope Innocent IV declares him deposed. He dies in 1250, and his son Conrad IV dies in 1254.

    The rest is history

    After Frederick's death the Hohenstaufen line collapsed, and the later 1250s and 1260s are often called the Interregnum, in which no king was generally accepted. Princes gained further power in this period. Imperial authority in Italy never recovered fully. The Interregnum ended in 1273 with the election of Rudolf of Habsburg.

    Sources

    1. BookAbulafia, David. Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor. London: Allen Lane, 1988.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

  5. The Golden Bull of 1356

    Event

    What happened

    In 1356 Emperor Charles IV issues the Golden Bull at the imperial diets of Nuremberg and Metz. It names seven electors: the archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, the king of Bohemia, the count Palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony and the margrave of Brandenburg. It sets out how a king of the Romans is to be chosen, by majority vote.

    The rest is history

    The document fixed the rules of election for the next four and a half centuries and gave the electors special privileges. It reduced the pope's role in choosing emperors and the risk of disputed elections. It also confirmed the princes' power in their own lands, helping shape a federal empire rather than a centralised monarchy. It remained a basic law of the empire until 1806.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGolden Bull of Emperor Charles IV. Imperial constitutional charter, 1356.Latin text, with the rules for the electors.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

  6. The Habsburgs and the imperial crown

    Event

    What happened

    In 1273 the electors choose Rudolf of Habsburg as king, ending the Interregnum. In 1438 Albert II of Habsburg is elected king, and from then on, with one short break, the Habsburgs hold the crown. In 1452 Frederick III is the last emperor crowned in Rome.

    The rest is history

    The Habsburgs used marriage and inheritance to expand their lands, and the imperial title stayed in their family until 1806. Their strength rested more on their own territories than on the empire's institutions. This pattern of a dynasty using the imperial office as a base for wider power shaped central European politics for centuries.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.
    2. BookWhaley, Joachim. Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, Volume I. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

  7. Barbarossa sleeps beneath the Kyffhäuser

    Folk tale

    The legend

    The emperor Frederick Barbarossa is not dead but sleeps in a cave beneath the Kyffhäuser mountain in Thuringia. His red beard has grown through the stone table where he sits. When the ravens stop circling the mountain, he will wake and restore the empire.

    The rest is history

    Barbarossa died in 1190 in Cilicia on crusade, and rumours that he lived on arose soon after. The Kyffhäuser tale was at first told of his grandson Frederick II and was attached to Barbarossa only in the early 1800s, notably through the Grimm brothers' collection of German legends in 1816. In the 19th century it was used by German nationalists, and a large monument was built on the mountain between 1890 and 1896. The sleeping-king motif is also told of Arthur and others.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGrimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Deutsche Sagen. Collection of German legends, Berlin, 1816.Includes the Kyffhäuser legend.
    2. BookFreed, John B. Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

  8. Otto III opens Charlemagne's tomb

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In the year 1000 Emperor Otto III enters the vault of Charlemagne at Aachen. He finds the dead emperor seated on a throne, crowned, with his nose rotted away, and replaces it with gold. Otto takes the cross from his neck and a tooth.

    The rest is history

    Otto III did visit Aachen in 1000 and probably opened Charlemagne's tomb, out of admiration for his predecessor. The vivid details come from a chronicle written decades later, by Thietmar of Merseburg and Otto of Lomello, and are not widely accepted as accurate. Frederick Barbarossa had Charlemagne canonised in 1165 and his bones were later moved to a shrine, now in Aachen Cathedral. The story shows how medieval emperors tied themselves to Charlemagne's memory.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryThietmar of Merseburg. Chronicon. Latin chronicle, c. 1012-1018.Gives a account of Otto III's visit.
    2. BookAlthoff, Gerd. Otto III. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.

  9. Voltaire's quip: neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire

    Popular belief

    The legend

    The Holy Roman Empire is often summed up in Voltaire's remark that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. This is repeated as a neat explanation of why the state was strange.

    The rest is history

    The remark comes from Voltaire's Essai sur les mœurs, published in 1756. It was a witty verdict on a weak late state, not a description of the medieval empire. The empire's rulers did claim sacred authority and the Roman imperial inheritance, and for centuries they ruled lands in Italy and Germany. Historians today stress that the empire worked as a flexible political framework that lasted over 800 years until Francis II laid down the crown on 6 August 1806.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryVoltaire. Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations. Essay on universal history, 1756.Contains the famous remark.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

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