In 1667 Samuel von Pufendorf called the Holy Roman Empire a monstrosity, and Voltaire said it was neither holy, Roman nor an empire. It began on Christmas Day 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, using the rule of Empress Irene in Constantinople to treat the imperial throne as vacant, and the doctrine of translatio imperii to transfer Roman authority. In 962 Otto I’s coronation tied Germany to Italy and the papacy, and his imperial church system made bishops, who had no legitimate heirs, into administrators whose lands returned to the crown. Medieval people saw Rome as the last earthly kingdom before the end of the world. Frederick Barbarossa added holy around 1157, and by 1512 the name added the German Nation.
The Investiture Controversy between Henry IV and Gregory VII brought excommunication, revolts and civil war, and the Concordat of Worms in 1122 cost the emperor control of bishops, empowering the princes. Charles IV’s Golden Bull of 1356 fixed seven prince-electors with their own coinage, tolls and courts. Losing Italy and Burgundy spurred imperial reforms such as regional circles and a supreme court. Luther’s Reformation of 1517 split the empire, and the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 let rulers choose Catholicism or Lutheranism but left out Calvinists. The Thirty Years’ War from 1618 drew in Sweden and France. After Austerlitz, Francis II dissolved the empire in 1806 to keep Napoleon from claiming the Roman title.
- The empire at its height spanned modern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and parts of Italy, France and Poland.
- Calling the empire holy let Barbarossa claim power directly from God, cutting out the pope.
- The Golden Bull required electors’ sons to learn German, Latin, Italian and Czech.
- Exposed borders meant emperors needed the princes’ troops and taxes, so they ruled by negotiation.
- The empire’s population did not recover to its pre-1618 level until about 1750.
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