The Holy Roman Empire

The French philosopher Voltaire once quipped:

So, what was this bizarre institution that dominated Western political and religious life throughout the Middle Ages through to the early modern era? Let's dive into the Holy Roman Empire and examine this significant political force in European history.

Fig. 1 Map Showing the Territories of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century.

Formation of the Holy Roman Empire

The formation of the Holy Roman Empire was a messy, stop-start process that took place from the 700s to the 1200s. Before we look at the events and figures who created the Holy Roman Empire, it is essential to take a moment to appreciate the conditions that allowed such an institution to develop.

Long-term preconditions

Three critical long-term preconditions formed the basis for the Holy Roman Empire.

The idea of the universal Roman Empire

The Roman Empire had been such a powerful political force that, naturally, the idea of the Roman Empire persisted in the West long after the Empire had disintegrated.

The idea of a 'Christian' Empire

This idea was born when Constantine I adopted Christianity as the Roman Empire's official religion in 312. The Church saw the Empire as the vehicle to spread the faith to the rest of the world.

When Islam started spreading in the late 600s, the idea of a Christian Empire in the West resurfaced as a potent way to combat this new religious power.

Conflict between the papacy and the Byzantine Empire

The papacy became enraged at two actions taken by the Byzantine Empire in the 700s and 800s:

1. The Byzantine Isaurian dynasty led an iconoclastic set of reforms, including edicts against the veneration of images in churches between 726 and 729. The papacy saw these as heretical acts.
2. In 797, Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV was blinded and imprisoned by his mother, Irene, who declared herself Empress. The papacy believed that women could not be the head of the Christian empire, so they started looking for an alternative male candidate to crown.

Charlemagne

The papacy decided on Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as the best candidate for them to crown as male Roman Emperor of Christendom. On Christmas Day in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as 'Augustus and Emperor'.

The strange thing about this coronation was that Charlemagne's title as Emperor meant nothing without recognition from the Byzantine Empire. Charlemagne remained the ruler of the Franks and Lombards only.

However, the coronation achieved a lasting political split between East and West. In 812, the Byzantine Empire recognised Charlemagne as an emperor.

Fig. 2 Charlemagne and his son, Louis the Pious

Charlemagne's Dynasty

After Charlemagne's death, neither his son nor grandson were crowned Emperor by the Pope. However, the Frankish lands soon erupted in civil war. Therefore, Charlemagne's great-grandson, Louis II, decided that one way to bolster his power was to be crowned by the Pope in 850. From then on, Charlemagne's descendants were crowned Emperor by the papacy until the line ran out in 888.

However, the title 'Emperor' remained nothing but a name during this period. It was merely a lasting reminder of the close links between Charlemagne's dynasty and the papacy.

Otto and the Formation of the Holy Roman Empire

Otto I became king of the German lands in 936. He elevated church ministers to positions of importance in his government. Furthermore, he married the widowed queen of Italy, taking over Italy as a vassal state of his lands.

In 961, Otto returned to Italy when the Italian vassal king tried to gain independence. Early in 962, Otto was crowned Emperor by Pope John XII. One of the most effective outcomes of this action was the geographical implication of an emperor who held political territory of Italy, in particular Rome. This laid the groundwork for a new 'Roman' Empire.

Otto's Dynasty

Otto's son, Otto II, made an innovation. Instead of having himself crowned just 'Emperor', he was crowned 'Roman Emperor'. Marrying a Byzantine princess, the heir to the 'Eastern' half of the old Roman Empire, strengthened Otto's claim to the title.

The links between the papacy and Otto's line were strengthened when Otto III made his cousin, Gregory V, Pope in 996. Otto III also created a new political system when he conquered Slavic lands. He ruled over a family of kingdoms, over which he exercised a sort of presidency centred on himself as Roman Emperor and the papacy. This was the origin of the Holy Roman Empire in its political form - a collection of kingdoms centered on the Emperor and Pope.

Conrad II

Otto's line ran out in 1024 when Henry II died. This sparked a debate about who should become king and Roman Emperor in his place. A group of dukes and nobles got together and decided to elect Conrad II as their new king and Emperor. Thus, Conrad II became the first Salian king to be Roman Emperor.

However, Conrad II went one step further. He decided that as Roman Emperor, he naturally ruled over a Roman Empire. Therefore, this is the first time we see the term Roman Empire used in the West. However, it would not be until 1254 that the full title 'Holy Roman Empire' was used. It was the lasting name for the political institution that Conrad II ruled over.

Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire

The octagonal imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire was probably used right from the 10^th century down to 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.

Fig. 3 The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

The crown itself was made of eight gold plates and was highly ornate, with 144 pearls and precious stones studded all over it. It also had four plates showing images from the Bible.

Banner of the Holy Roman Empire

The banner of the Holy Roman Empire underwent several evolutions.

Fig. 4 The banner of the Holy Roman Empire from the 15th century onwards.

It began with a black eagle on a golden background. In the 14^th century, the beak and claws of the eagle were coloured red. However, the most innovative change came in the 15^th century, when the image changed from a 'normal' eagle to a double-headed eagle. At some point after this, the heraldic coat of arms of the reigning Emperor came to be used in the centre of the eagle as well.

Rise and Fall of the Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire underwent various cycles of strength and weakness from its formation to its dissolution in 1806.

Investiture Controversy (1076-1122)

One of the weaker periods of the Holy Roman Empire was the Investiture Controversy between 1076 and 1122. The conflict kicked off because of the slow rise of the power of the secular Holy Roman Emperor over the papacy.

In 1076, Pope Gregory VII decided enough was enough. He decreed that only the Pope could use the Holy Roman Empire's insignia and that the Pope could legally depose Holy Roman Emperors. Effectively, this was the papacy launching a challenge to the sacred authority of the Holy Roman Emperor. The result was a series of conflicts that shook the empire until 1122. The outcome was the slow demise of the power of the Holy Roman Emperor from the 12^th century until 1806.

Early Modern Resurgence

The Holy Roman Empire was a critical player in the late medieval and early modern periods. In 1495, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III introduced several reforms at the Diet of Worms. These included the development of a new legal institution (the Reichskammergericht), a new Imperial tax, and the creation of a central Imperial government (the Reichsreiment).

Maximilian I

A golden era for the Holy Roman Empire occurred during the reign of Maximilian. He oversaw many of the reforms outlined above. The new Imperial bodies that he helped to create enabled him not merely to oversee the Holy Roman Empire but to rule it.

Protestant Reformation and Decline: 1517-1806

A steady decline characterised the last two centuries of the Holy Roman Empire. This was precipitated by the Protestant Reformation, which divided Europe into Protestant regions (mainly in the north and west of Europe) and Catholic regions (mainly in the south and east).

The expansion of Protestantism destabilized the authority of the Holy Roman Empire. Religious strife helped usher in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) which decimated the Empire, especially when the Empire's rivals, France and Sweden, seized large portions of the Empire's territory.

The death knell for the Holy Roman Empire sounded at the French Revolution's beginning. In 1806, Napoleon won a military victory over Francis I of Austria, the last Holy Roman Emperor. The result was the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Fig. 5 Painting of Napoleon by Jacques Louis David. Napoleon brought the Holy Roman Empire to an end in 1806.

Army of the Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire created its army in 1422 to abolish the Hussite rebellion in Bohemia and Slovakia. Essentially, when the Holy Roman Empire decided that it wanted to go to war as an entire entity, the various kingdoms within the Empire mustered local forces. These forces then joined together into one army for a specific purpose.

Therefore, the army of the Holy Roman Empire had two defining characteristics:

1. It was not a permanent standing army but mustered at various points for specific wars and rebellions.
2. Its loyalties lay more to its local kingdoms than to the central idea of the Holy Roman Empire.

Some of the wars that the army of the Holy Roman Empire fought included:

• The Long War (1593-1606)
• The Nine Years War (1688-1697)
• The War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714)

The Legacy of the Holy Roman Empire

The renowned nineteenth-century German historian Leopold von Ranke held a dismal view of the Holy Roman Empire. He saw the failure to centralise the Empire as an example of a failed nation-state.³ His opinion reflects his time - when nation-states were ascendant in Europe - and so it was easy to see the Holy Roman Empire as feeble in comparison.

Contemporary historian Peter Wilson challenges Ranke's approach. He argues that we should see the Holy Roman Empire as:

He sees the Holy Roman Empire as a success story. This powerful political body shaped a continent and lasted for a millennium. He draws parallels between the Holy Roman Empire and the European Union, stating that,