Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a large and important group of lands in Europe that lasted for over 1,000 years. It started in the Early Middle Ages, around the year 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Roman Emperor. This brought back the idea of an emperor in Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. The Empire included parts of what we now call Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, and was led by a Holy Roman Emperor.

For much of its history, the Holy Roman Empire was very powerful. It was especially strong in the mid-1300s under the House of Hohenstaufen. However, because it grew too large, it later became weaker. The emperor was usually chosen by a group of important leaders called prince-electors and electors-spiritual, mostly from Germany.

In the late 1400s and early 1500s, big changes happened to make the Empire work better. These changes created institutions that stayed until the Empire ended. The Empire finally came to an end in 1806 when Emperor Francis II dissolved it after Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine from German states that supported France. At its largest, the Holy Roman Empire covered much of Central and Western Europe, including areas that are now the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Switzerland, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, parts of France, northern and central Italy, and western Poland.

Name and general perception

Further information: Reich, Translatio imperii, Problem of two emperors, and Historiography of Germany

After Charlemagne became a leader in 800, people called his land the "Roman Empire". Later, around 1157, a leader named Frederick I Barbarossa started calling it the "Holy Empire" because he wanted more control over places like Italy and the Papacy. By the year 1254, people began using the name "Holy Roman Empire".

At first, people called the land many different names like "the whole kingdom" or "Christian empire". But everyone agreed the leader had great power passed down from ancient leaders of Rome. Over time, the land became closely linked with Germany. By 1500, many called it simply "Germany". In 1512, after a big meeting called the Diet of Cologne, the name changed to the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation". This happened because the land in Italy and Burgundy was no longer part of the empire, and German leaders became more important.

Even though some people thought the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" was very important, it wasn’t used very often. Some writers even made fun of the name. Later, people began calling it the "German Empire" or "Roman-German Empire".

History

Early Middle Ages

Carolingian Empire

Main article: Carolingian Empire

As Roman power in Gaul declined, local Germanic tribes took control. In the late 5th and early 6th centuries, the Merovingians, under Clovis I and his successors, united Frankish tribes and ruled over northern Gaul and the middle Rhine river valley. By the middle of the 8th century, the Merovingians became figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, took power. In 751, Martel's son Pepin became King of the Franks with the Pope's support. The Carolingians kept a close tie with the Papacy. In 768, Pepin's son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and started to grow his land. He took over areas of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, the Low Countries and more, linking the Frankish kingdom with Papal lands.

On Christmas Day in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the West after over three centuries. This showed the papacy turning from the weakening Byzantine Empire to the new power of Carolingian Francia. Charlemagne used the title Renovatio imperii Romanorum ("renewal of the Roman Empire"). In 802, there were two Roman emperors after Irene was removed from power.

After Charlemagne died in 814, the crown went to his son, Louis the Pious. When Louis died in 840, it passed to his son Lothair. By this time, Charlemagne's land was split into several parts, and the title of emperor was fought over by rulers of the Western Frankish Kingdom or West Francia and the Eastern Frankish Kingdom or East Francia.

In the 9th century, Charlemagne and his successors started a time of learning called the Carolingian Renaissance. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, Carolingian rule ended in the Roman Empire. The land split into smaller parts, each choosing its own ruler. The last emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924.

Post-Carolingian Eastern Frankish Kingdom

Around 900, East Francia's separate stem duchies (Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia) became stronger. After the Carolingian king Louis the Child died childless in 911, East Francia did not choose the Carolingian ruler of West Francia but elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as Rex Francorum Orientalium. On his deathbed, Conrad passed the crown to his rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony (r. 919–936), who was elected king in 919 at Fritzlar. Henry made peace with the attacking Magyars, and in 933 he defeated them at the Battle of Riade.

Henry died in 936, but his family, the Liudolfing (or Ottonian) dynasty, kept ruling the Eastern kingdom or the Kingdom of Germany for about a century. After Henry the Fowler died, his son Otto was elected king in Aachen in 936. He overcame rebellions from his brother and several dukes. After that, the king controlled who could be duke and often used bishops to help govern. He replaced leaders in most major East Frankish duchies with his own family. He also made sure no one in his family could challenge his power.

Formation of the Holy Roman Empire

In 951, Otto helped Queen Adelaide of Italy, defeated her enemies, married her, and took control of Italy. In 955, Otto defeated the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld. In 962, Otto was crowned emperor by Pope John XII, linking the German kingdom with Italy and the Papacy. Otto's crowning as emperor marked the German kings as successors to Charlemagne's empire, making them think of themselves as successors to Ancient Rome. The arts grew during Otto's rule, known as the Ottonian Renaissance, centered in Germany but also in Northern Italy and France.

Otto created a system tying churches to the empire, called the "Ottonian church system". Women also had important roles in politics and the church during this time, like Matilda of Ringelheim, Eadgyth, Adelaide of Italy, Theophanu, and Matilda of Quedlinburg.

In 963, Otto removed Pope John XII and chose Leo VIII as the new pope. This caused trouble with the Byzantine emperor, especially after Otto's son Otto II (r. 967–983) called himself imperator Romanorum. Otto II married the Byzantine princess Theophanu. Their son, Otto III, became king at three years old and faced power struggles until he was old enough to rule in 994. During this time, a duke named Crescentius II ruled Rome and part of Italy.

In 996 Otto III appointed his cousin Gregory V the first German pope. Roman nobles, led by Crescentius II, rebelled against a foreign pope. Otto III's mentor Antipope John XVI briefly took Rome, but the Holy Roman emperor took the city back. Otto died young in 1002 and was succeeded by his cousin Henry II, who focused on Germany. Otto III and his mentor Pope Sylvester helped spread Christianity and Latin culture in Europe. They brought Slavic nations into Europe, with the empire acting like a "presidency over a family of nations". Though, Otto died young and his rule had "unrealized potential".

Henry II died in 1024 and Conrad II, the first of the Salian dynasty, was elected king after some discussion. The Holy Roman Empire came to include four kingdoms:

• Kingdom of Germany (part of the empire since 962),
• Kingdom of Italy (from 962 until 1801),
• Kingdom of Bohemia (from 1002 as the Duchy of Bohemia and raised to a kingdom in 1198),
• Kingdom of Burgundy (from 1032 to 1378).

High Middle Ages

Investiture Controversy

Main article: Investiture Controversy

Kings often used bishops to help govern and decided who would be bishops. This was seen as wrong by the Papacy after the Cluniac Reforms. The reform-minded Pope Gregory VII wanted to stop this, leading to the Investiture Controversy with King Henry IV (r. 1056–1106, crowned emperor in 1084).

Henry IV refused the pope's interference and convinced his bishops to remove the pope from office, calling him by his birth name "Hildebrand" instead of his papal name "Gregory". The pope removed Henry from office, declared him no longer king, and ended the loyalty oaths made to Henry. Henry had little support and was forced to humiliate himself by making the famous Walk to Canossa in 1077 to lift the removal. During this time, the German princes elected another king, Rudolf of Swabia.

Henry defeated Rudolf but faced more rebellions, being removed again, and even his sons rebelled. After his death, his son Henry V made an agreement with the Pope and the bishops in the 1122 Concordat of Worms. The empire kept its power, but the conflict showed the limits of the ruler's power, especially regarding the Church. The pope and the German princes became important players in the empire's politics.

Ostsiedlung

Main article: Ostsiedlung

Ostsiedlung led to German speakers moving to less populated areas in Central Europe (now Poland and the Czech Republic). Silesia became part of the Holy Roman Empire when local Piast dukes wanted more freedom from Poland. From the late 12th century, the Duchy of Pomerania was under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Teutonic Order's conquests made the area German-speaking.

Hohenstaufen dynasty

When the Salian dynasty ended with Henry V's death in 1125, the princes did not elect the next king from his family but chose Lothair III, the duke of Saxony. When he died in 1137, the princes chose not to elect Lothair's preferred 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 nephew of Emperor Henry V. This caused over a century of conflict between the two families. Conrad removed the Welfs from their lands, but after his death in 1152, his nephew Frederick Barbarossa succeeded him and made peace with the Welfs, giving back some lands to his cousin Henry the Lion.

The Hohenstaufen rulers gave land to "ministeriales", formerly non-free servicemen, hoping they would be more loyal than dukes. These people later formed the basis for the knights, a key part of imperial power. In 1158, an imperial meeting at Roncaglia created a new peace system for the whole empire, the Landfrieden, first issued in 1103 under Henry IV at Mainz. This tried to end private wars between dukes and others and tie subordinates to a legal system – a step toward the modern idea of rule of law. Another new idea was the emperor and local dukes founding new cities. Cities founded in the 12th century include Freiburg and Munich.

Frederick Barbarossa was crowned emperor in 1155. He stressed the "Romanness" of the empire to justify the emperor's power without needing the pope. In 1158, an imperial meeting at Roncaglia listed imperial rights like public roads, tariffs, coining, collecting fees, and appointing officials. These rights were now based on Roman law.

Frederick focused on Italy, clashing with northern cities like the Duchy of Milan and having conflicts with the Papacy by supporting a candidate against Pope Alexander III (1159–1181). Frederick supported several antipopes before making peace with Alexander in 1177. In Germany, the emperor protected Henry the Lion against complaints from other princes or cities (especially Munich and Lübeck). Henry gave little support to Frederick's policies, and during a critical time in Italy, Henry refused the emperor's request for military help. After returning to Germany, Frederick started proceedings against Henry, leading to his removal and loss of lands. In 1190, Frederick joined the Third Crusade and died in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

During the Hohenstaufen time, German princes helped settle lands eastwards that were empty or sparsely populated by West Slavs. German farmers, traders, and craftsmen moved into these areas. The gradual Germanization of these lands was complex and should not be seen through the biased view of 19th-century nationalism. The settlement expanded the empire's influence to include Pomerania and Silesia. The Teutonic Knights were asked to Prussia by Duke Konrad of Masovia to Christianize the Prussians in 1226. The monastic state of the Teutonic Order (Deutschordensstaat) and its later German state of the Duchy of Prussia were never part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Under Frederick Barbarossa's son and successor Henry VI, the Hohenstaufen dynasty reached its peak by adding the Norman kingdom of Sicily through marriage to Constance of Sicily. Bohemia and Poland were under feudal control, and Cyprus and Lesser Armenia paid tribute. The Iberian-Moroccan caliph accepted claims over Tunis and Tripolitania and paid tribute. Fearing Henry's power, other European kings formed an alliance. Henry broke this alliance by pressuring the English king Richard the Lionheart. The Byzantine emperor worried Henry might turn his Crusade against his empire and prepared for invasion. Henry planned to make the Empire a hereditary monarchy but faced opposition from princes and the pope. He died suddenly in 1197, leading to the partial collapse of his empire. As his son, Frederick II, was still a child in Sicily, German princes elected an adult king, leading to a dual election between Frederick Barbarossa's youngest son Philip of Swabia and Henry the Lion's son Otto of Brunswick. After Philip was murdered in 1208, Otto took power but later claimed Sicily.

Pope Innocent III, fearing the threat of a united empire and Sicily, supported Frederick II, who defeated Otto. Frederick did not keep the two realms separate as promised. He had made his son Henry king of Sicily but kept real power for himself. This continued after Frederick was crowned emperor in 1220. Fearing Frederick's growing power, the pope removed him from office. Another issue was the Crusade, which Frederick promised but kept delaying. Even removed from office, Frederick led the Sixth Crusade in 1228, ending in talks and a temporary return of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Frederick II is called the greatest medieval German emperor for his many activities, prestige, and strong personality. In Sicily and much of Italy, he built an early absolutist state with an efficient bureaucracy. Despite his power, Frederick's rule marked a shift toward dividing central power in the Empire. Because his focus was on Italy, he was often away from Germany and gave wide privileges to German princes to keep their support. In the 1220 Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis, Frederick gave up some rights to bishops, like tariffs, coining, and building forts. The 1232 Statutum in favorem principum gave these privileges to secular lands too. Though many existed before, they were now granted worldwide and forever to help German princes maintain order while Frederick focused on Italy. The 1232 document marked the first time German dukes were called domini terrae, owners of their lands. The Statutum affirmed a division of duties between the emperor and princes and helped develop particularism in Germany. Even so, from 1232 the emperor's vassals could veto imperial laws, and any new law needed prince approval.

Despite these provisions, royal power in Germany stayed strong under Frederick, and by the 1240s the crown still had many resources, lands, followers, and rights. Frederick used the loyalty and duties of the German aristocracy to keep peace and order. The independence of German princes was supported by the crown in the interests of order and local peace. The result was the regional rule of church leaders, lay princes, and cities; however, Frederick ruled vast areas and "could not be everywhere at once". Giving jurisdiction to princes was a practical way to keep their support and had already started under Henry VI and Frederick Barbarossa. It is unlikely that a strong ruler like Frederick II would agree to truly concessionary laws; the princes likely did not insist on them either.

The Mainz Landfriede or Constitutio Pacis, made at the Imperial Diet of 1235, became one of the basic laws of the empire. It said princes should share the burden of local government in Germany. The crown's authority was not in question, but its practical use in such a large area without a general administration. Far from weakening the crown, the Mainz Landfriede was a constitutional change based on decades of political reality and showed Frederick II's political strength, prestige, and power to get the princes' support and tie them to Hohenstaufen power.

Kingdom of Bohemia

The Kingdom of Bohemia was important in the Middle Ages. In 1212, King Ottokar I got a Golden Bull of Sicily from Emperor Frederick II, confirming his title and raising the Duchy of Bohemia to a kingdom. Bohemia's ties to the Empire weakened. Charles IV made Prague the seat of the Holy Roman emperor.

Interregnum

Main article: Interregnum (Holy Roman Empire)

After Frederick II died in 1250, Conrad IV, Frederick's son (died 1254), was strong after beating his papal-backed rival anti-king, William of Holland (died 1256). But after Conrad died, the Interregnum began, with no king gaining full support, letting princes strengthen their holdings and become more independent. After 1257, the crown was fought over by Richard of Cornwall, supported by the Guelph party, and Alfonso X of Castile, recognized by the Hohenstaufen party but never visiting Germany. After Richard's death in 1273, Rudolf I of Germany, a minor pro-Hohenstaufen count, was elected. He was the first Habsburg to hold a royal title but was never crowned emperor. After Rudolf's death in 1291, Adolf and Albert were weak kings never crowned emperor.

Albert was killed in 1308. Almost at once, King Philip IV of France sought support for his brother, Charles of Valois, to be elected the next king of the Romans. Philip believed he had the backing of the French Pope, Clement V (based in Avignon from 1309), and good chances of bringing the empire under the French royal house. He used French money to try to bribe the German electors. Though Charles of Valois had support from pro-French Henry, Archbishop of Cologne, many did not want more French power, especially Clement V. The main rival to Charles was Count Palatine Rudolf II.

The electors, the major landowners who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades, did not like Charles or Rudolf. Instead, Count Henry of Luxembourg, with help from his brother, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier, was elected Henry VII with six votes at Frankfurt on 27 November 1308. Though a vassal of King Philip, Henry had few national ties and was a good compromise. Henry VII was crowned king at Aachen on 6 January 1309 and emperor by Pope Clement V on 29 June 1312 in Rome, ending the interregnum.

Changes in political structure

Further information: Medieval commune, League of cities, Hanseatic League, Swabian League of Cities, Imperial immediacy, and Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire

During the 13th century, how land was managed changed, shifting power to the rising bourgeoisie and away from the aristocratic feudalism that defined the Late Middle Ages. The growth of cities and the new burgher class weakened the old social, legal, and economic order of feudalism.

Peasants had to pay more to their landlords. The idea of property replaced older forms of control, though they were still linked. In territories (not the whole Empire), power became more concentrated: whoever owned the land had control, and other powers came from that. Jurisdiction did not include making laws, which barely existed until the 15th century. Courts relied on old customs or rules called customary law.

During this time, areas started to become like modern states. This change happened differently in each place and was most advanced in areas like the old Germanic tribes, such as Bavaria. It was slower in scattered areas granted by the empire.

In the 12th century the Hanseatic League formed as a trade and defense group of merchant guilds in towns and cities in the empire and across northern and central Europe. It controlled trade in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and connected rivers. Each city kept its own legal system and, except for Free imperial cities, had limited political freedom. By the late 14th century, the league used military force to protect its interests, leading to the Danish–Hanseatic War from 1361 to 1370. The league declined after 1450.

Late Middle Ages

Further information: Late Middle Ages and Pomerania during the Late Middle Ages

Rise of the territories after the Hohenstaufens

The trouble in electing the king led to a fixed group of prince-electors (Kurfürsten), set by the Golden Bull of 1356, issued by Charles IV (ruled 1355–1378, King of the Romans from 1346), which lasted until 1806. This showed the split between emperor and realm (Kaiser und Reich), no longer seen as the same. The Golden Bull set the election system for the Holy Roman Emperor. The emperor was now elected by a majority, not all seven electors. The electors' title became hereditary, and they gained rights to mint coins and hold court. It was suggested their sons learn German, Latin, Italian, and Czech.

Charles IV's decision is debated: it brought peace to the empire after civil wars after the Hohenstaufen era, but it was a clear "blow to central authority". Thomas Brady Jr. says Charles IV aimed to end disputed elections (from the Luxembourghs' view, it also gave the King of Bohemia a permanent top role as an Elector). He built Bohemia as the Luxembourghs' base in the empire and their dynastic home. His rule in Bohemia is seen as a golden age. But Brady Jr. notes that under all the shine, a problem arose: the government could not handle the waves of German immigrants into Bohemia, causing religious tensions and persecution. The Luxembourgh imperial project stopped under Charles's son Wenceslaus (ruled 1378–1419 as King of Bohemia, 1376–1400 as King of the Romans), who faced opposition from 150 local baronial families.

The shift of power from the emperor is shown in how post-Hohenstaufen kings kept power. Earlier, the empire's strength and money came from the empire's own lands, the Reichsgut, which always belonged to the current king and included many Imperial Cities. After the 13th century, the Reichsgut became less important, though parts lasted until the empire ended in 1806. Instead, the Reichsgut was often given to local dukes, sometimes to raise money for the empire but more often to reward loyalty or try to control the dukes. Directly governing the Reichsgut no longer met the needs of the king or the dukes.^{[citation needed]}

Kings from Rudolf I of Germany onward relied more on their own dynasty's lands to support their power. Unlike the Reichsgut, which was scattered and hard to manage, these lands were compact and easier to control. In 1282, Rudolf I lent Austria and Styria to his own sons. In 1312, Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor since Frederick II. After him, all kings and emperors relied on their own family's lands (Hausmacht): Louis IV of Wittelsbach (king 1314, emperor 1328–1347) used his lands in Bavaria; Charles IV of Luxembourg, the grandson of Henry VII, used his lands in Bohemia. It was in the king's interest to strengthen the power of the territories, as the king benefited from this in his own lands too.^{[citation needed]}

Imperial Reform

Main article: Imperial Reform

The empire's "constitution" was still unclear at the start of the 15th century. Feuds between local rulers were common. The "robber baron" (Raubritter) became a problem. The Catholic Church faced its own issues, affecting the empire. The conflict among papal claimants ended with the Council of Constance (1414–1418); after 1419 the Papacy focused on fighting the Hussites. The idea of uniting all Christendom into one political body, led by the Church and Empire, started to fade. With these big changes, there was much discussion in the 15th century about the empire. Old rules no longer fit the current structure, and there was an urgent need to renew earlier Landfrieden.

The plan for reform of both the empire and the Church began with Sigismund (ruled 1433–1437, King of the Romans from 1411), who, according to historian Thomas Brady Jr., "had a broad vision and a sense of greatness not seen in a German ruler since the thirteenth century". But outside problems, mistakes, and the end of the Luxembourg male line stopped this plan.

Frederick III was the first Habsburg crowned Holy Roman Emperor, in 1452. He was careful about the reform movement in the empire. For most of his rule, he saw reform as a threat to his powers. He avoided direct fights that might shame him if princes refused. After 1440, reform of the empire and Church was led by local and regional leaders, especially territorial princes. In his last years, he felt pressure to act from a higher level. Berthold von Henneberg, the Archbishop of Mainz, who spoke for reform-minded princes (who wanted to reform the empire without strengthening the imperial hand), used Frederick's wish to secure the imperial election for his son Maximilian. So, in his last years, he started the early phase of Imperial Reform, which mainly happened under Maximilian. Maximilian was more open to reform but also wanted to keep and grow imperial powers. After Frederick retired to Linz in 1488, Maximilian acted as a mediator between the princes and his father. When he took full rule after Frederick's death, he continued this policy of mediation, judging between options from the princes.

Creation of institutions

Major steps for reform were taken at the 1495 Reichstag at Worms. A new group was created, the Reichskammergericht, meant to be mostly independent from the Emperor. A new tax, the Gemeine Pfennig, was started to pay for it, but this was only collected under Charles V and Ferdinand I, and not fully. To compete with the Reichskammergericht, Maximilian created the Reichshofrat in 1497, based in Vienna. During Maximilian's rule, this council was not popular. Over time, the two Courts worked together, sometimes overlapping.

In 1500, Maximilian agreed to create an organization called the Reichsregiment (central imperial government, with twenty members including the Electors, chaired by the Emperor or his representative), first set up in 1501 in Nuremberg. Maximilian did not like the new group, and the Estates did not support it. The new group was weak politically, and its power went back to Maximilian in 1502.

The main changes focused on the center of government: the chancery. Early in Maximilian's rule, the Court Chancery in Innsbruck competed with the Imperial Chancery (led by the elector-archbishop of Mainz, the senior Imperial chancellor). By sending political matters in Tyrol, Austria and Imperial issues to the Court Chancery, Maximilian slowly centralized its power. The two chanceries merged in 1502. In 1496, the emperor created a general treasury (Hofkammer) in Innsbruck, responsible for all hereditary lands. The chamber of accounts (Raitkammer) in Vienna was made subordinate to this body. Under Paul von Liechtenstein [de], the Hofkammer was given not just hereditary lands' affairs but also Maximilian's as German king.

Reception of Roman law

At the 1495 Diet of Worms, the Reception of Roman Law was sped up and made formal. The Roman Law became binding in German courts, unless it went against local rules. In practice, it became the main law across Germany, replacing local Germanic law to a large extent, though Germanic law still worked at lower courts. Besides wanting legal unity, the adoption showed the link between the Ancient Roman empire and the Holy Roman Empire. To enforce his plan to reform and unite the legal system, the emperor often stepped in personally in local legal cases, overriding local rules and customs. This practice was often met with irony and anger from local councils, who wanted to protect their local laws.

The legal change seriously weakened the old Vehmic court (Vehmgericht, or Secret Tribunal of Westphalia, said to be started by Charlemagne but this theory is now seen as unlikely), though it was not fully ended until 1811 (when it was stopped by Jérôme Bonaparte).

National political culture

Maximilian and Charles V (though both were internationalists personally) were the first to use the idea of the Nation, firmly linked to the Reich by humanists of the time. With Maximilian's support and his humanists, important spiritual figures were brought back or became famous. Humanists found the work Germania by Tacitus. According to Peter H. Wilson, the female figure of Germania was remade by the emperor as the noble peaceful Mother of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Whaley suggests that, even with later religious splits, "patriotic ideas from Maximilian's time, created by him and humanist writers who supported him, formed the base of a national political culture."

Maximilian's rule saw the start of the German common language, with key roles from the imperial chancery and the chancery of the Wettin Elector Frederick the Wise. The printing industry and the postal system (the first modern one in the world), started by Maximilian with help from Frederick III and Charles the Bold, caused a communication revolution and spread ideas. Unlike more centralized countries, the empire's decentralized nature made censorship hard.

Terence McIntosh says the aggressive, expansionist policy by Maximilian I and Charles V at the start of the early modern German nation (though not specifically for the German nation), using German soldiers and fearsome Landsknechte and mercenaries, affected how neighbors saw the German state, though in the long run, Germany tended to be at peace.

Imperial power

Maximilian was "the first Holy Roman Emperor in 250 years who ruled as well as reigned". In the early 1500s, he was the true master of the Empire, though his power weakened in the last years before his death. Whaley says that, despite problems, what came out of Maximilian's rule was a stronger monarchy, not a princes' oligarchy. Benjamin Curtis thinks that while Maximilian could not fully create a single government for all his lands (though the chancellery and court council could coordinate across realms), he strengthened key administrative jobs in Austria and created central offices for money, politics, and law – these offices replaced the feudal system and showed a more modern system run by professional officers. After twenty years of reforms, the emperor kept his place as first among equals, while the empire got common institutions where the emperor shared power with the estates. Still, some say the Estates kept power in these institutions and the Emperor's power came from his own lands as a local ruler, with the Empire being a mix of princes and lands under Maximilian's overall leadership.

By the early 16th century, the Habsburg rulers were the most powerful in Europe, but their strength came from their whole mix of lands, not just the Holy Roman Empire (see also: Empire of Charles V). Maximilian seriously thought about combining the Burgundian lands (from his wife Mary of Burgundy) with his Austrian lands to make a strong center (and also reaching east). After Spain unexpectedly joined the Habsburg Empire, at one point he planned to leave Austria (made a kingdom) to his younger grandson Ferdinand. His older grandson Charles V later gave Spain and most Burgundian lands to his son Philip II of Spain, the founder of the Spanish branch, and the Habsburg family lands to his brother Ferdinand, the founder of the Austrian branch.

In France and England, from the 13th century, royal homes turned into capital cities that grew fast and built up services: the Palais de la Cité and the Palace of Westminster became the main homes. This was not possible in the Holy Roman Empire because no real hereditary monarchy developed, but instead elective monarchy continued (see: Imperial election) which, in the High Middle Ages, led to kings from very different areas being chosen (List of royal and imperial elections in the Holy Roman Empire). To control the empire and its unruly local rulers, they could not stay in one place and their private homes. So kings and emperors traveled around the empire until modern times, using their temporary homes (Kaiserpfalz) as stops for their itinerant courts. From the late Middle Ages, weakly defended pfalzen were replaced by imperial castles. Only King Ferdinand I, Charles V's younger brother, moved his main home to the Vienna Hofburg in the mid-16th century, where most later Habsburg emperors lived. Vienna was not the capital of the empire, only of a Habsburg family land (the Archduchy of Austria). Emperors kept traveling to elections and coronations at Frankfurt and Aachen, to Imperial Diets in different places and to other events. The Perpetual Diet of Regensburg was in Regensburg from 1663 to 1806. Rudolf II lived in Prague, the Wittelsbach emperor Charles VII in Munich. A true German capital only existed in the Second German Empire from 1871, when the Kaiser, Reichstag and Reichskanzler lived in Berlin.

Early capitalism

Map of Augsburg, matching the wooden city model made in 1563 by Hans Rogel [de] and kept in the Maximilianmusem, Augsburg

Antwerp, 1572

While particularism stopped the empire from centralizing, it allowed early capitalism to develop. In Italian and Hanseatic cities like Genoa and Pisa, Hamburg and Lübeck, warrior-traders appeared and started sea empires based on raiding and trading. These practices declined before 1500 but spread to the sea edges in Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and England, where they "inspired bigger, ocean-scale efforts". William Thompson agrees with M.N. Pearson that this special European pattern happened because in the Italian and Hanseatic cities, which were small and lacked resources, the rulers (whose status was not much higher than the traders) had to support trade. So the traders got state powers they could not get in Mughal or other Asian empires – where rulers had few reasons to help the trading class, as they controlled lots of resources and their income came from land.

In the 1450s, economic growth in Southern Germany created banking empires, cartels and monopolies in cities like Ulm, Regensburg, and Augsburg. Augsburg, known for the Fugger, Welser and Baumgartner families, is seen as the capital of early capitalism. Augsburg benefited greatly from the Kaiserliche Reichspost in the late 15th and early 16th century. Even as the Habsburg empire grew to other parts of Europe, Maximilian's loyalty to Augsburg, where he did much of his work, made the imperial city "the main center of early capitalism" in the 16th century, and "the home of the most important post office in the Holy Roman Empire". From Maximilian's time, as the "ends of the first global post lines" moved from Innsbruck to Venice and from Brussels to Antwerp, these cities saw communication and news markets converge. As the Fuggers and other trading firms opened their main offices in these cities, these traders gained access to these systems too.

The 1557, 1575, and 1607 bankruptcies of the Spanish Habsburgs hurt the Fuggers badly. Also, "The finding of sea routes to India and the New World moved European economic focus from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic – the focus moved from Venice and Genoa to Lisbon and Antwerp. Over time, discoveries of minerals in the New World reduced the importance of Hungarian and Tyrolean minerals. The European continent stayed landlocked until the growth of railways and canals, which had limited potential; in the new world, there were many ports to release goods from those new lands." The economic peaks in Germany from 1450 to 1550 were not seen again until the late 19th century.

In the Netherlands part of the empire, financial centers grew with commodity markets. The 15th century's geography made Antwerp a port city. After getting privileges as a loyal city after the Flemish revolts against Maximilian, it became the leading port in Northern Europe and handled "an amazing 40% of world trade". Conflicts with the Habsburg-Spanish government in 1576 and 1585 made traders move to Amsterdam, which eventually overtook it as the leading port.

Reformation and Renaissance

Further information: Reformation and German Renaissance

See also: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

In 1516, Ferdinand II of Aragon died. His grandson Charles would inherit the thrones of Castile and Aragon (with his mother Joanna of Castile), even though he was only a teenager. This succession led to the union of Spain. Another big event in 1517: Martin Luther started what became the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation split the Empire by religion, with the north, east, and many big cities – Strasbourg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg – becoming Protestant while southern and western areas stayed mostly Catholic.

Maximilian died in 1519, leading to an election for the next Emperor. Charles, Ferdinand's grandson on his mother's side but Maximilian's grandson on his father's side, was one of the two main candidates with Francis I of France. Charles won, becoming Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; he went to Germany in 1520.

At the start of Charles's rule, another Reichsregiment was formed (1522), though Charles said he would only accept it when he was not in Germany and its leader had to be his representative. Charles was not in Germany from 1521 to 1530. Like the one from the early 1500s, the Reichsregiment failed to create a federal power separate from the emperor, because of uneven involvement and disagreements among princes. Charles V beat the Protestant princes in 1547 in the Schmalkaldic War, but the advantage was lost and the Protestant states could keep their political power despite military loss. In the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, Charles V, through his brother Ferdinand, officially allowed rulers to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism (Zwinglians, Calvinists and radicals were not included). In 1555, Paul IV became pope and sided with France, so an exhausted Charles finally gave up hope of a united Christian empire.

The succession Charles V set up split the Habsburgs into two branches. The older branch kept ruling Spain and the Burgundian lands, led by Charles's son, Philip II of Spain. The Holy Roman Empire went to a younger branch of the Habsburgs, Charles's brother Ferdinand I. Many things caused this split. For James D. Tracy, it was the multi-centered nature of European civilization that made it hard to keep "a dynasty whose lands covered the continent from the Low Countries to Sicily and from Spain to Hungary – not to mention Spain's overseas lands". Others point to religious conflicts, money problems and opposition from outside forces like France and the Ottomans. Personally, Charles could not convince the German princes to support his son Philip, whose "quiet nature and lack of German language skills doomed this plan to fail".

Baroque period

Main articles: Germany in the early modern period and Pomerania during the Early Modern Age

Further information: Baroque, Protestant Union, Catholic League (German), and Thirty Years' War

Germany had peace for the next six decades. On the east, the Turks were still a threat, but war would mean more deals with Protestant princes, so the Emperor tried to avoid it. In the west, the Rhineland increasingly fell under French control. After the Dutch revolt against Spain, the Empire stayed neutral, effectively letting the Netherlands leave the empire in 1581. One result was the Cologne War, which damaged much of the upper Rhine. Emperor Ferdinand III officially accepted Dutch neutrality in 1653, confirmed by the Reichstag in 1728.

After Ferdinand died in 1564, his son Maximilian II became Emperor, and like his father accepted Protestantism and the need for occasional compromise. Maximilian was succeeded in 1576 by Rudolf II, who liked classical Greek philosophy more than Christianity and lived alone in Bohemia. He did not act when the Catholic Church started taking control again in Austria and Hungary, making Protestant princes angry.

Imperial power weakened sharply by Rudolf's death in 1612. When Bohemians rebelled against the Emperor, it started the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which destroyed the empire. Foreign powers like France and Sweden joined the war and took large areas for themselves. Because of this, the empire could never return to its former strength, leading Voltaire to say the Holy Roman Empire was "neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire."

Still, it did not end for two centuries. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, ending the Thirty Years' War, allowed Calvinism, but Anabaptists, Arminians and other Protestant groups still had no support and faced persecution until the empire's end. The Habsburg emperors focused on strengthening their own lands in Austria and elsewhere.

At the Battle of Vienna (1683), the Army of the Holy Roman Empire, led by the Polish King John III Sobieski, defeated a large Turkish army, stopping the western Ottoman advance and leading to the eventual breakup of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. The army was one-third forces from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and two-thirds from the Holy Roman Empire.

Modern period

Prussia and Austria

Further information: Austro-Prussian rivalry, Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg monarchy

With the rise of Louis XIV, the Habsburgs mainly relied on their own lands to compete with Prussia, which had lands inside the Empire. Through the 18th century, the Habsburgs were involved in many European wars, like the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735), and the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The rivalry between Austria and Prussia became the main story of the empire after 1740.

French Revolutionary Wars and final dissolution

Main article: Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

From 1792, revolutionary France fought parts of the Empire on and off. The German mediatization was the process of taking land from one imperial estate and giving it to another between 1795 and 1814, during the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic era. "Mediatization" was annexing the lands of one estate to another, sometimes leaving some rights. For example, the estates of the Imperial Knights were formally taken in 1806, having been seized by large territorial states in 1803 in the so-called Rittersturm. "Secularization" was ending the power of church leaders like bishops and abbots and taking their land for secular use.

The empire ended on 6 August 1806, when the last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) gave up his position after losing to the French at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 (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, continuing to rule as Emperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary until the end of the Habsburg empire in 1918 after World War I.

The Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by the German Confederation in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia created the North German Confederation, which led to the German Empire in 1871, uniting German-speaking lands outside Austria and Switzerland under Prussian control. This became modern Germany.

The giving up showed the Kaiser no longer felt he could fulfill his duties as head of the Reich, and he said: "That we consider the tie that has bound us to the body politic of the German Reich to be broken, that we have expired the office and dignity of the head of the Reich through the unification of the confederated Rhenish estates and that we are thereby relieved of all the duties we have assumed towards the German Reich Consider counted, and lay down the imperial crown worn by the same until now and conducted imperial government, as is hereby done."

The only princely states of the Holy Roman Empire that are still monarchies today are the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The only Free Imperial Cities still existing as states in Germany are Hamburg and Bremen. All other historic members of the Holy Roman Empire either dissolved or became republics.

Demographics

The exact number of people in the Holy Roman Empire is hard to know because records were not always kept well. At its start, under Charlemagne, the empire may have had as many as 20 million people. Later, after the damage of the Thirty Years' War, the population in the early 1700s was thought to be about the same as it had been in the early 1600s.

In the early 1600s, different areas had roughly these numbers of people:

• Habsburg Monarchy: About 5,350,000 people
• Electorate of Saxony: About 1,200,000 people
• Duchy of Bavaria (later Electorate of Bavaria): About 800,000 people
• Electoral Palatinate: About 600,000 people
• Electorate of Brandenburg: About 350,000 people
• Electorates of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne: Together about 300–400,000 people

Even though they were not electors, the Spanish Habsburgs had over 3 million people in the early 1600s in the Burgundian Circle and the Duchy of Milan.

One guess says the empire had around 20 million people in 1700, plus about 5 million in Imperial Italy, totaling around 25 million. By 1800, another guess says the empire had about 29 million people (not counting Italy), with another 12.6 million under Austrian and Prussian control outside the empire.

Historians have made many guesses about the empire’s population, but these numbers are not exact. One guess says there were about 15–17 million people around 1600. This dropped to about 10–13 million around 1650 after the Thirty Years' War. Another guess for the early 1600s says the population went from about 20 million down to 16–17 million by 1650. A guess for 1800 says the empire had 27–28 million people, which by then had lost some areas like the Low Countries, Italy, and the Left Bank of the Rhine after the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio.

There are also guesses for the populations of the Italian states that were part of the empire:

Largest cities

Some of the biggest cities in the empire over time were:

• 1050: Regensburg with about 40,000 people, Rome with 35,000, Mainz with 30,000, and others like Speyer, Cologne, and Trier.
• 1300–1350: Milan with around 120,000 people, Florence with 110,000, Genoa with 90,000, and cities like Prague, Cologne, and Verona.
• 1500: Milan had about 100,000 people, Genoa around 70,000, Prague also around 70,000, and other cities such as Florence, Cologne, and Antwerp.
• 1600: Milan reached about 150,000 people, Prague had around 100,000, Vienna about 50,000, and cities like Augsburg, Cologne, and Nuremberg.

Religion

Catholicism was the official religion of the empire until 1555, and the Holy Roman Emperor was always Catholic. Lutheranism became officially recognized in the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, and Calvinism was recognized later in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. These were the only officially allowed Protestant religions.

After the Peace of Augsburg, the religion of a place was decided by the ruler’s religion. Later, the Peace of Westphalia changed this so that the official religion stayed as it was on January 1, 1624. People could still practice their own religion privately if it wasn’t the official one of their area. A small Jewish minority lived in the empire as well.

Institutions

The Holy Roman Empire was not a single country like a nation-state. Instead, it was made up of many smaller areas ruled by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other leaders called princes. Some places were ruled directly by the Emperor.

Starting from the High Middle Ages, the Empire had trouble because local rulers wanted more power. Unlike other kingdoms such as France and England, the Emperors could not control all the lands they were supposed to rule. To keep their position, Emperors gave more power to local rulers, both nobles and bishops. This began in the 11th century and was mostly finished by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Some Emperors tried to take back this power, but they were stopped by the popes and the princes of the Empire.

Imperial estates

The number of areas in the Imperial Diet was about 300 after the Peace of Westphalia. Many of these small states were only a few square miles or had separate pieces of land. The Empire was often called a patchwork carpet because of this. An area was an imperial estate if it had no authority above it except the Holy Roman Emperor. These included territories ruled by noblemen, areas ruled by church leaders, free imperial cities, and villages, and the estates of knights and counts who were directly under the Emperor but not part of the Imperial Diet.

The most powerful families were the Austrian Habsburgs, who ruled a large area in the first half of the 17th century. Other large areas were ruled by the electors of Saxony, Bavaria, and Brandenburg. The lands of the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg were also big. The Elector of the Palatinate had less land, and the church electors of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier had even smaller areas.

King of the Romans

A future Emperor first had to be elected King of the Romans. German kings had been elected since the 9th century by important tribal leaders. In the Holy Roman Empire, the main dukes and bishops elected the King of the Romans. The throne was passed by election, but Emperors often had their sons elected while they were still alive. This changed after the Salian dynasty ended in the 12th century.

In 1356, Emperor Charles IV made a rule called the Golden Bull. It 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 allowed to vote, and later the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was given the right to vote. After being elected, the King of the Romans could only become Emperor after being crowned by the Pope, though this did not always happen quickly. Later Emperors did not need this coronation. The Emperor had to be a man of noble birth, and while there was no law saying he had to be Catholic, no Protestant was ever elected because most electors were Catholic.

Imperial Diet

The Imperial Diet was not a law-making body like today. It was more like a meeting place for discussion. It was divided into three groups: the Council of Electors, the Council of Princes, and the Council of Imperial Cities. The Council of Electors included the princes who could vote for the King of the Romans. The Council of Princes had other princes, split into secular and church rulers. The Council of Imperial Cities included free cities, which were not equal to the others and could not vote on some matters.

Imperial Aulic Chancellery

The Imperial Aulic Chancellery was the main court office of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created in 1559 by Emperor Ferdinand I and lasted until the Empire ended in 1806. It was led by the Imperial Archchancellor, a title usually held by the Archbishops of Mainz, but was actually run by the Imperial Vicechancellor.

Imperial courts

The Empire had two main courts: the Aulic Council at the court of the King/Emperor, and the Imperial Chamber Court. The Imperial Chamber Court was created in 1495 by Emperor Maximilian I. Both courts were important for solving disputes and making decisions.

Imperial circles

In 1500, six Imperial circles were created as part of reforms. Four more were added in 1512. These circles were groups of states for defense, taxes, keeping peace, and security. Each circle had its own parliament and leaders.

Army

The Army of the Holy Roman Empire was created in 1422 and ended before the Empire did because of the Napoleonic Wars. It was not a standing army ready to fight all the time. When danger came, troops were gathered for a specific campaign.

Administrative centres

In the early days, the Empire had no fixed capital. Kings and emperors traveled between many palaces called Kaiserpfalzes. Over time, some cities became important places for the government. Vienna became the main city under the Habsburgs, though some emperors lived in Prague or Munich.

Foreign relations

The Habsburg family had its own diplomats. Larger areas in the Empire also had their own diplomats starting around 1648. The Empire itself did not have a special department for foreign affairs, so the Imperial Diet could not control these diplomats. When Regensburg was where the Diet met, countries like France and Russia had representatives there. Kings from Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden also had land in Germany and so were part of the Diet. The Netherlands also had representatives in Regensburg.

Imperial families and dynasties

See also: Erbreichsplan and Empire of Charles V

Some parts of the Holy Roman Empire had lands outside its control. Henry VI wanted to build a big empire, and marriage ties were very important for this. His son Frederick II became King of Jerusalem in 1225 by marrying Isabella II (or Yolande) of Jerusalem.

The Empire helped spread Christianity to new areas in its early days. Later, it focused more on keeping peace and protecting itself.

Important families like the Luxemburgs and Habsburgs used marriage and sometimes war to grow their power. Sigismund of the Luxemburg added Hungary to his lands through marriage. The Habsburgs later took control of Hungary after King Louis II died in battle in 1526. They helped defend Hungary against threats.

German rulers often had lands outside the Empire, and foreign rulers sometimes held lands inside it. This made the Empire’s rule more complex but also connected it more closely with nearby kingdoms.

The later Austrian Habsburgs kept their personal lands separate from the Empire. They built their own systems to manage these areas, which gave them more resources and helped them stay in power for centuries.

Imperial families sometimes brought in outside powers, like Spain, which helped defend against threats but also moved some lands out of the Empire’s direct control. Other German princes also held lands outside the Empire, linking it more closely with countries like Denmark and Sweden.