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- Beginning around 1273 and with the confirmation of the Golden Bull of 1356, there were seven electors: the archbishops of Trier, Mainz, and Cologne; the duke of Saxony; the count palatine of the Rhine; the margrave of Brandenburg; and the king of Bohemia.
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- Foundation
- The Staufer Dynasty
- Culture & Economy
- The Reformation
- Decline
During the 8th and 9th centuries, the Franks carved out a humongous realm in Central and Western Europe. On Christmas Day, 800, the Frankish king, Charlemagne, had himself crowned as emperor in Rome. Under his grandsons, however, the Frankish realm swiftly disintegrated. They agreed to split the empire into three parts: the Kingdom of West Francia(...
The Staufer dynasty was one of the Holy Roman Empire’s most remarkable imperial houses. Under their reign, the Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. At their height of power in the 13th century, the Staufers ruled - in theory - from the southern border of Denmark to the Mediterranean island of Sicily. The first Staufer emperor, Frederick ...
As central authority decreased after the Staufer emperors, a decentralization process kicked in that transferred power from the ancient feudal aristocracy to the late medieval and early modern burgher class, who populated the cities. Because money was reinjected into the economic system, the possession of land was gradually overshadowed by having a...
It was under Habsburg rule that the Holy Roman Empire experienced an era of great religious strife, making it one of its darker periods. Whereas the imperial family was staunchly Catholic, in the north of the empire the Protestant Reformation exploded in 1517 when Martin Lutherofficially broke with the pope and fractured Western Christianity. A lar...
After the Treaty of Westphalia, the Habsburgs remained in place as Holy Roman Emperors, but their power was increasingly confined to their own Austrian, Bohemian, and Hungarian possessions. At Vienna, they thwarted a major Ottoman assault on Central Europe with Polish assistance in 1683, and it was with this power base that they kept trying to obst...
The Königswahl was the election of royal candidates in the Holy Roman Empire and its predecessors as king by a specified elective body. Whilst the succession to the throne of the monarch in some cultures is governed by the rules of hereditary succession, there are also elective monarchies.
The prince-electors (German: Kurfürst (listen ⓘ), pl. Kurfürsten, Czech: Kurfiřt, Latin: Princeps Elector) were the members of the electoral college that elected the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
May 6, 2024 · The Holy Roman Empire was the varying complex of lands in western and central Europe ruled over first by Frankish and then by German kings for 10 centuries (800–1806). Learn more about the origins, history, and significance of the Holy Roman Empire in this article.
- How was the Holy Roman Empire formed?Though the term “Holy Roman Empire” was not used until much later, the empire traces its beginnings to Charlemagne, who took control of the Frankis...
- Where was the Holy Roman Empire located?The Holy Roman Empire was located in western and central Europe and included parts of what is now France, Germany, and Italy. Its boundaries change...
- What was the Holy Roman Empire known for?The Holy Roman Empire ruled over much of western and central Europe from the 9th century to the 19th century. It envisioned itself as a dominion fo...
- Why did the Holy Roman Empire fall?The Holy Roman emperor’s power was chipped away gradually, starting with the Investiture Controversy in the 11th century, and by the 16th century t...
Key Points. The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. The German prince-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire, usually elected one of their peers to be the emperor.
At top are the seven prince-electors, followed by various ranks of nobility as well as representatives from the free imperial cities. By the eve of the Reformation there were as many as fifty-three principalities within the empire, lending it its familiar patchwork character. HIERARCHY OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, CA. 1500
