View source for Holy Roman Empire

{{Short description|European political entity (800/962–1806)}}{{Redirect|HRE}}
{{Distinguish|Roman Empire}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Holy Roman Empire<br />{{Nobold|{{Small|{{Native name|la|Sacrum Imperium Romanum}}<br />{{Native name|de|Heiliges Römisches Reich}}}}}}<hr/>Holy Roman Empire of the<br />German Nation<br />{{Nobold|{{Small|{{Native name|la|Sacrum Imperium Romanum Nationis Germanicae}}<br />{{Native name|de|Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation}}}}}}
| common_name = Holy Roman Empire
| native_name =
| era = [[Middle Ages]] to [[early modern period]]
| national_anthem =
| status = Empire
| government_type = [[Elective monarchy]]<hr>[[Mixed monarchy]] (after [[Imperial Reform]]){{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |pp=v–xxvi}}
| life_span = 800/962{{Efn|name="Charlemagne"|Some historians refer to the beginning of the Empire as 800, with the coronation of [[Frankish king]] [[Charlemagne]] ("Charles the Great").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charlemagne {{!}} Holy Roman emperor |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlemagne |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]}}</ref> Others refer to the beginning as the [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|coronation]] of [[Otto the Great]] in 962.{{Sfn |Kleinhenz |2004 |p=810; "Otto can be considered the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, though that term was used until the twelfth century"}}}}–1806
| year_start =
| year_end = 1806
| date_pre = 25 December 800
| event_pre = [[Francia|Frankish]] [[Charlemagne]] is [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|crowned Emperor of the Romans]]{{Efn|name="Charlemagne"}}
| date_start = 2 February 962
| event_start = [[East Frankish]] [[Otto I]] is crowned Emperor of the Romans
| date_event1 = 2 February 1033
| event1 = [[Conrad II]] assumes crown of the [[Kingdom of Burgundy]]
| date_event2 = 25 September 1555
| event2 = [[Peace of Augsburg]]
| date_event3 = 24 October 1648
| event3 = [[Peace of Westphalia]]
| event4 = [[Cabinet wars]]
| date_event4 = 1648–1789
| event5 = [[Battle of Austerlitz]]
| date_event5 = 2 December 1805
| date_end = 6 August
| event_end = [[Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire|Abdication of Francis II]]
| p1 = East Francia
| p2 = Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire){{!}}Kingdom of Italy
| p3 = Carolingian Empire
| border_p3 = no
| s1 = Confederation of the Rhine
| s2 = Austrian Empire
| s3 = Kingdom of Prussia
| s4 = Old Swiss Confederacy
| s5 = Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861) {{!}} Kingdom of Sardinia
| s6 = Duchy of Savoy
| s7 = Dutch Republic
| s8 = Kingdom of France
| image_s1 = [[File:Commemorative Medal of the Rhine Confederation.svg|18px]]
| flag_s2 = Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg
| flag_s3 = Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg
| flag_s4 = Early Swiss cross.svg
| flag_s5 = State Flag of the Savoyard States (late 16th - late 18th century).svg
| flag_s6 = Flag_of_Savoie.svg
| flag_s7 = Statenvlag.svg
| flag_s8 = Royal_Standard_of_the_King_of_France.svg
| image_flag = Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806).svg
| flag_type_article = Flags of the Holy Roman Empire
| flag_type = Imperial Banner<br />({{Circa|1430}}–1806)
| image_coat = Coat of Arms of the Holy Roman Emperor (c.1433-c.1450).svg
| symbol_type = Coat of arms<br />(15th-century design)
| coa_size = 75px
| symbol = Coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire
| symbol_type_article = Coats of arms of the Holy Roman Empire
| other_symbol = <div style="padding:0.3">[[File:Quaterionenadler David de Negker.svg|135px]]</div>
| other_symbol_type = [[Quaternion Eagle]] (1510)
| image_map = Holy Roman Empire (c. 1600).svg
| image_map_caption = The Holy Roman Empire {{Circa|1618}}{{dubious|date=June 2025|Map inaccuracies}}
| capital = Multicentral, see {{section link|Holy Roman Empire#Administrative centres|nopage=y}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=von Aretin |first=Karl Otmar Freiherr |date=31 December 1983 |editor-last=Schieder |editor-first=Theodor |editor2-last=Brunn |editor2-first=Gerhard |title=Das Reich ohne Hauptstadt? Die Multizentralitat der Hauptstadtfunktionen im Reich bis 1806 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783486992878-003/html |journal=Hauptstädte in europäischen Nationalstaaten |pages=5–14 |doi=10.1515/9783486992878-003 |isbn=978-3-4869-9287-8 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
| common_languages = [[German language|German]], [[Medieval Latin]] (administrative/liturgical/<wbr/>ceremonial)<br />''Various''{{Efn|Other common languages according to Whaley (2012): [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Frisian languages|Frisian]], [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Ladin language|Ladin]], [[Rhaeto-Romance languages|Rhaeto-Romanic]].{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |p=20}}<br />According to the [[Golden Bull of 1356]] the sons of [[prince-electors]] were recommended to learn the languages of [[German language|German]], [[Latin language|Latin]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Czech language|Czech]].{{Sfn |Žůrek |2014}}}}
| ethnic_groups =
| religion = [[State religion|Various official religions]]:<br />
[[Latin Church|Latin Christianity]]{{efn|According to the perspective of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], before the {{c.}} [[Great Schism of 1054]] (a gradual process), the Holy Roman Empire (along with the rest of [[Western Europe]]) was Orthodox Christian, being under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the [[Patriarchate of Rome]] before [[Pope Leo IX]] broke communion with the other churches. As a prime example, [[Emperor Henry II]] (†1024) ruled the state and died shortly before the Schism, yet is venerated as a Saint by both [[Roman Catholic]]s ''and'' Orthodox. For the neutral purposes of this article, "Latin" designates the Empire's official faith before and after the Schism.}}<br />(800/962–1806)<br />[[Lutheranism]] (1555–1806)<br />[[Calvinism]] (1648–1806)
| currency = Multiple: [[thaler]], [[guilder]], [[groschen]], [[Reichsthaler]]
| legislature = [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]]
| title_leader = [[Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor]]
| leader1 = [[Charlemagne]]{{Efn|name="Charlemagne"}} (first)
| leader2 = [[Otto I]]
| leader3 = [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]]
| leader4 = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]
| leader5 = [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] (last)
| year_leader1 = 800–814
| year_leader2 = 962–973
| year_leader3 = 1452–1493
| year_leader4 = 1519–1556
| year_leader5 = 1792–1806
| stat_area1 = 1100000
| stat_year1 = 1150
| ref_area1 = {{Efn|name=Area}}
| stat_year2 = 1700
| stat_year3 = 1800
| stat_pop2 = 23,000,000
| stat_pop3 = 29,000,000
| ref_pop2 = {{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=496}}
| ref_pop3 = {{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=496}}
}}

The '''Holy Roman Empire''',{{Efn|{{langx|la|Sacrum Romanum Imperium}}; {{langx|de|Heiliges Römisches Reich}}, {{IPA|de|ˈhaɪlɪɡəs ˈʁøːmɪʃəs ˈʁaɪç|pron|De-Heiliges Römisches Reich2.ogg}}}} also known as the '''Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation''' after 1512, was a [[polity]] in Central and Western [[Europe]], usually headed by the [[Holy Roman Emperor]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Coy |first1=Jason Philip |title=The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered |last2=Marschke |first2=Benjain min |last3=Sabean |first3=David Warren |date=2010 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-8454-5992-5 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1fzaQugiuMYC&pg=PA2 2] |language=en}}</ref> It developed in the [[Early Middle Ages]] (beginning in either 800 or 962), and lasted for a millennium until its [[Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire|dissolution in 1806]] during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name=EB.HRE/> Initially, it comprised three constituent kingdoms—[[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]], and, from 1032, [[Kingdom of Burgundy (from 933)|Burgundy]]—held together by the emperor's overlordship. By the 15th century, imperial governance became concentrated in the Kingdom of Germany, as the empire's effective control over Italy and Burgundy had largely disappeared.<ref name="whaley20">{{harvnb|Whaley|2012a|p=20}}: "Even so, it is possible to speak of the emergence of a 'German' Reich in the decades around 1500. In theory, the fifteenth-century Reich was composed of three major blocks or groups of territories: Italy, Germany, and Burgundy. In practice, however, only the Kingdom of Germany remained. One of Maximilian's enduring ambitions was to recover the Italian and Burgundian lands that had been lost; at one stage he even tried to reconquer Provence in order to regain the old centre of the Burgundian kingdom at Arles. Yet ultimately these were projects that failed and by the end of his reign the Reich was, more than ever, exclusively centred on the Kingdom of Germany."</ref>

On 25 December 800, [[Pope Leo III]] crowned the [[Frankish king]] [[Charlemagne]] Roman emperor, reviving the title more than three centuries after the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in 476.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 November 2009 |title=Charlemagne |url=https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/charlemagne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906070237/https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/charlemagne |archive-date=6 September 2022 |access-date=19 September 2022 |website=History}}</ref> The title lapsed in 924, but was revived in 962 when [[Otto I|Otto{{nbs}}I]] was crowned emperor by [[Pope John XII]], as Charlemagne's and the [[Carolingian Empire]]'s successor.{{Sfn |Cantor |1993 |pp=212–215}}<ref name=Gascoigne/>{{Sfn |Davies |1996 |pp=316–317}}{{Efn|name=Charlemagne1}} From 962 until the 12th century, the empire was one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtoWAQAAIAAJ |title=Europe: the World of the Middle Ages |date=1977 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-1329-1898-5 |page=418 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> It depended on cooperation between emperors and vassals;<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Weiler |first1=Björn K. U. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fv1nAAAAMAAJ |title=Representations of Power in Medieval Germany 800–1500 |last2=MacLean |first2=Simon |date=2006 |publisher=Isd |isbn=978-2-5035-1815-2 |page=126 |language=en |access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref> this was disturbed during the [[Salian]] period.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Loud |first1=Graham A. |title=The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100–1350: Essays by German Historians |last2=Schenk |first2=Jochen |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-3170-2200-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nkwrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 49] |language=en}}</ref> The empire reached the apex of territorial expansion and power under the [[House of Hohenstaufen]] in the mid-13th century, but overextension led to a partial collapse.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Streissguth |first=Tom |title=The Middle Ages |date=2009 |publisher=Greenhaven Publishing |isbn=978-0-7377-4636-5 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ywBgEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 154] |language=en}}</ref>{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |p=18}}{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=17–21}}{{Sfn |Bryce |1890 |pp=2–3}}{{Sfn |Garipzanov |2008}} The imperial office was traditionally elective by the mostly German [[prince-elector]]s. In theory and diplomacy, the emperors were considered the [[first among equals]] of all of Europe's Catholic monarchs.{{Sfn |Breverton |2014 |p=104}}

A process of [[Imperial Reform]] in the late 15th and early 16th centuries transformed the empire, creating a set of institutions which endured until its final demise in the 19th century.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016b |p=79}}{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |pp=104–106}}{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |pp=128, 129}}{{Sfn |Johnson |1996 |p=23}} On 6 August 1806, Emperor [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] abdicated and formally dissolved the empire following the creation by French emperor [[Napoleon]] of the [[Confederation of the Rhine]] from German client states loyal to France.

For most of its history the Empire comprised the entirety of the modern countries of the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Monaco, almost all of Germany, Austria and Slovenia, most of Belgium and northern and central Italy, and large parts of modern-day eastern France and western Poland.

== Name and general perception ==
{{Further|Reich|Translatio imperii|Problem of two emperors|Historiography of Germany}}

Since [[Charlemagne]], the realm was merely referred to as the "Roman Empire".{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |p=2}} The term {{lang|la|sacrum}} ("holy", in the sense of "consecrated") in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was used beginning in 1157 under [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick I Barbarossa]] ("Holy Empire"): the term was added to reflect Frederick's ambition to dominate Italy and the [[Papacy]].{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=17}} The form "Holy Roman Empire" is attested from 1254 onward.{{Sfn |Moraw |1999 |loc=col. 2025–2028}}

The exact term "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, before which the empire was referred to variously as {{lang|la|universum regnum}} ("the whole kingdom", as opposed to the regional kingdoms), {{lang|la|imperium christianum}} ("Christian empire"), or {{lang|la|Romanum imperium}} ("Roman empire"),{{Sfn |Garipzanov |2008}} but the Emperor's legitimacy always rested on the concept of {{lang|la|[[translatio imperii]]}},{{Efn|"transfer of rule"}} that he held supreme power inherited from the [[List of Roman emperors|ancient emperors of Rome]].{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=17–21}}

From the mid-13th century onward, the Holy Roman Empire came to be more firmly associated with a German (''deutsch'') identity.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=257–258}} By around 1500, contemporary sources often referred to it simply as "'''Germany'''", reflecting its identification as a specifically German polity.{{sfn |Whaley |2011a |pp=xi–xii |ps=: "In humanist discourse around 1500, 'Germany' is frequently found. It remained in use in political discourse and in literature. The title ''Das Heilige Römische Reich deutscher Nation'', which gained currency around 1500, also underlines the identification of the empire as a specifically German polity."}} In a decree following the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)#Locations of Imperial Diets|Diet of Cologne]] in 1512, the name was changed to the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" ({{langx|de|Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation}}, {{langx|la|Sacrum Imperium Romanum Nationis Germanicae}}),{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |p=2}} a form first used in a document in 1474.{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=17}} The adoption of this new name coincided with the loss of imperial territories in Italy and Burgundy to the south and west by the late 15th century,{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |pp=19–20}} but also to emphasize the new importance of the German [[Imperial Estate]]s in ruling the Empire due to the [[Imperial Reform]].{{Sfn |Schulze |1998 |pp=52–55}} The Hungarian denomination "'''German Roman Empire'''" ({{langx|hu|Német-római Birodalom}}) is the shortening of this.<ref>{{Cite web |title=német-római birodalom – Magyar Katolikus Lexikon |url=http://lexikon.katolikus.hu/N/n%C3%A9met-r%C3%B3mai%20birodalom.html |access-date=3 August 2022 |website=lexikon.katolikus.hu}}</ref>

By the end of the 18th century, the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" fell out of official use. Contradicting the traditional view concerning that designation, Hermann Weisert has argued in a study on imperial titulature that, despite the claims of many textbooks, the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" never had an official status and points out that documents were thirty times as likely to omit the national suffix as include it.{{Sfn |Wilson |2006 |p=719}} Similarly, Peter Wilson states that "of the German Nation" was "appended more frequently after 1512 without becoming the Empire's official title – despite numerous later claims to the contrary", and that "German historians are far more likely to refer to [the Empire] as 'of the German nation' than were its actual inhabitants."<ref>Wilson 2016, p. 255, 680.</ref> Still, the full name including "of the German Nation" was used in official documents and by contemporary chroniclers alike.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZ5OEQAAQBAJ&dq=%22holy+roman+empire+of+the+german+nation%22+%22official+documents%22&pg=PT44 |title="Popes and Princes 1417–1517: Politics and Polity in the Late Medieval Church" |date=8 May 2025 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-040-33971-8 |access-date=23 October 2025}}</ref>

In a famous assessment of the name, the political philosopher [[Voltaire]] remarked sardonically: "This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."{{Sfn |Voltaire |1773 |p=338}}

In the modern period, the Empire was often informally called the "'''German Empire'''" ({{lang|de|Deutsches Reich|italics=yes}}) or "'''Roman-German Empire'''" ({{lang|de|Römisch-Deutsches Reich|italic=yes}}).{{Sfn |Jorio |Braun |2016}} After its dissolution through the end of the [[German Empire]], it was often called "the old Empire" ({{lang|de|das alte Reich|italics=yes}}). Beginning in 1923, early twentieth-century German nationalists and [[Nazi Party]] propaganda would identify the Holy Roman Empire as the "First" Reich ({{lang|de|Erstes Reich}}, {{lang|de|Reich}} meaning empire), with the German Empire as the "Second" Reich and what would eventually become [[Nazi Germany]] as the "Third" Reich.{{Sfn |Lauryssens |1999 |p=102}}

David S. Bachrach opines that the Ottonian kings actually built their empire on the back of military and bureaucratic apparatuses as well as the cultural legacy they inherited from the Carolingians, who ultimately inherited these from the Late Roman Empire. He argues that the Ottonian empire was hardly an archaic kingdom of primitive Germans, maintained by personal relationships only and driven by the desire of the magnates to plunder and divide the rewards among themselves but instead, notable for their abilities to amass sophisticated economic, administrative, educational and cultural resources that they used to serve their enormous war machine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bachrach |first=David S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBIABQAAQBAJ |title=Warfare in Tenth-Century Germany |date=2014 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-8438-3927-9 |pages=3, 5, 12, 60, 73, 103, 180, 254 |language=en |access-date=31 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Warren |date=February 2015 |title=Warfare in Tenth-Century Germany [Book Review] |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/55575 |url-status=dead |journal=Early Medieval Europe |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=117–120 |doi=10.1111/emed.12090 |issn=0963-9462 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731151238/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/55575 |archive-date=31 July 2022 |access-date=31 July 2022}}</ref>

Until the end of the 15th century, the empire comprised three major blocks—[[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]] and [[Kingdom of Arles|Burgundy]].<ref name=whaley20/> Effectively, the Kingdom of Germany became the sole remaining component.<ref name=whaley20/> The Burgundian territories were lost to [[France in the Middle Ages|France]]. Although the Italian territories were formally part of the empire, the territories were ignored in the [[Imperial Reform]] and splintered into numerous [[de facto]] independent territorial entities.{{Sfn |Bryce |1890 |p=183}}{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=17–21}}{{Sfn |Johnson |1996 |p=23}} The status of Italy in particular varied throughout the 16th to 18th centuries. Some territories like [[Savoyard state|Piedmont-Savoy]] became increasingly independent, while others became more dependent due to the extinction of their ruling noble houses causing these territories to often fall under the dominions of the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]] and their [[cadet branch]]es. Barring [[Treaties of Nijmegen|the loss of Franche-Comté in 1678]], the external borders of the Empire did not change noticeably from the [[Peace of Westphalia]] – which acknowledged the exclusion of Switzerland and the Northern Netherlands, and the French protectorate over Alsace – to the dissolution of the Empire. At the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, most of the Holy Roman Empire was included in the [[German Confederation]], with the main exceptions being the Italian states.

== History ==
{{History of Germany}}

=== Early Middle Ages ===
==== Carolingian Empire ====
{{Main|Carolingian Empire}}
[[File:Francia 814.svg|thumb|A map of the Carolingian Empire within Europe, {{Circa|814 AD}}]]

As [[Western Roman Empire|Roman]] power in [[Gaul]] declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control.{{Sfn |Innes |2000 |pp=167–170}} In the late 5th and early 6th centuries, the [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingians]], under [[Clovis I]] and his successors, consolidated [[Franks|Frankish]] tribes and extended hegemony over others to gain control of northern Gaul and the middle [[Rhine]] river valley region.{{Sfn |Bryce |1890 |pp=35}}{{Sfn |Davies |1996 |pp=232, 234}} By the middle of the 8th century, the Merovingians were reduced to figureheads, and the [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingians]], led by [[Charles Martel]], became the {{lang|la|de facto}} rulers.{{Sfn |Bryce |1890 |pp=35–38}} In 751, Martel's son [[Pepin the Short|Pepin]] became King of the Franks, and later gained the sanction of the Pope.{{Sfn |McKitterick |2018 |pp=48–50}}<ref name=EB.Pippin/> The Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy.{{Sfn |Bryce |1890 |pp=38–42}}

In 768, Pepin's son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an extensive expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, the Low Countries and beyond, linking the Frankish kingdom with Papal lands.{{Sfn |Johnson |1996 |p=22}}{{Sfn |Kohn |2006 |pp=113–114}}

Although antagonism about the expense of [[Byzantine Papacy|Byzantine domination]] had long persisted within Italy, a political rupture was set in motion in earnest in 726 by the [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclasm]] of Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]], in what [[Pope Gregory II]] saw as the latest in a series of imperial heresies.{{Sfn |Duffy |1997 |pp=62–63}} In 797, the Eastern Roman Emperor [[Constantine VI]] was removed from the throne by his mother, Empress [[Irene of Athens|Irene]], who declared herself sole ruler. As the Latin Church only regarded a male Roman emperor as the head of [[Christendom]], Pope Leo III sought a new candidate for the dignity, excluding consultation with the [[patriarch of Constantinople]].<ref name="auto2">Bryce, pp. 44, 50–52</ref>{{Sfn |McKitterick |2018 |p=70}}

Charlemagne's good service to the Church in his defense of Papal possessions against the [[Lombards]] made him the ideal candidate. On Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the West for the first time in over three centuries.<ref name="auto2"/>{{Sfn |McKitterick |2018 |p=70}} This can be seen as symbolic of the papacy turning away from the declining [[Byzantine Empire]] toward the new power of [[Carolingian]] [[Francia]]. Charlemagne adopted the formula {{lang|la|[[Renovatio imperii Romanorum]]}} ("renewal of the Roman Empire"). In 802, Irene was overthrown and exiled by [[Nikephoros I]] and henceforth there were two Roman emperors.

After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown passed to his son, [[Louis the Pious]]. Upon Louis' death in 840, it passed to his son [[Lothair I|Lothair]], who had been his co-ruler. By this point the territory of Charlemagne was divided into several territories (''cf''. [[Treaty of Verdun]], [[Treaty of Prüm]], [[Treaty of Meerssen]] and [[Treaty of Ribemont]]), and over the course of the later 9th century the title of emperor was disputed by the Carolingian rulers of the Western Frankish Kingdom or [[West Francia]] and the Eastern Frankish Kingdom or [[East Francia]], with first the western king ([[Charles the Bald]]) and then the eastern ([[Charles the Fat]]), who briefly reunited the Empire, attaining the prize.{{Sfn |Collins |2014 |p=131}} In the 9th century, Charlemagne and his successors promoted the intellectual revival, known as the [[Carolingian Renaissance]]. Some, like Mortimer Chambers,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chambers |first=Mortimer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AJaAAAAYAAJ |title=The Western Experience |date=1974 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-3943-1806-6 |page=204 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> opine that the Carolingian Renaissance made possible the subsequent renaissances (even though by the early 10th century, the revival already diminished).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Witt |first=Ronald G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8KXnDTwsZYC&pg=PA27 |title=The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5217-6474-2 |page=27 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, Carolingian rule in the Roman Empire came to an end. According to [[Regino of Prüm]], the parts of the realm "spewed forth kinglets", and each part elected a kinglet "from its own bowels".{{Sfn |Collins |2014 |p=131}} The last such emperor was [[Berengar I of Italy]], who died in 924.

==== Post-Carolingian Eastern Frankish Kingdom ====
Around 900, East Francia's autonomous [[Stem duchy|stem duchies]] ([[Duchy of Franconia|Franconia]], [[Duchy of Bavaria|Bavaria]], [[Duchy of Swabia|Swabia]], [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]], and [[Lotharingia#Duchy of Lotharingia, 900–959|Lotharingia]]) reemerged. After the Carolingian king [[Louis the Child]] died without issue in 911, [[East Francia]] did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm but instead elected one of the dukes, [[Conrad of Franconia]], as {{lang|la|Rex Francorum Orientalium}}.{{Sfn |Taylor |Hansen-Taylor |1894 |p=117}} On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, [[Henry the Fowler]] of Saxony ({{R.|919|936}}), who was elected king at the Diet of [[Fritzlar]] in 919.{{Sfn |Taylor |Hansen-Taylor |1894 |p=118}} Henry reached a truce with the raiding [[Magyars]], and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the [[Battle of Riade]].{{Sfn |Taylor |Hansen-Taylor |1894 |p=121}}

Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the [[Ottonian dynasty|Liudolfing (or Ottonian) dynasty]], would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom or the Kingdom of Germany for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowler's death, [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto]], his son and designated successor,{{Sfn |Hoyt |Chodorow |1976 |p=197}} was elected king in [[Aachen]] in 936.{{Sfn |Magill |1998 |p=706}} He overcame a series of revolts from a younger brother and from several dukes. After that, the king managed to control the appointment of dukes and often also employed bishops in administrative affairs.{{Sfn |Cantor |1993 |pp=212–213}} He replaced leaders of most of the major East Frankish duchies with his own relatives. At the same time, he was careful to prevent members of his own family from making infringements on his royal prerogatives.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bernhardt |first=John W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIiloa3-AlIC&pg=PA23 |title=Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, C. 936–1075 |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5215-2183-3 |page=23 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wickham |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tp4qDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 |title=Medieval Europe |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3002-2221-0 |page=131 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

==== Formation of the Holy Roman Empire ====
[[File:Depiction of Leo VIII from the Nuremberg Chronicle. Published in 1493.png|thumb|[[Pope Leo VIII]] of the [[Holy Roman Church]]]]
[[File:Heiliges Römisches Reich 1000.jpg|thumb|The Holy Roman Empire during the [[Ottonian dynasty]]]]
[[File:Holy Roman Empire 11th century map-en.svg|thumb|The Holy Roman Empire between 972 and 1032]]

In 951, Otto came to the aid of Queen [[Adelaide of Italy]], defeating her enemies, marrying her, and taking control over Italy.{{Sfn |Cantor |1993 |pp=214–215}} In 955, Otto won a decisive victory over the [[Magyars]] in the [[Battle of Lechfeld]].{{Sfn |Magill |1998 |p=707}} In 962, Otto was crowned emperor by [[Pope John XII]],{{Sfn |Magill |1998 |p=707}} thus intertwining the affairs of the German kingdom with those of Italy and the Papacy. Otto's coronation as emperor marked the German kings as successors to the empire of Charlemagne, which through the concept of {{lang|la|[[translatio imperii]]}}, also made them consider themselves as successors to Ancient Rome. The flowering of arts beginning with Otto the Great's reign is known as the [[Ottonian Renaissance]], centered in Germany but also happening in Northern Italy and France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_tSnygvbIC&pg=PA412 |title=A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East [6 volumes]: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East |date=2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-8510-9672-5 |page=412 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Geanakoplos |first=Deno John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtcYAAAAYAAJ |title=Medieval Western Civilization and the Byzantine and Islamic Worlds: Interaction of Three Cultures |date=1979 |publisher=D. C. Heath |isbn=978-0-6690-0868-5 |page=207 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

Otto created the imperial church system, often called "Ottonian church system of the Reich", which tied the great imperial churches and their representatives to imperial service, thus providing "a stable and long-lasting framework for Germany".<ref name="Reindel">{{Cite web |title=Otto I – Legacy Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-I/Legacy |access-date=2 March 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Biographie |first=Deutsche |title=Otto I. – Deutsche Biographie |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd118590758.html#ndbcontent |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=www.deutsche-biographie.de |language=de}}</ref> During the Ottonian era, imperial women played a prominent role in political and ecclesiastic affairs, often combining their functions as religious leader and advisor, regent or co-ruler, notably [[Matilda of Ringelheim]], [[Eadgyth]], [[Adelaide of Italy]], [[Theophanu]], and [[Matilda of Quedlinburg]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davids |first=Adelbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Db9Z_BagLw8C&pg=PA188 |title=The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at the Turn of the First Millennium |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5215-2467-4 |page=188 |language=en |access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jansen |first=S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fF6IDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 |title=The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe |date=2002 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-2306-0211-3 |page=153 |language=en |access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=MacLean |first=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KAFLDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 |title=Ottonian Queenship |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1988-0010-1 |page=169 |language=en |access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Digby |first=Kenelm Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNBhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA939 |title=Mores Catholici: Books VII–IX |date=1891 |publisher=P. O'Shea |page=939 |language=en |access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref>

In 963, Otto deposed John XII and chose [[Leo VIII]] as the new pope (although John XII and Leo VIII both claimed the papacy until 964, when John XII died). This also renewed the conflict with the Byzantine emperor, especially after Otto's son [[Otto II]] ({{R.|967|983}}) adopted the designation {{lang|la|imperator Romanorum}}. Still, Otto II formed marital ties with the east when he married the Byzantine princess [[Theophanu]].{{Sfn |Magill |1998 |p=708}} Their son, [[Otto III]], came to the throne only three years old, and was subjected to a power struggle and series of regencies until his age of majority in 994. Up to that time, he remained in Germany, while a deposed duke, [[Crescentius II]], ruled over Rome and part of Italy, ostensibly in his stead.

In 996 Otto III appointed his cousin [[Pope Gregory V|Gregory V]] the first German pope.{{Sfn |McBrien |2000 |p=138}} A foreign pope and foreign papal officers were seen with suspicion by Roman nobles, who were led by [[Crescentius II]] to revolt. Otto III's former mentor [[Antipope John XVI]] briefly held Rome, until the Holy Roman emperor seized the city.{{Sfn |Sladen |1914}}

Otto died young in 1002, and was succeeded by his cousin [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]], who focused on Germany.{{Sfn |Cantor |1993 |pp=215–217}}
Otto III's (and his mentor Pope Sylvester's) diplomatic activities coincided with and facilitated the Christianization and the spread of Latin culture in different parts of Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bideleux |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59CEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |title=A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change |last2=Jeffries |first2=Ian |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1347-1985-3 |page=119 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Archibald Ross |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4u9iIr-q1gC&pg=PA83 |title=Nomads and Crusaders, A.D. 1000–1368 |date=1988 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=978-0-2533-4787-9 |page=83 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref> They coopted a new group of nations (Slavic) into the framework of Europe, with their empire functioning, as some remark, as a "Byzantine-like presidency over a family of nations, centered on pope and emperor in Rome". This has proved a lasting achievement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fried |first=Johannes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jG0GBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT138 |title=The Middle Ages |date=2015 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-6747-4467-7 |page=138 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rowland |first1=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CrcoAAAAYAAJ |title=Apocalyptic in History and Tradition |last2=Barton |first2=John |date=2002 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-8264-6208-4 |page=173 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Arnason |first1=Johann P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xJYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 |title=Eurasian Transformations, Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries: Crystallizations, Divergences, Renaissances |last2=Wittrock |first2=Björn |date=2005 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0474-1467-4 |page=100 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JiABAAAAMAAJ |title=German Polish Dialogue: Letters of the Polish and German Bishops and International Statements |date=1966 |publisher=Ed. Atlantic-Forum |page=9 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref> Though, Otto's early death made his reign "the tale of largely unrealized potential".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Emmerson |first=Richard K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSCPAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA496 |title=Key Figures in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1367-7518-5 |page=497 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Muldoon |first=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXqJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |title=Empire and Order: The Concept of Empire, 800–1800 |date=1999 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-2305-1223-8 |page=35 |language=en |access-date=30 May 2022}}</ref>

[[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]] died in 1024 and [[Conrad II]], first of the [[Salian dynasty]], was elected king only after some debate among dukes and nobles. This group eventually developed into the college of [[prince-elector|electors]].

The Holy Roman Empire eventually came to be composed of four kingdoms:
* [[Kingdom of Germany]] (part of the empire since 962),
* [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|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 933)|Kingdom of Burgundy]] (from 1032 to 1378).

=== High Middle Ages ===
==== Investiture Controversy ====
{{Main|Investiture Controversy}}

Kings often employed bishops in administrative affairs and often determined who would be appointed to ecclesiastical offices.{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |pp=101–134}} In the wake of the [[Cluniac Reforms]], this involvement was increasingly seen as inappropriate by the Papacy. The reform-minded [[Pope Gregory VII]] was determined to oppose such practices, which led to the [[Investiture Controversy]] with King [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] ({{R.|1056|1106}}, crowned emperor in 1084).{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |pp=101–134}}
[[File:Hugo-v-cluny heinrich-iv mathilde-v-tuszien cod-vat-lat-4922 1115ad.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A miniature depictong a crowned man on his knees before a woman and an abbot, each sitting on a throne|Henry begging Matilda of Tuscany and Hugh of Cluny in Canossa Castle (miniature in an [[illuminated manuscript]] kept in the [[Vatican Library]], 1115)]]

Henry IV repudiated the pope's interference and persuaded his bishops to excommunicate the pope, whom he famously addressed by his birth name "Hildebrand" rather than his papal name "Gregory".{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |p=109}} The pope, in turn, excommunicated the king, declared him deposed, and dissolved the oaths of loyalty made to Henry.<ref name=Gascoigne/>{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |p=109}} The king found himself with almost no political support and was forced to make the famous [[Walk to Canossa]] in 1077,{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |pp=122–124}} by which he achieved a lifting of the excommunication at the price of humiliation. Meanwhile, the German princes had elected another king, [[Rudolf of Swabia]].{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |p=123}}

Henry managed to defeat Rudolf, but was subsequently confronted with more uprisings, renewed excommunication, and even the rebellion of his sons. After his death, his second son, [[Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry V]], reached an agreement with the Pope and the bishops in the 1122 [[Concordat of Worms]].{{Sfn |Barraclough |1984 |pp=123–134}} The political power of the Empire was maintained, but the conflict had demonstrated the limits of the ruler's power, especially in regard to the Church, and it robbed the king of the sacral status he had previously enjoyed. The pope and the German princes had surfaced as major players in the political system of the Holy Roman Empire.

==== Ostsiedlung ====
{{Main|Ostsiedlung}}

As the result of Ostsiedlung, less populated regions of Central Europe (i.e. sparsely populated border areas in present-day Poland and the Czech Republic) received a significant number of German speakers. [[Silesia]] became part of the Holy Roman Empire as the result of the local [[Piast dynasty|Piast dukes']] push for autonomy from the Polish Crown.<ref name=EB.Silesia/> From the late 12th century, the [[Duchy of Pomerania]] was under the [[suzerainty]] of the Holy Roman Empire{{Sfn |Herrmann |1970 |p=530}} and the conquests of the [[Teutonic Order]] made that region German-speaking.{{Sfn |Haffner |2019 |pp=6–10}}

=== Hohenstaufen dynasty ===
[[File:Crusaders besieging Damascus - Chronique d'Ernoul et de Bernard le Trésorier (late 15th C), f.280v - BL Royal MS 15 E I.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick Barbarossa]], [[Holy Roman Emperor]]]]
[[File:Mitteleuropa zur Zeit der Staufer.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The Hohenstaufen-ruled Holy Roman Empire and [[Kingdom of Sicily]] at its greatest extent under Frederick II. Imperial and directly held Hohenstaufen lands in the Empire are shown in bright yellow.{{dubious|date=June 2025|Map inaccuracies}}]]

When the Salian dynasty ended with Henry V's death in 1125, the princes chose not to elect the next of kin, but rather [[Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothair III]], the moderately powerful but already old duke of Saxony. When he died in 1137, the princes again aimed to check royal power; accordingly they did not elect Lothair's favoured heir, his son-in-law, [[Henry the Proud]] of the [[House of Welf|Welf]] family, but [[Conrad III]] of the [[Hohenstaufen]] family, the grandson of Emperor Henry IV and nephew of Emperor Henry V. This led to over a century of strife between the two houses. Conrad ousted the Welfs from their possessions, but after his death in 1152, his nephew [[Frederick Barbarossa]] succeeded him and made peace with the Welfs, restoring his cousin [[Henry the Lion]] to his – albeit diminished – possessions.

The Hohenstaufen rulers increasingly lent land to "[[ministeriales]]", formerly non-free servicemen, who Frederick hoped would be more reliable than dukes. Initially used mainly for war services, this new class of people would form the basis for the later [[Imperial Knight|knights]], another basis of imperial power. A further important constitutional move at Roncaglia was the establishment of a new peace mechanism for the entire empire, the [[Landfrieden]], with the first imperial one being issued in 1103 under Henry IV at [[Mainz]].{{Sfn |Smail |Gibson |2009}}{{Sfn |Arnold |1995 |p=398}} This was an attempt to abolish private feuds, between the many dukes and other people, and to tie the emperor's subordinates to a legal system of jurisdiction and public prosecution of criminal acts{{snd}}a predecessor of the modern concept of [[rule of law]]. Another new concept of the time was the systematic founding of new cities by the emperor and by the local dukes. These were partly a result of the explosion in population; they also concentrated economic power at strategic locations. Before this, cities had only existed in the form of old Roman foundations or older [[bishopric]]s. Cities that were founded in the 12th century include [[Freiburg]], possibly the economic model for many later cities, and [[Munich]].

Frederick Barbarossa was crowned emperor in 1155. He emphasized the "Romanness" of the empire, partly in an attempt to justify the power of the emperor independent of the (now strengthened) pope. An imperial assembly at the fields of Roncaglia in 1158 reclaimed imperial rights in reference to [[Justinian I]]'s [[Corpus Juris Civilis]]. Imperial rights had been referred to as ''regalia'' since the Investiture Controversy but were enumerated for the first time at Roncaglia. This comprehensive list included public roads, tariffs, [[Coining (mint)|coining]], collecting punitive fees, and the seating and unseating of office-holders. These rights were now explicitly rooted in [[Roman law]], a far-reaching constitutional act.

Frederick's policies were primarily directed at Italy, where he clashed with the free-minded cities of the north, especially [[Duchy of Milan|the Duchy of Milan]]. He also embroiled himself in another conflict with the Papacy by supporting a candidate elected by a minority against [[Pope Alexander III]] (1159–1181). Frederick supported a succession of [[antipope]]s before finally making peace with Alexander in 1177. In Germany, the emperor had repeatedly protected Henry the Lion against complaints by rival princes or cities (especially in the cases of [[Munich]] and [[Lübeck]]). Henry gave only lackluster support to Frederick's policies, and, in a critical situation during the Italian wars, Henry refused the emperor's plea for military support. After returning to Germany, an embittered Frederick opened proceedings against the duke, resulting in a public ban and the confiscation of all Henry's territories. In 1190, Frederick participated in the [[Third Crusade]], dying in the [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia]].{{Sfn |Hunyadi |Laszlovszky |2001 |p=129}}

During the Hohenstaufen period, German princes facilitated a successful, peaceful [[Ostsiedlung|eastward settlement]] of lands that were uninhabited or inhabited sparsely by [[West Slavs]]. German-speaking farmers, traders, and craftsmen from the western part of the Empire, both Christians and Jews, moved into these areas. The gradual [[Germanization]] of these lands was a complex phenomenon that should not be interpreted in the biased terms of 19th-century [[nationalism]]. The eastward settlement expanded the influence of the empire to include [[Pomerania]] and [[Silesia]], as did the intermarriage of the local, still mostly Slavic, rulers with German spouses. The [[Teutonic Knights]] were invited to [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] by Duke [[Konrad of Masovia]] to Christianize the [[Old Prussians|Prussians]] in 1226. The [[Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights|monastic state of the Teutonic Order]] ({{lang|de|Deutschordensstaat}}) and its later German successor state of the [[Duchy of Prussia]] was never part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Under the son and successor of Frederick Barbarossa, [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], the Hohenstaufen dynasty reached its apex, with the addition of the Norman kingdom of Sicily through the marriage of Henry VI and [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance of Sicily]]. Bohemia and Poland were under feudal dependence, while Cyprus and Lesser Armenia also paid homage. The Iberian-Moroccan caliph accepted his claims over the suzerainty over Tunis and Tripolitania and paid tribute. Fearing the power of Henry, the most powerful monarch in Europe since Charlemagne, the other European kings formed an alliance. But Henry broke this coalition by blackmailing English king [[Richard the Lionheart]]. The Byzantine emperor worried that Henry would turn his Crusade plan against his empire, and began to collect the ''alamanikon'' to prepare against the expected invasion. Henry also had plans for turning the Empire into a hereditary monarchy, although this met with opposition from some of the princes and the pope. The emperor suddenly died in 1197, leading to the partial collapse of his empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boettcher |first=Carl-Heinz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rokvhUl9OHEC&pg=PA342 |title=Europas Weg in die Neuzeit: vom Weltstaat zur Staatenwelt |publisher=Röhrig Universitätsverlag |year=2005 |isbn=978-3-8611-0390-5 |page=342 |language=de |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2003 |title=Die deutschen Herrscher des Mittelalters: historische Portraits von Heinrich I. bis Maximilian I. (919–1519) |publisher=C. H. Beck |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbytLiPcn4oC&pg=PA269 |access-date=15 October 2022 |editor-last=Schneidmüller |editor-first=Bernd |pages=258–271 |language=de |isbn=978-3-4065-0958-2 |last1=Ehlers |first1=Joachim |editor-last2=Weinfurter |editor-first2=Stefan |chapter=Heinrich VI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Koenigsberger |first=H. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCasAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT105 |title=Medieval Europe 400–1500 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-3178-7088-3 |page=105 |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> As his son, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]], though already elected king, was still a small child and living in Sicily, German princes chose to elect an adult king, resulting in the dual election of Frederick Barbarossa's youngest son [[Philip of Swabia]] and Henry the Lion's son [[Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto of Brunswick]], who competed for the crown. After Philip was murdered in a private squabble in 1208, Otto prevailed for a while, until he began to also claim Sicily.{{Clarify|date=May 2021}}

[[File:Peter Janssen, Kaiser Friedrich II.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]]]]
[[Pope Innocent III]], who feared the threat posed by a union of the empire and Sicily, was now supported by Frederick II, who marched to Germany and defeated Otto. After his victory, Frederick did not act upon his promise to keep the two realms separate. Though he had made his son Henry king of Sicily before marching on Germany, he still reserved real political power for himself. This continued after Frederick was crowned emperor in 1220. Fearing Frederick's concentration of power, the pope finally excommunicated him. Another point of contention was the Crusade, which Frederick had promised but repeatedly postponed. Now, although excommunicated, Frederick led the [[Sixth Crusade]] in 1228, which ended in negotiations and a temporary restoration of the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]].

For his many-sided activities, prestige, and dynamic personality Frederick II has been called the greatest of all the medieval German emperors.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kxdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 |title=Medieval Germany, 500–1300: A Political Interpretation |date=9 June 1997 |publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education |isbn=978-1-349-25677-8 |page=113 |language=en |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref> In the Kingdom of Sicily and much of Italy, Frederick built upon the work of his Norman predecessors and forged an early absolutist state bound together by an efficient secular bureaucracy. Despite his imperial prestige and power, Frederick II's rule was a major turning point toward the partitioning of central rule in the Empire. Since his political focus was south of the Alps, he was mostly absent from Germany and issued far-reaching privileges to Germany's secular and ecclesiastical princes to ensure their cooperation. In the 1220 {{lang|la|[[Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis]]}}, Frederick gave up a number of ''regalia'' in favour of the bishops, among them tariffs, [[Coining (mint)|coining]], and the right to build fortification. The 1232 {{lang|la|[[Statutum in favorem principum]]}} mostly extended these privileges to secular territories. Although many of these privileges had existed earlier, they were now granted globally, and once and for all, to allow the German princes to maintain order north of the Alps while Frederick concentrated on Italy. The 1232 document marked the first time that the German dukes were called {{lang|la|domini terrae}}, owners of their lands, a remarkable change in terminology as well. the {{lang|la|Statutum}} affirmed a division of labor between the emperor and the princes and laid much groundwork for the development of particularism in Germany. Even so, from 1232 the vassals of the emperor had a veto over imperial legislative decisions and any new law established by the emperor had to be approved by the princes.

These provisions not withstanding, royal power in Germany remained strong under Frederick and by the 1240s the crown was still rich in fiscal resources, land holdings, retinues, and all other rights, revenues, and jurisdictions. Frederick II used the political loyalty and practical jurisdictions granted to the higher German aristocracy to impose peace, order, and justice upon Germany. The jurisdictional autarky of the German princes was favoured by the crown itself in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the interests of order and local peace. The inevitable result was the territorial particularism of churchmen, lay princes, and interstitial cities. However, Frederick was a ruler of vast territories and "could not be everywhere at once". The transference of jurisdiction was a practical solution to secure the further support of the German princes and, moreover, was a process which had already been underway even under Henry VI and Frederick Barbarossa. It is unlikely that a particularly "strong ruler" such as Frederick II would have even pragmatically agreed to legislation that was truly concessionary rather than cooperative, neither would the princes have insisted on such.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arnold |first1=Benjamin |year=2000 |title=Emperor Frederick II (1194–1250) and the political particularism of the German princes |journal=Journal of Medieval History |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=239–252 |doi=10.1016/S0304-4181(00)00005-1}}</ref> The Mainz Landfriede or {{lang|la|Constitutio Pacis}}, decreed at the Imperial Diet of 1235, became one of the [[basic law]]s of the empire and provided that the princes should share the burden of local government in Germany. The authority of the crown was not in question, rather its practical allocation in such a wide region which lacked a general administrative apparatus. Far from a broad diminution of royal power, the Mainz Landfriede was a constitutional recalibration based on the culmination of multi-decade political realities and a testament to Frederick II's considerable political strength, his increased prestige during the early 1230s, and sheer overpowering might that he succeeded in securing the princes' support and rebound them to Hohenstaufen power.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weiler |first1=Björn |date=2006 |title=Reasserting Power: Frederick II in Germany (1235–1236) |journal=International Medieval Research |volume=16 |pages=241–273 |doi=10.1484/M.IMR-EB.3.3442 |isbn=978-2-503-51815-2}}</ref>

==== Kingdom of Bohemia ====
The [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] was a significant regional power during the [[Middle Ages]]. In 1212, King [[Ottokar I of Bohemia|Ottokar I]] (bearing the title "king" since 1198) extracted a [[Golden Bull of Sicily]] (a formal edict) from Emperor Frederick II, confirming the royal title for Ottokar and his descendants, and the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a kingdom.{{Sfn |Pavlac |Lott |2019 |p=17}} Bohemia's political and financial obligations to the Empire were gradually reduced.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Jeanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5AcBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |title=For the Common Good: The Bohemian Land Law and the Beginning of the Hussite Revolution |date=2014 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0042-8326-8 |page=8 |language=en |access-date=2 November 2022}}</ref> [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] set [[Prague]] to be the seat of the Holy Roman emperor.

==== Interregnum ====
{{Main|Interregnum (Holy Roman Empire)}}
[[File:Clemente V cappellone degli Spagnoli.JPG|thumb|[[Pope Clement V]] of the [[Holy Roman Church]]]]

After the death of Frederick II in 1250, [[Conrad IV of Germany|Conrad IV]], Frederick's son (died 1254), enjoyed a strong position having defeated his papal-backed rival [[Anti-king#Germany|anti-king]], [[Count William II of Holland|William of Holland]] (died 1256). However, Conrad's death was followed by the [[Interregnum]], during which no king could achieve universal recognition, allowing the princes to consolidate their holdings and become even more independent as rulers. After 1257, the crown was contested between [[Richard of Cornwall]], who was supported by the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelph party]], and [[Alfonso X of Castile]], who was recognized by the Hohenstaufen party but never set foot on German soil. After Richard's death in 1273, [[Rudolf I of Germany]], a minor pro-Hohenstaufen count, was elected. He was the first of the [[Habsburgs]] to hold a royal title, but he was never crowned emperor. After Rudolf's death in 1291, [[Adolf, King of the Romans|Adolf]] and [[Albert I of Germany|Albert]] were two further weak kings who were never crowned emperor.

Albert was assassinated in 1308. Almost immediately, King [[Philip IV of France]] began aggressively seeking support for his brother, [[Charles of Valois]], to be elected the next king of the Romans. Philip thought he had the backing of the French Pope, [[Clement V]] (established at Avignon in 1309), and that his prospects of bringing the empire into the orbit of the French royal house were good. He lavishly spread French money in the hope of bribing the German electors. Although Charles of Valois had the backing of pro-French [[Heinrich II of Virneburg|Henry, Archbishop of Cologne]], many were not keen to see an expansion of French power, least of all Clement V. The principal rival to Charles appeared to be Count Palatine [[Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine|Rudolf II]].

But the electors, the great territorial magnates who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades, were unhappy with both Charles and Rudolf. Instead Count [[Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry of Luxembourg]], with the aid of his brother, Archbishop [[Baldwin of Trier]], was elected as Henry VII with six votes at Frankfurt on 27 November 1308. Though a vassal of King Philip, Henry was bound by few national ties, and thus suitable as a compromise candidate. 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|Medieval commune|League of cities|Hanseatic League|Swabian League of Cities|Imperial immediacy|Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire}}
[[File:Schedelsche Weltchronik Struktur des Reiches.jpg|thumb|An illustration from [[Nuremberg Chronicle|Schedelsche Weltchronik]] depicting the structure of the Reich: The Holy Roman Emperor is sitting; on his right are three ecclesiastics; on his left are four secular electors.]]

During the 13th century, a general structural change in how land was administered prepared the shift of political power toward the rising [[bourgeoisie]] at the expense of the aristocratic [[feudalism]] that would characterize the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The rise of the [[Free imperial city|cities]] and the emergence of the new [[Burgher (title)|burgher]] class eroded the societal, legal and economic order of feudalism.{{Sfn |Rothstein |1995 |pp=9–}}

Peasants were increasingly required to pay tribute to their landlords. The concept of [[property]] began to replace more ancient forms of jurisdiction, although they were still very much tied together. In the territories (not at the level of the Empire), power became increasingly bundled: whoever owned the land had jurisdiction, from which other powers derived. Jurisdiction at the time did not include legislation, which was virtually nonexistent until well into the 15th century. Court practice heavily relied on traditional customs or rules described as customary.

During this time, territories began to transform into the predecessors of modern states. The process varied greatly among the various lands and was most advanced in those territories that were almost identical to the lands of the old Germanic tribes, ''e.g.'', Bavaria. It was slower in those scattered territories that were founded through imperial privileges.

In the 12th century the [[Hanseatic League]] established itself as a commercial and defensive alliance of the [[merchant guilds]] of towns and cities in the empire and all over northern and central Europe. It dominated marine trade in the [[Baltic Sea]], the [[North Sea]] and along the connected navigable rivers. Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the [[Free imperial city|Free imperial cities]], had only a limited degree of political autonomy. By the late 14th century, the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in the [[Danish–Hanseatic War (1361–1370)|Danish–Hanseatic War]] from 1361 to 1370. The league declined after 1450.{{Efn|name=Translation}}{{Sfn |Szepesi |2015}}{{Sfn |Rothbard |2009}}

=== Late Middle Ages ===
{{Further|Late Middle Ages|Pomerania during the Late Middle Ages}}

==== Rise of the territories after the Hohenstaufens ====
[[File:Karl IV HRR.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]]]]
[[File:Holy Roman Empire at the Golden Bull of 1356.png|thumb|upright=1.35|The Holy Roman Empire when the Golden Bull of 1356 was signed]]

The difficulties in electing the king eventually led to the emergence of a fixed college of [[prince-elector]]s (''Kurfürsten''), whose composition and procedures were set forth in the [[Golden Bull of 1356]], issued by [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] (reigned 1355–1378, King of the Romans since 1346), which remained valid until 1806. This development probably best symbolizes the emerging duality between emperor and realm (''Kaiser und Reich''), which were no longer considered identical. The Golden Bull also set forth the system for election of the Holy Roman Emperor. The emperor now was to be elected by a majority rather than by consent of all seven electors. For electors the title became hereditary, and they were given the right to mint coins and to exercise jurisdiction. Also it was recommended that their sons learn the imperial languages – [[German language|German]], [[Latin]], [[Italian language|Italian]], and [[Czech language|Czech]].{{Efn|name=GoldenBull}}{{Sfn |Žůrek |2014}} The decision by Charles IV is the subject of debates: on one hand, it helped to restore peace in the lands of the Empire, that had been engulfed in civil conflicts after the end of the Hohenstaufen era; on the other hand, the "blow to central authority was unmistakable".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartzwald |first=Jack L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bqgHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |title=The Collapse and Recovery of Europe, AD 476–1648 |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-6230-5 |page=116 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Thomas Brady Jr. opines that Charles IV's intention was to end contested royal elections (from the Luxembourghs' perspective, they also had the advantage that the King of Bohemia had a permanent and preeminent status as one of the Electors himself).{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=73}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahoney |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qgHE29pikMC&pg=PA51 |title=The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-3133-6306-1 |page=51 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> At the same time, he built up Bohemia as the Luxembourghs' core land of the Empire and their dynastic base. His reign in Bohemia is often considered the land's Golden Age. According to Brady Jr. though, under all the glitter, one problem arose: the government showed an inability to deal with the German immigrant waves into Bohemia, thus leading to religious tensions and persecutions. The imperial project of the Luxembourgh halted under Charles's son [[Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia|Wenceslaus]] (reigned 1378–1419 as King of Bohemia, 1376–1400 as King of the Romans), who also faced opposition from 150 local baronial families.{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |pp=73, 74}}

The shift in power away from the emperor is also revealed in the way the post-Hohenstaufen kings attempted to sustain their power. Earlier, the Empire's strength (and finances) greatly relied on the Empire's own lands, the so-called ''[[Reichsgut]]'', which always belonged to the king of the day and included many Imperial Cities. After the 13th century, the relevance of the ''Reichsgut'' faded, even though some parts of it did remain until the Empire's end in 1806. Instead, the ''Reichsgut'' was increasingly pawned to local dukes, sometimes to raise money for the Empire, but more frequently to reward faithful duty or as an attempt to establish control over the dukes. The direct governance of the ''Reichsgut'' no longer matched the needs of either the king or the dukes.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

The kings beginning with [[Rudolf I of Germany]] increasingly relied on the lands of their respective dynasties to support their power. In contrast with the ''Reichsgut'', which was mostly scattered and difficult to administer, these territories were relatively compact and thus easier to control. In 1282, Rudolf I thus lent Austria and [[Styria (duchy)|Styria]] to his own sons. In 1312, [[Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VII]] of the [[House of Luxembourg]] was crowned as the first Holy Roman Emperor since Frederick II. After him all kings and emperors relied on the lands of their own family (''Hausmacht''): [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis IV]] of [[Wittelsbach]] (king 1314, emperor 1328–1347) relied on his lands in Bavaria; [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] of Luxembourg, the grandson of Henry VII, drew strength from his own lands in Bohemia. It was thus increasingly in the king's own interest to strengthen the power of the territories, since the king profited from such a benefit in his own lands as well.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==== Imperial Reform ====
{{Main|Imperial Reform}}
[[File:Hans Burgkmair d. Ä. 005.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Fredrick III]]]]

The "constitution" of the Empire still remained largely unsettled at the beginning of the 15th century. Feuds often happened between local rulers. The "[[Robber baron (feudalism)|robber baron]]" (''Raubritter'') became a social factor.{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=278}}

Simultaneously, the Catholic Church experienced crises of its own, with wide-reaching effects in the Empire. The conflict between several papal claimants (two [[anti-popes]] and the "legitimate" [[Papacy|Pope]]) ended only with the [[Council of Constance]] (1414–1418); after 1419 the Papacy directed much of its energy to suppressing the [[Hussites]]. The medieval idea of unifying all [[Christendom]] into a single political entity, with the Church and the Empire as its leading institutions, began to decline.

With these drastic changes, much discussion emerged in the 15th century about the Empire itself. Rules from the past no longer adequately described the structure of the time, and a reinforcement of earlier ''Landfrieden'' was urgently needed.{{Sfn |Hardy |2018}}

The vision for a simultaneous reform of the Empire and the Church on a central level began with [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]] (reigned 1433–1437, King of the Romans since 1411), who, according to historian Thomas Brady Jr., "possessed a breadth of vision and a sense of grandeur unseen in a German monarch since the thirteenth century". But external difficulties, self-inflicted mistakes and the extinction of the Luxembourg male line made this vision unfulfilled.{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |pp=75–81}}

[[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]] was the first Habsburg to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, in 1452.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drees |first=Clayton J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TLLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA167 |title=The Late Medieval Age of Crisis and Renewal, 1300–1500: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-56750-749-2 |language=en}}</ref> He had been very careful regarding the reform movement in the empire. For most of his reign, he considered reform as a threat to his imperial prerogatives. He avoided direct confrontations, which might lead to humiliation if the princes refused to give way.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I5lFCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR79 |title=The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History |date=2016b |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-1419-5691-6 |page=79 |language=en |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> After 1440, the reform of the Empire and Church was sustained and led by local and regional powers, particularly the territorial princes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=William Bradford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUcEmkYpdFQC&pg=PA45 |title=Reformation and the German Territorial State: Upper Franconia, 1300–1630 |date=2008 |publisher=University Rochester Press |isbn=978-1-5804-6274-7 |page=45 |language=en |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> In his last years, he felt more pressure on taking action from a higher level. [[Berthold von Henneberg]], the Archbishop of Mainz, who spoke on behalf of reform-minded princes (who wanted to reform the Empire without strengthening the imperial hand), capitalized on Frederick's desire to secure the imperial election for his son [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]]. Thus, in his last years, he presided over the initial phase of Imperial Reform, which would mainly unfold under Maximilian. Maximilian himself was more open to reform, although naturally he also wanted to preserve and enhance imperial prerogatives. After Frederick retired to Linz in 1488, as a compromise, Maximilian acted as mediator between the princes and his father. When he attained sole rule after Frederick's death, he would continue this policy of brokerage, acting as the impartial judge between options suggested by the princes.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=79}}{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |pp=104–106}}

===== Creation of institutions =====
[[File:Innsbruck - painting of Albrecht Dürer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Innsbruck, most important political centre under Maximilian,{{Sfn |Pavlac |Lott |2019 |p=249}} seat of the ''Hofkammer'' (Court Treasury) and the Court Chancery, which functioned as "the most influential body in Maximilian's government".{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=211}} Painting of Albrecht Dürer (1496)]]

Major measures for the Reform were launched at the [[1495 Reichstag]] at [[Worms, Germany|Worms]]. A new organ was introduced, the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'', that was to be largely independent from the Emperor. A new tax was launched to finance it, the ''Gemeine Pfennig'', although this would only be collected under Charles V and Ferdinand I, and not fully.<ref name="Tracy 163">{{Cite book |last=Tracy |first=James D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHCPDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 |title=Balkan Wars: Habsburg Croatia, Ottoman Bosnia, and Venetian Dalmatia, 1499–1617 |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-1360-9 |page=163 |language=en |access-date=17 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXALEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA312 |title=The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe |date=2021 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6912-0538-0 |page=312 |language=en |access-date=17 January 2022}}</ref>{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |p=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160629134300/https://books.google.com/books?id=UiFWYsG-t7UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Germany+and+the+Holy+Roman+Empire+Volume+I&source=bl&ots=IvHjooiUip&sig=4g3acx620VKwkAhPhSuR8m0q0-U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=d_oCUIX7EoGQ8wSX95n7Bw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Gemeine%20Pfennig&f=false]}}

To create a rival for the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'', Maximilian established the ''[[Aulic Council|Reichshofrat]]'' in 1497, which had its seat in Vienna. During Maximilian's reign, this council was not popular though. In the long run, the two Courts functioned in parallel, sometimes overlapping.{{Sfn |Pavlac |Lott |2019 |p=143}}{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=429}}

In 1500, Maximilian agreed to establish an organ called the ''[[Reichsregiment]]'' (central imperial government, consisting of twenty members including the Electors, with the Emperor or his representative as its chairman), first organized in 1501 in [[Nuremberg]]. But Maximilian resented the new organization, while the Estates failed to support it. The new organ proved politically weak, and its power returned to Maximilian in 1502.{{Sfn |Erbe |2000 |pp=19–30}}{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=429}}{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=61}}

The most important governmental changes targeted the heart of the regime: the chancery. Early in Maximilian's reign, the Court Chancery at Innsbruck competed with the Imperial Chancery (which was under the elector-archbishop of Mainz, the senior Imperial chancellor). By referring the political matters in Tyrol, Austria as well as Imperial problems to the Court Chancery, Maximilian gradually centralized its authority. The two chanceries became combined in 1502.{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=211}} In 1496, the emperor created a general treasury (''Hofkammer'') in Innsbruck, which became responsible for all the hereditary lands. The chamber of accounts (''Raitkammer'') at Vienna was made subordinate to this body.{{Sfn |Berenger |Simpson |2014 |p=132}} Under {{ill|Paul von Liechtenstein|de|Paul von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn}}, the ''Hofkammer'' was entrusted with not only hereditary lands' affairs, but Maximilian's affairs as the German king too.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gosman |first1=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cqMgy6ZxlMC&pg=PA298 |title=Princes and Princely Culture: 1450–1650 |last2=Alasdair |first2=A. |last3=MacDonald |first3=A. |last4=Macdonald |first4=Alasdair James |last5=Vanderjagt |first5=Arie Johan |date=2003 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0041-3572-7 |page=298 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024064350/https://books.google.com/books?id=6cqMgy6ZxlMC&pg=PA298 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===== Reception of Roman law =====
[[File:Maximilian I watching an execution during Philip and Joanna betrothal.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|left|Maximilian I paying attention to an execution instead of watching the betrothal of his son [[Philip I of Castile|Philip the Handsome]] and [[Joanna of Castile]]. The top right corner shows [[Cain and Abel]]. Satire against Maximilian's legal reform, associated with imperial tyranny. Created on behalf of the councilors of Augsburg. Plate 89 of ''Von der Arztney bayder Glück'' by the {{ill|Petrarcameister|de}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hodnet |first=Andrew Arthur |title=The Othering of the Landsknechte |date=2018 |publisher=North Carolina State University |page=81}}</ref>]]

At the 1495 Diet of Worms, the Reception of Roman Law was accelerated and formalized. The Roman Law was made binding in German courts, except in the case it was contrary to local statutes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burdick |first=William Livesey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRkMm73NCEUC&pg=PA19 |title=The Principles of Roman Law and Their Relation to Modern Law |date=2004 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-5847-7253-8 |pages=19, 20 |language=en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> In practice, it became the basic law throughout Germany, displacing Germanic local law to a large extent, although Germanic law was still operative at the lower courts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jfcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |title=Popular Sovereignty in Early Modern Constitutional Thought |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1910-6244-5 |page=243 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Thornhill |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JuU_MfVTbAC&pg=PA12 |title=German Political Philosophy: The Metaphysics of Law |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1343-8280-4 |page=12 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Haivry |first=Ofir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNvFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |title=John Selden and the Western Political Tradition |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1070-1134-2 |page=118 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mousourakis |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6tBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT435 |title=The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-3518-8840-0 |page=435 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> Other than the desire to achieve legal unity and other factors, the adoption also highlighted the continuity between the Ancient Roman empire and the Holy Roman Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zoller |first=Élisabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1zfs2VcJs0C&pg=PA64 |title=Introduction to Public Law: A Comparative Study |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0041-6147-4 |page=64 |language=en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> To realize his resolve to reform and unify the legal system, the emperor frequently intervened personally in matters of local legal matters, overriding local charters and customs. This practice was often met with irony and scorn from local councils, who wanted to protect local codes.{{Sfn |Hodnet |2018 |pp=79–81}}

The legal reform seriously weakened the ancient [[Vehmic court]] (''Vehmgericht'', or Secret Tribunal of [[Westphalia]], traditionally held to be instituted by [[Charlemagne]] but this theory is now considered unlikely),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spence |first=Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDXYAAAAMAAJ |title=An Encyclopedia of Occultism |date=1993 |publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-8065-1401-7 |page=133 |language=en |access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Palgrave |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U98aAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 |title=The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1076-2636-2 |pages=xiv, 203–204 |language=en |access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref> although it would not be abolished completely until 1811 (when it was abolished under the order of [[Jérôme Bonaparte]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beccaria |first1=Cesare marchese di |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=surdzOtEZgQC&pg=PA133 |title=On Crimes and Punishments and Other Writings |last2=Beccaria |first2=Cesare |last3=Stevenson |first3=Bryan |date=2008 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8990-8 |page=133 |language=en |access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ripley |first1=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwIoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA43 |title=The New American Cyclopædia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge |last2=Dana |first2=Charles Anderson |date=1869 |publisher=D. Appleton |page=43 |language=en |access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref>

===== National political culture =====
[[File:1512 Holy Roman Empire Germania.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Personification of the Reich as [[Germania (personification)|Germania]] by [[:de:Jörg Kölderer|Jörg Kölderer]], 1512. The "German woman", wearing her hair loose and a crown, sitting on the Imperial throne, corresponds both to the self-image of Maximilian I as King of Germany and the formula ''Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation'' (omitting other nations). While usually depicted during the Middle Age as subordinate to both imperial power and Italia or Gallia, she now takes central stage in Maximilian's [[Triumphal Procession]], being carried in front of [[c:File:Roma in Maximilian'sTriumphal Procession.jpg|Roma]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strieder |first=Peter |date=8 May 2017 |title=Zur Entstehungsgeschichte von Dürers Ehrenpforte für Kaiser Maximilian |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/azgnm/article/view/38143/31806 |journal=Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums |pages=128–142 Seiten |doi=10.11588/azgnm.1954.0.38143 |access-date=7 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hirschi |first=Caspar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_v4iySQgnsC&pg=PA45 |title=The Origins of Nationalism: An Alternative History from Ancient Rome to Early Modern Germany |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1395-0230-6 |page=45 |language=en |access-date=7 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brandt |first=Bettina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJLM607h6jsC&pg=PA37 |title=Germania und ihre Söhne: Repräsentationen von Nation, Geschlecht und Politik in der Moderne |date=2010 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |isbn=978-3-5253-6710-0 |page=37 |language=de |access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref>]]

Maximilian and Charles V (despite the fact both emperors were internationalists personally)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Albert |first=Rabil Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1ErEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |title=Renaissance Humanism, Volume 2: Foundations, Forms, and Legacy |date=2016 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-1-5128-0576-5 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Quevedo |first1=Francisco de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ciwDEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 |title=Francisco de Quevedo: Dreams and Discourses |last2=Britton |first2=R. K. |date=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-8003-4588-1 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> were the first who mobilized the rhetoric of the Nation, firmly identified with the Reich by the contemporary humanists.{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=278}} With encouragement from Maximilian and his humanists, iconic spiritual figures were reintroduced or became notable. The humanists rediscovered the work ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', written by Tacitus. According to Peter H. Wilson, the female figure of [[Germania (personification)|Germania]] was reinvented by the emperor as the virtuous pacific Mother of Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=263}} Whaley further suggests that, despite the later religious divide, "patriotic motifs developed during Maximilian's reign, both by Maximilian himself and by the humanist writers who responded to him, formed the core of a national political culture."<ref name="Whaley on Silver">{{Cite journal |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |date=2009 |title=Whaley on Silver, 'Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor' {{!}} H-German {{!}} H-Net |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/45722/whaley-silver-marketing-maximilian-visual-ideology-holy-roman-emperor |journal=Networks.h-net.org |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref>

Maximilian's reign also witnessed the gradual emergence of the German common language, with the notable roles of the imperial chancery and the chancery of the Wettin Elector [[Frederick III, Elector of Saxony|Frederick the Wise]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tennant |first1=Elaine C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdIDcGyUcN4C&pg=PA3 |title=The Habsburg Chancery Language in Perspective, Volume 114 |last2=Johnson |first2=Carroll B. |date=1985 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-9694-3 |pages=1, 3, 9 |access-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927161255/https://books.google.com/books?id=JdIDcGyUcN4C&pg=PA3 |archive-date=27 September 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiesinger |first=Peter |title=Die Entwicklung der deutschen Schriftsprache vom 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert unter dem Einfluss der Konfessionen |url=http://www.e-scoala.ro/germana/peter_wiesinger.html |url-status=dead |journal=Zeitschrift der Germanisten Rumäniens |issue=17–18 / 2000 (9th year) |pages=155–162 |doi=10.1515/jbgsg-2018-0014 |s2cid=186566355 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123112609/http://www.e-scoala.ro/germana/peter_wiesinger.html |archive-date=23 January 2008 |access-date=8 November 2021}}</ref> The development of the printing industry together with the emergence of the postal system ([[Kaiserliche Reichspost|the first modern one in the world]]),<ref name="Meinel 2014 31">{{Cite book |last1=Meinel |first1=Christoph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5O25BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |title=Digital Communication: Communication, Multimedia, Security |last2=Sack |first2=Harald |date=2014 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-6425-4331-9 |page=31 |access-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926235052/https://books.google.com/books?id=5O25BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |archive-date=26 September 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> initiated by Maximilian himself with contribution from Frederick III and [[Charles the Bold]], led to a revolution in communication and allowed ideas to spread. Unlike the situation in more centralized countries, the decentralized nature of the Empire made censorship difficult.<ref name="Metzig">{{Cite book |last=Metzig |first=Gregor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiyXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=Kommunikation und Konfrontation: Diplomatie und Gesandtschaftswesen Kaiser Maximilians I. (1486–1519) |date=2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-1104-5673-8 |pages=98, 99 |language=de |access-date=29 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Hamish M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL8DCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 1350–1750 |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1995-9725-3 |page=173 |language=en |access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Headrick |first=Daniel R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRBPvOAiQmUC&pg=PA184 |title=When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700–1850 |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1980-3108-6 |page=184 |language=en |access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref>{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=370}}

Terence McIntosh comments that the expansionist, aggressive policy pursued by Maximilian I and Charles V at the inception of the early modern German nation (although not to further the aims specific to the German nation per se), relying on German manpower as well as utilizing fearsome [[Landsknecht]]e and mercenaries, would affect the way neighbours viewed the German polity, although in the longue durée, Germany tended to be at peace.<ref>{{Cite web |title=H-German Roundtable on Smith, Germany: A Nation in Its Time Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500–2000 {{!}} H-German {{!}} H-Net |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/discussions/9589141/h-german-roundtable-smith-germany-nation-its-time-during-and |access-date=5 February 2022 |website=networks.h-net.org}}</ref>

===== Imperial power =====
[[File:Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|[[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], [[Holy Roman Emperor]].]]
Maximilian was "the first Holy Roman Emperor in 250 years who ruled as well as reigned". In the early 1500s, he was true master of the Empire, although his power weakened during the last decade before his death.{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |pp=110, 128}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Forster |first=Marc R. |title=Forster on Brady Jr., 'German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400–1650' {{!}} H-German {{!}} H-Net |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/46131/forster-brady-jr-german-histories-age-reformations-1400-1650 |journal=Networks.h-net.org |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Whaley notes that, despite struggles, what emerged at the end of Maximilian's rule was a strengthened monarchy and not an oligarchy of princes.{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |p=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210921005756/https://books.google.com/books?id=UiFWYsG-t7UC&pg=PA75 75]}} Benjamin Curtis opines that while Maximilian was not able to fully create a common government for his lands (although the chancellery and court council were able to coordinate affairs across the realms), he strengthened key administrative functions in Austria and created central offices to deal with financial, political and judicial matters – these offices replaced the feudal system and became representative of a more modern system that was administered by professionalized officials. After two decades of reforms, the emperor retained his position as first among equals, while the empire gained common institutions through which the emperor shared power with the estates.{{Sfn |Curtis |2013 |pp=46–52}}

By the early 16th century, the Habsburg rulers had become the most powerful in Europe, but their strength relied on their composite monarchy as a whole, and not only the Holy Roman Empire (see also: [[Empire of Charles V]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Asch |first=Ronald G. |date=28 October 2021 |title=Monarchs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNFKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |journal=Early Modern Court Culture |pages=17–36 |doi=10.4324/9780429277986-3 |isbn=978-0-4292-7798-6 |s2cid=240193601 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Thackeray |first1=Frank W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2MhulpUa_cC&pg=RA1-PA133 |title=Events That Formed the Modern World: From the European Renaissance through the War on Terror [5 volumes]: From the European Renaissance through the War on Terror |last2=Findling |first2=John E. |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-5988-4902-8 |page=133 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> Maximilian had seriously considered combining the Burgundian lands (inherited from his wife [[Mary of Burgundy]]) with his Austrian lands to form a powerful core (while also extending toward the east).{{Sfn |Holleger |2012 |p=34}} After the unexpected addition of Spain to the Habsburg Empire, at one point he intended to leave Austria (raised to a kingdom) to his younger grandson [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brady |first1=Thomas A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQJkfTDUhsMC&pg=PA112 |title=German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400–1650 |last2=Brady |first2=Thomas A. Jr. |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-8909-4 |page=112 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> His elder grandson Charles V later gave Spain and most of the Burgundian lands to his son [[Philip II of Spain]], the founder of the Spanish branch, and the Habsburg hereditary lands to his brother Ferdinand, the founder of the Austrian branch.{{Sfn |Wilson |2004 |p=27}}

In France and England, from the 13th century onward, stationary royal residences had begun to develop into [[Capital city|capital cities]] that grew rapidly and developed corresponding infrastructure: the ''[[Palais de la Cité]]'' and the ''[[History of the Palace of Westminster|Palace of Westminster]]'' became the respective main residences. This was not possible in the Holy Roman Empire because no real hereditary monarchy emerged, but rather the tradition of elective monarchy prevailed ''(see: [[Imperial election]])'' which, in the High Middle Ages, led to kings of very different regional origins being elected ''([[List of royal and imperial elections in the Holy Roman Empire]])''. If they wanted to control the empire and its rebellious regional rulers, they could not limit themselves to their home region and their private palaces. As a result, kings and emperors continued to travel around the empire well into modern times,<ref>Karl Otmar von Aretin: ''Das Reich ohne Hauptstadt?'' (The empire without a capital?), in: ''Hauptstädte in europäischen Nationalstaaten'' (Capitals in European nation states), ed T Schieder & G Brunn, Munich/Vienna, 1983, pp. 1–29</ref> using their temporary residences ''([[Kaiserpfalz]])'' as transit stations for their ''[[itinerant court]]s''. From the late Middle Ages onward, the weakly fortified ''pfalzen'' were replaced by [[imperial castle]]s. It was only King [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]], the younger brother of the then Emperor Charles V, who moved his main residence to the Vienna [[Hofburg]] in the middle of the 16th century, where most of the following Habsburg emperors subsequently resided. Vienna did not become the capital of the empire, just of a Habsburg hereditary state (the [[Archduchy of Austria]]). The emperors continued to travel to their elections and coronations at [[Frankfurt]] and [[Aachen]], to the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diets]] at different places and to other occasions. The [[Perpetual Diet of Regensburg]] was based in [[Regensburg]] from 1663 to 1806. [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]] resided in [[Prague]], the [[Wittelsbach]] emperor [[Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VII]] in Munich. A German capital in the true sense only existed in the Second [[German Empire]] from 1871, when the [[Kaiser]], [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]] and [[Chancellor of Germany#Chancellor of the German Reich|Reichskanzler]] resided in [[Berlin]].

==== Early capitalism ====
{{Multiple image
| align = right
| total_width = 450
| image1 = Augsburg Stadtansicht von Osten Rogel Hans.jpeg
| caption1 = Map of Augsburg, corresponding with the [[:c:Category:Hans Rogel|wooden city model made in 1563]] by {{ill|Hans Rogel|de|lt=Hans Rogel}} and now kept in the ''Maximilianmusem'', Augsburg
| image2 = City of Antwerp, 1572.jpg
| caption2 = Antwerp, 1572
}}

While particularism prevented the centralization of the Empire, it gave rise to early developments of capitalism. In Italian and Hanseatic cities like Genoa and Pisa, Hamburg and Lübeck, warrior-merchants appeared and pioneered raiding-and-trading maritime empires. These practices declined before 1500, but they managed to spread to the maritime periphery in Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and England, where they "provoked emulation in grander, oceanic scale".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=The Political Economy of Merchant Empires: State Power and World Trade, 1350–1750 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jHpt9hdreoC&pg=PA123 |access-date=15 October 2022 |last=Brady |first=Thomas A. Jr. |date=1997 |editor-last=Tracy |editor-first=James D. |pages=117–160 |language=en |isbn=978-0-5215-7464-8}}</ref> William Thompson agrees with M.N. Pearson that this distinctively European phenomenon happened because in the Italian and Hanseatic cities which lacked resources and were "small in size and population", the rulers (whose social status was not much higher than the merchants) had to pay attention to trade. Thus the warrior-merchants gained the state's coercive powers, which they could not gain in Mughal or other Asian realms – whose rulers had few incentives to help the merchant class, as they controlled considerable resources and their revenue was land-bound.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=William R. |url=http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_2/POLITICAL%20ECONOMY%20The%20Emergence%20of%20the%20global%20political%20economy.pdf |title=The emergence of the global political economy |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-4152-1452-1 |location=London |page=67 |access-date=15 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919140426/http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_2/POLITICAL%20ECONOMY%20The%20Emergence%20of%20the%20global%20political%20economy.pdf |archive-date=19 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 1450s, the economic development in Southern Germany gave rise to banking empires, cartels and monopolies in cities such as [[Ulm]], [[Regensburg]], and [[Augsburg]]. [[Augsburg]] in particular, associated with the reputation of the [[Fugger]], [[Welser]] and Baumgartner families, is considered the capital city of early capitalism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ertl |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MqQ1boyUSXEC&pg=PA189 |title=The Political Economic Foundation of Democratic Capitalism: From Genesis to Maturation |date=2007 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-5994-2424-8 |pages=189–191 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kypta |first1=Ulla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-62DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |title=Methods in Premodern Economic History: Case studies from the Holy Roman Empire, c. 1300–c. 1600 |last2=Bruch |first2=Julia |last3=Skambraks |first3=Tanja |date=2019 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-0301-4660-3 |page=116 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Augsburg benefitted majorly from the establishment and expansion of the [[Kaiserliche Reichspost]] in the late 15th and early 16th century.<ref name=Metzig/><ref name="Meinel 2014 31"/> Even when the Habsburg empire began to extend to other parts of Europe, Maximilian's loyalty to Augsburg, where he conducted a lot of his endeavours, meant that the imperial city became "the dominant centre of early capitalism" of the 16th century, and "the location of the most important post office within the Holy Roman Empire". From Maximilian's time, as the "terminuses of the first transcontinental post lines" began to shift from [[Innsbruck]] to [[Venice]] and from [[Brussels]] to [[Antwerp]], in these cities, the communication system and the news market started to converge. As the Fuggers as well as other trading companies based their most important branches in these cities, these traders gained access to these systems as well.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=The Holy Roman Empire, 1495–1806 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |url=https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/pnet_derivate_00004689/behringer_core.pdf |access-date=7 August 2022 |date=2011 |pages=347–358 |isbn=978-0-1996-0297-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/pnet_derivate_00004689/behringer_core.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |last1=Behringer |first1=Wolfgang |contribution=Core and Periphery: The Holy Roman Empire as a Communication(s) Universe}}</ref> The 1557, 1575 and 1607 bankruptcies of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs though damaged the Fuggers substantially. Moreover, "Discovery of water routes to India and the New World shifted the focus of European economic development from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic – emphasis shifted from Venice and Genoa to Lisbon and Antwerp. Eventually American mineral developments reduced the importance of Hungarian and Tyrolean mineral wealth. The nexus of the European continent remained landlocked until the time of expedient land conveyances in the form of primarily rail and canal systems, which were limited in growth potential; in the new continent, on the other hand, there were ports in abundance to release the plentiful goods obtained from those new lands." The economic pinnacles achieved in Germany in the period between 1450 and 1550 would not be seen again until the end of the 19th century.{{Sfn |Ertl |2007 |pp=189–191}}

In the Netherlands part of the empire, financial centres evolved together with markets of commodities. Topographical development in the 15th century made Antwerp a port city.{{Sfn |Ertl |2007 |pp=188–189}} Boosted by the privileges it received as a loyal city after the [[Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria|Flemish revolts against Maximilian]], it became the leading seaport city in Northern Europe and served as "the conduit for a remarkable 40% of world trade".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poitras |first=Geoffrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QoqZAAAAIAAJ |title=The Early History of Financial Economics, 1478–1776: From Commercial Arithmetic to Life Annuities and Joint Stocks |date=2000 |publisher=Edward Elgar |isbn=978-1-8406-4455-5 |page=48 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Glaeser |first1=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7f3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |title=Urban Empires: Cities as Global Rulers in the New Urban World |last2=Kourtit |first2=Karima |last3=Nijkamp |first3=Peter |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4298-9236-3 |page=148 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haemers |first=Jelle |date=5 September 2022 |title=A troubled marriage. Maximilian and the Low Countries |url=https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/pdf/10.7767/9783205216032.421 |journal="Per Tot Discrimina Rerum" – Maximilian I. (1459–1519) |language=de |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |pages=421–432 |doi=10.7767/9783205216032.421 |isbn=978-3-2052-1602-5 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Conflicts with the Habsburg-Spanish government in 1576 and 1585 though made merchants relocate to Amsterdam, which eventually replaced it as the leading port city.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Alan K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3akDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT103 |title=Creating A World Economy: Merchant Capital, Colonialism, And World Trade, 1400–1825 |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4297-1042-1 |page=103 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref>{{Sfn |Ertl |2007 |pp=188–189}}

=== Reformation and Renaissance ===
{{Further|Reformation|German Renaissance}}
{{See also|Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}
[[File:Lutherstadt Eisleben, Luther's Sterbehaus, Bildnis Kaiser Karl V.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]].]]
[[File:Deutschland im XVI. Jahrhundert (Putzger).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century]]

In 1516, [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] died.{{Sfn |Mullett |2010 |p=81}} His grandson Charles would go on to inherit the thrones of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] (with his mother [[Joanna of Castile]]), despite only being a teenager at the time. This succession to both thrones would later evolve into the union of [[Spanish Crown|Spain]]. Another important event happened in 1517: [[Martin Luther]] launched what would later be known as the [[Protestant Reformation]]. The Reformation divided the Empire along religious lines as it proceeded, with the north, the east, and many of the major cities – [[Strasbourg]], [[Frankfurt]], and [[Nuremberg]] – becoming [[Protestantism|Protestant]] while the southern and western regions largely remained [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].

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

At the beginning of Charles's reign, another ''Reichsregiment'' was set up again (1522), although Charles declared that he would only tolerate it in his absence and its chairman had to be a representative of his. Charles V was absent in Germany from 1521 to 1530. Similar to the one set up in the early 1500s, the ''Reichsregiment'' failed to create a federal authority independent of the emperor, due to the unsteady participation and differences between princes. Charles V defeated the Protestant princes in 1547 in the [[Schmalkaldic War]], but the momentum was lost and the Protestant estates were able to survive politically despite military defeat.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holborn |first=Hajo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=350Qosar-UcC&pg=PA48 |title=A History of Modern Germany: The Reformation |date=1982 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6910-0795-3 |page=48 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> In the 1555 [[Peace of Augsburg]], Charles V, through his brother Ferdinand, officially recognized the right of rulers to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism (Zwinglians, Calvinists and radicals were not included).{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |p=334}} In 1555, [[Pope Paul IV|Paul IV]] was elected pope and took the side of France, whereupon an exhausted Charles finally gave up his hopes of a world Christian empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacCulloch |first=Diarmaid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dikJzCnL7eUC&pg=PT362 |title=The Reformation |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-1015-6395-3 |page=362 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Isom-Verhaaren |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJ-LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |title=Allies with the Infidel: The Ottoman and French Alliance in the Sixteenth Century |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-8577-3227-9 |page=58 |language=en |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

The succession Charles V arranged split the Habsburgs into two branches. The senior branch continued to rule in Spain and in the Burgundian inheritance, headed by Charles's son, [[Philip II of Spain]]. The Holy Roman Empire went to a junior branch of the Habsburgs, Charles's brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]]. Many factors contribute to this result. For [[James Tracy (historian)|James D. Tracy]], it was the polycentric character of the European civilization that made it hard to maintain "a dynasty whose territories bestrode the continent from the Low Countries to Sicily and from Spain to Hungary{{snd}}not to mention Spain's overseas possessions".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tracy |first=James D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7nADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |title=Holland Under Habsburg Rule, 1506–1566: The Formation of a Body Politic |date=2018 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-5203-0403-1 |page=46 |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Others point out the religious tensions, fiscal problems and obstruction from external forces including France and the Ottomans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nexon |first=Daniel H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7u5NuuVMOWgC&pg=PA135 |title=The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change |date=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6911-3793-3 |page=135 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> On a more personal level, Charles failed to persuade the German princes to support his son Philip, whose "awkward and withdrawn character and lack of German language skills doomed this enterprise to failure".{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=326}}

=== Baroque period ===
{{Main|Germany in the early modern period|Pomerania during the Early Modern Age}}
{{Further|Baroque|Protestant Union|Catholic League (German)|Thirty Years' War}}
[[File:Giuseppe Arcimboldi 003.jpg|upright=1|thumb|[[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Maximilian II]] with his family]]
[[File:HolyRomanEmpire 1618.png|thumb|upright=1.15|Religion in the Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the [[Thirty Years' War]]]]
[[File:HRR 1648.png|thumb|upright=1.15|The Empire after the [[Peace of Westphalia]], 1648]]

Germany would enjoy relative peace for the next six decades. On the eastern front, the Turks continued to loom large as a threat, although war would mean further compromises with the Protestant princes, and so the Emperor sought to avoid it. In the west, the Rhineland increasingly fell under French influence. After the Dutch revolt against Spain erupted, the Empire remained neutral, {{lang|la|de facto}} allowing the Netherlands to depart the empire in 1581. A side effect was the [[Cologne War]], which ravaged much of the upper Rhine. Emperor [[Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand III]] formally accepted Dutch neutrality in 1653, a decision ratified by the Reichstag in 1728.

After Ferdinand died in 1564, his son [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian II]] became Emperor, and like his father accepted the existence of Protestantism and the need for occasional compromise with it. Maximilian was succeeded in 1576 by [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]], who preferred [[Ancient Greek philosophy|classical Greek philosophy]] to Christianity and lived an isolated existence in Bohemia. He became afraid to act when the Catholic Church was forcibly reasserting control in Austria and Hungary, and the Protestant princes became upset over this.

Imperial power sharply deteriorated by the time of Rudolf's death in 1612. When Bohemians rebelled against the Emperor, the immediate result was the series of conflicts known as the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648), which devastated the empire. Foreign powers, including France and Sweden, intervened in the conflict and strengthened those fighting the Imperial power, but also seized considerable territory for themselves. Accordingly, the empire could never return to its former glory, leading [[Voltaire]] to make his infamous quip that the Holy Roman Empire was "neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Renna |first=Thomas |date=September 2015 |title=The Holy Roman Empire was Neither Holy, Nor Roman, Nor an Empire |url=https://meridian.allenpress.com/michigan-academician/article-abstract/42/1/60/176868/The-Holy-Roman-Empire-was-Neither-Holy-Nor-Roman?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Michigan Academician |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=60–75 |doi=10.7245/0026-2005-42.1.60 |issn=0026-2005 |url-access=subscription |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>

Still, its actual end did not come for two centuries. The [[Peace of Westphalia]] in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War allowed [[Calvinism]], but [[Anabaptists]], [[Arminians]] and other Protestant communities would still lack any support and continue to be persecuted well until the end of the empire. The Habsburg emperors focused on consolidating their own estates 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]], decisively defeated a large Turkish army, stopping the western Ottoman advance and leading to the eventual dismemberment of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in Europe. The army was one third forces of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and two thirds forces of the Holy Roman Empire.

=== Modern period ===
[[File:L'Empire d'Allemagne (Holy Roman Empire of Germany) Nicolas de Fer 1710 Colored Map.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|L'Empire d'Allemagne (The German Empire), around 1710 by [[Nicolas de Fer]]. Map of the empire with [[Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Joseph I]] and internally highlighted borders]]
{{Main|18th-century history of Germany}}

==== Prussia and Austria ====
{{Further|Austro-Prussian rivalry|Kingdom of Prussia|Habsburg monarchy}}
[[File:Deutscher-Dualismus.png|thumb|upright=1|The [[Austro-Prussian rivalry]] illustrated as the [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian]] elephant vs the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] lion]]

By the rise of [[Louis XIV]], the Habsburgs were chiefly dependent on their hereditary lands to counter the rise of [[Prussia]], which possessed territories inside the Empire. Throughout the 18th century, the Habsburgs were embroiled in various European conflicts, such as 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 [[Austro-Prussian rivalry|rivalry between Austria and Prussia]] dominated the empire's history after 1740.

==== French Revolutionary Wars and final dissolution ====
{{Main|Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire}}
[[File:Map of Holy Roman Empire 1789.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|The Holy Roman Empire before the [[Napoleonic Wars]], 1789]]
From 1792 onward, [[French Revolutionary Wars|revolutionary France]] was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently.

The [[German mediatization]] was the series of mediatizations and [[secularization]]s that occurred between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the [[French Revolution]] and then the [[Napoleonic era]]. "Mediatization" was the process of [[annexation|annexing]] the lands of one [[Imperial State|imperial estate]] to another, often leaving the annexed some rights. For example, the estates of the [[Imperial Knight]]s were formally mediatized in 1806, having {{lang|la|de facto}} been seized by the great [[territorial state]]s in 1803 in the so-called ''[[Rittersturm]]''. "Secularization" was the abolition of the temporal power of an [[ecclesiastical]] ruler such as a [[bishop]] or an [[abbot]] and the annexation of the secularized territory to a secular territory.

[[File:Napoleon.Austerlitz.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|The [[Battle of Austerlitz]], 1805]]
The empire was dissolved on 6 August 1806, when the last Holy Roman Emperor [[Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire|Francis II]] (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) abdicated, following a military defeat by the French under [[Napoleon]] at the [[Battle of Austerlitz]] in 1805 (see [[Treaty of Pressburg (1805)|Treaty of Pressburg]]). Napoleon reorganized much of the Empire into the [[Confederation of the Rhine]], a [[satellite state|French satellite]]. Francis' [[House of Lorraine|House of Habsburg-Lorraine]] survived the demise of the empire, continuing to reign as [[Emperor of Austria|Emperors of Austria]] and [[King of Hungary|Kings of Hungary]] until the Habsburg empire's final dissolution in 1918 in the [[aftermath of World War I]].

The Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by a new union, the [[German Confederation]] in 1815, following the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded the [[North German Confederation]], a forerunner of the [[German Empire]] which united the German-speaking territories outside of Austria and Switzerland under Prussian leadership in 1871. This state developed into [[Federal Republic of Germany|modern Germany]].

The abdication indicated that the Kaiser no longer felt capable of fulfilling his duties as head of the Reich, and so declared:

''"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."''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erklärung Franz II. zur Niederlegung der Krone des Heiligen Römischen Reiches – Wikisource |url=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Erkl%C3%A4rung_Franz_II._zur_Niederlegung_der_Krone_des_Heiligen_R%C3%B6mischen_Reiches |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=de.wikisource.org |language=de}}</ref>

The only princely member states of the Holy Roman Empire that have preserved their status as monarchies until today are the Grand Duchy of [[Luxembourg]] and the [[Principality of Liechtenstein]]. The only Free Imperial Cities still existing as states within Germany are [[Hamburg]] and [[Bremen]]. All other historic member states of the Holy Roman Empire were either dissolved or have adopted republican systems of government.

== Demographics ==
=== Population ===
Overall population figures for the Holy Roman Empire are extremely vague and vary widely. The empire of Charlemagne may have had as many as 20 million people.{{Sfn |Fried |2016 |p=56}} Given the political fragmentation of the later Empire, there were no central agencies that could compile such figures. Nevertheless, it is believed the demographic disaster of the [[Thirty Years' War]] meant that the population of the Empire in the early 17th century was similar to what it was in the early 18th century; by one estimate, the Empire did not exceed 1618 levels of population until 1750.{{Sfn |Parker |2008 |p=1058}}

In the early 17th century, the electors held under their rule the following number of Imperial subjects:{{Sfn |Wilson |2009 |pp=18–23}}
* Habsburg Monarchy: 5,350,000 (including 3 million in the Bohemian crown lands)<ref name="Wilson, p. 788">Wilson, p. 788</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=September 2021}}
* Electorate of Saxony: 1,200,000
* Duchy of Bavaria (later Electorate of Bavaria): 800,000
* Electoral Palatinate: 600,000
* Electorate of Brandenburg: 350,000
* Electorates of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne: 300–400,000 altogether{{Sfn |Wilson |2009 |p=[{{Google book|plainurl=yes|id=-YlL5mB-5e4C|keywords=The premier electorate was thus}} 17]}}

While not electors, the Spanish Habsburgs had the second highest number of subjects within the Empire after the Austrian Habsburgs, with over 3 million in the early 17th century in the [[Burgundian Circle]] and Duchy of Milan.{{Efn|name=Milan}}{{Efn|name=Avakov}}

Peter Wilson estimates the Empire's population at 20 million in 1700, plus 5 million in Imperial Italy, a total of around 25 million. By 1800 he estimates the Empire's population at 29 million (excluding Italy), with another 12.6 million held by under Austrian and Prussian dominion outside of the Empire.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=496}}

According to a contemporary estimate of the Austrian War Archives for the first decade of the 18th century, the Empire{{snd}}including Bohemia and the Spanish Netherlands{{snd}}had a population of close to 28&nbsp;million with a breakdown as follows:{{Sfn |Benecke |1974 |p=162}}
* 65 ecclesiastical states with 14 percent of the total land area and 12 percent of the population;
* 45 dynastic principalities with 80 percent of the land and 80 percent of the population;
* 60 dynastic counties and lordships with 3 percent of the land and 3.5 percent of the population;
* 60 imperial towns with 1 percent of the land and 3.5 percent of the population;
* Imperial knights' territories, numbering into the several hundreds, with 2 percent of the land and 1 percent of the population.

German demographic historians have traditionally worked on estimates of the population of the Holy Roman Empire based on assumed population within the frontiers of Germany in 1871 or 1914. More recent estimates use less outdated criteria, but they remain guesswork. One estimate based on the frontiers of Germany in 1870 gives a population of some 15–17&nbsp;million around 1600, declined to 10–13&nbsp;million around 1650 (following the Thirty Years' War). Other historians who work on estimates of the population of the early modern Empire suggest the population declined from 20&nbsp;million to some 16–17{{nbs}}million by 1650.{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |p=633}}

A credible estimate for 1800 gives 27–28{{nbs}}million inhabitants for the Empire (which at this point had already lost the remaining Low Countries, Italy, and the [[Left Bank of the Rhine]] in the 1797 [[Treaty of Campo Formio]]) with an overall breakdown as follows:{{Sfn |Whaley |2012b |p=351}}
* 9&nbsp;million Austrian subjects (including Silesia, Bohemia and Moravia);
* 4{{nbs}}million Prussian subjects;
* 14–15{{nbs}}million inhabitants for the rest of the Empire.

There are also numerous estimates for the Italian states that were formally part of the Empire:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ States of Imperial Italy by population, early 17th century{{Sfn |Smith |1920 |p=19}}
|-
! State
! Population
|-
| Duchy of Milan (Spanish)
| 1,350,000
|-
| Piedmont-Savoy
| 1,200,000{{Efn|A figure of 800,000 is given by Smith for "Savoy in Italy", with no clarification as to whether that refers to the whole [[Savoyard state]] or just its Italian territories of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley (thus excluding Savoy proper and the County of Nice). However {{Harvnb|Hanlon|2014|p=87}} gives early 17th century Piedmont's population as 700,000, and Savoy proper's as 400,000, with no numbers given for Aosta or Nice; indicating that Smith's use of "Savoy of Italy" does indeed only refer to Piedmont and Aosta.}}
|-
| Republic of Genoa
| 650,000
|-
| Grand Duchy of Tuscany
| 649,000
|-
| Duchy of Parma-Piacenza
| 250,000
|-
| Duchy of Modena-Reggio
| 250,000
|-
| County of Gorizia and Gradisca (Austrian)
| 130,000<ref name="Wilson, p. 788"/>{{Full citation needed|date=September 2021}}
|-
| Republic of Lucca
| 110,000
|-
| '''Total'''
| c. 4,600,000
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ States of Imperial Italy by population, late 18th century{{Sfn |de Las Cases |1824 |p=197}}
|-
! State
! Population
|-
| Piedmont-Savoy
| 2,400,000{{Efn|Excluding the 500,000 inhabitants of the island of Sardinia, which was not part of the Empire.}}
|-
| Duchy of Milan (Austrian)
| 1,100,000{{Efn|Referred to in the source as "Austrian Lombardy." A large portion of the former duchy had been annexed by the Venetian Republic earlier in the 18th century.}}
|-
| Grand Duchy of Tuscany
| 1,000,000
|-
| Republic of Genoa
| 500,000
|-
| Duchy of Parma-Piacenza
| 500,000
|-
| Duchy of Modena-Reggio
| 350,000
|-
| Republic of Lucca
| 100,000
|-
| '''Total'''
| c. 6,000,000
|}

=== Largest cities ===
Largest cities or towns of the Empire by year:
* '''1050''': [[Regensburg]] 40,000 people. [[Rome]] 35,000. [[Mainz]] 30,000. [[Speyer]] 25,000. [[Cologne]] 21,000. [[Trier]] 20,000. [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] 20,000. [[Lyon]] 20,000. [[Verona]] 20,000. [[Metz]] 16,000 people. [[Florence]] 15,000.<ref name=isites/>
* '''1300–1350''': [[Milan]] 120,000 people. [[Florence]] 110,000 people. [[Genoa]] 90,000 people. [[Prague]] 77,000 people. [[Cologne]] 60,000 people. [[Verona]] 40,000 people. [[Padua]] 35,000 people. [[Erfurt]] 32,000 people. [[Metz]] 32,000 people. [[Regensburg]] 30,000 people. [[Speyer]] 25,000 people. [[Mainz]] 24,000 people. [[Aachen]] 21,000 people. [[Magdeburg]] 20,000 people. [[Nuremberg]] 20,000 people. [[Vienna]] 20,000 people. [[Danzig]] (now Gdańsk) 20,000 people. [[Straßburg]] (now Strasbourg) 20,000 people. [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] 20,000 people. [[Lübeck]] 15,000 people. [[Regensburg]] 11,000 people.{{Sfn |Tellier |2009 |p=290}}{{Sfn |Claus |1997}}{{Sfn |Kurian |2010 |p=587}}{{Sfn |Legauy |1995 |p=104}}
* '''1500''': [[Milan]] 100,000 people. [[Genoa]] 70,000 people. [[Prague]] 70,000.[[Florence]] 50,000 people. [[Cologne]] 45,000. [[Antwerp]] 40,000 people. [[Cremona]] 40,000 people. [[Nuremberg]] 38,000. [[Augsburg]] 30,000. [[Mantua]] 28,000 people. [[Lübeck]] 25,000. [[Wrocław|Breslau]] (now Wrocław) 25,000. [[Regensburg]] 22,000. [[Augsburg]] 20,000 people. [[Vienna]] 20,000. [[Strasbourg|Straßburg]] (now Strasbourg) 20,000. [[Parma]] 19,000 people. [[Magdeburg]] 18,000. [[Modena]] 18,000 people. [[Pavia]] 16,000 people. [[Ulm]] 16,000. [[Hamburg]] 15,000.{{Sfn |Flood |2011 |p=118}}
* '''1600''': [[Milan]] 150,000.{{Sfn |Cipolla |1981}} [[Prague]] 100,000. [[Vienna]] 50,000. [[Augsburg]] 45,000. [[Cologne]] 40,000. [[Nuremberg]] 40,000. [[Hamburg]] 40,000. [[Magdeburg]] 40,000. [[Wrocław|Breslau]] (now Wrocław) 40,000. [[Strasbourg|Straßburg]] (now Strasbourg) 25,000. [[Lübeck]] 23,000. [[Ulm]] 21,000. [[Regensburg]] 20,000. [[Frankfurt am Main]] 20,000. [[Munich]] 20,000.{{Sfn |Flood |2011 |p=118}}

=== Religion ===
[[File:Druck Augsburger Reichsfrieden.jpg|thumb|upright|Front page of the [[Peace of Augsburg]], which laid the legal groundwork for two co-existing religious confessions ([[Roman Catholicism]] and [[Lutheranism]]) in the German-speaking states of the Holy Roman Empire]]

[[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] constituted the single official religion of the Empire until 1555; the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] was always Catholic.

[[Lutheranism]] was officially recognized in the [[Peace of Augsburg]] of 1555, and [[Calvinism]] in the [[Peace of Westphalia]] of 1648. Those two constituted the only officially recognized [[Protestant]] denominations, while various other Protestant confessions such as [[Anabaptism]], [[Arminianism]], etc. coexisted illegally within the Empire. Anabaptism came in a variety of denominations, including [[Mennonites]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren]], [[Hutterites]], the [[Amish]], and multiple other groups.

Following the Peace of Augsburg, the official religion of a territory was determined by the principle {{lang|la|[[cuius regio, eius religio]]}} according to which a ruler's religion determined that of his subjects. The Peace of Westphalia abrogated that principle by stipulating that the official religion of a territory was to be what it had been on 1 January 1624, considered to have been a "normal year". Henceforth, the conversion of a ruler to another faith did not entail the conversion of his subjects.{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=624–625}}

In addition, all Protestant subjects of a Catholic ruler and vice versa were guaranteed the rights that they had enjoyed on that date. While the adherents of a territory's official religion enjoyed the right of public worship, the others were allowed the right of private worship (in chapels without either spires or bells). In theory, no one was to be discriminated against or excluded from commerce, trade, craft or public burial on grounds of religion. For the first time, the permanent nature of the division between the Christian churches of the empire was more or less assumed.{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=624–625}}

A [[History of the Jews in Germany#In the Holy Roman Empire|Jewish minority]] existed in the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Emperors claimed the right of protection and taxation of all the Jews of the empire, but there were also large-scale massacres of Jews, especially at the time of the [[First Crusade]] and during the wars of religion in the 16th century.

== Institutions ==
The Holy Roman Empire was neither a centralized [[State (polity)|state]] nor a [[nation-state]]. Instead, it was divided into dozens – eventually hundreds – of individual entities governed by [[king]]s,{{Efn|name=prince}} [[duke]]s, [[count]]s, [[bishop]]s, [[abbot]]s, and other rulers, collectively known as [[Princes of the Holy Roman Empire|prince]]s. There were also some areas ruled directly by the Emperor.

From the [[High Middle Ages]] onwards, the Holy Roman Empire was marked by an uneasy coexistence with the princes of the local territories who were struggling to take [[power (sociology)|power]] away from it. To a greater extent than in other medieval kingdoms such as [[France in the Middle Ages|France]] and [[Kingdom of England|England]], the emperors were unable to gain much control over the lands that they formally owned. Instead, to secure their own position from the threat of being deposed, emperors were forced to grant more and more autonomy to local rulers, both nobles and bishops. This process began in the 11th century with the [[Investiture Controversy]] and was more or less concluded with the 1648 [[Peace of Westphalia]]. Several Emperors attempted to reverse this steady dilution of their authority but were thwarted both by the [[papacy]] and by the princes of the Empire.

=== Imperial estates ===
{{Main|Imperial Estate}}

The number of territories represented in the Imperial Diet was considerable, numbering about 300 at the time of the [[Peace of Westphalia]]. Many of these ''[[Kleinstaaterei|Kleinstaaten]]'' ("little states") covered no more than a few square miles, or included several non-contiguous pieces, so the Empire was often called a {{langx|de|Flickenteppich|label=none}} ("[[Patchwork|patchwork carpet]]").
An entity was considered a {{langx|de|Reichsstand|label=none}} (imperial estate) if, according to [[feudal law]], it had no authority above it except the Holy Roman Emperor himself. The imperial estates comprised:
* Territories ruled by a hereditary nobleman, such as a prince, archduke, duke, or count.
* Territories in which secular authority was held by an ecclesiastical dignitary, such as an archbishop, bishop, or abbot. Such an ecclesiastic or Churchman was a [[prince of the Church]]. In the common case of a [[prince-bishop]], this temporal territory (called a prince-bishopric) frequently overlapped with his often larger ecclesiastical [[diocese]], giving the bishop both civil and ecclesiastical powers. Examples are the prince-archbishoprics of [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]], [[Archbishopric of Trier|Trier]], and [[Archbishopric of Mainz|Mainz]].
* [[Free imperial city|Free imperial cities]] and [[Imperial village]]s, which were subject only to the jurisdiction of the emperor.
* The scattered estates of the free [[Imperial Knight]]s and [[Imperial Count]]s, immediate subject to the Emperor but unrepresented in the Imperial Diet.

A sum total of 1,500 Imperial estates has been reckoned.{{Sfn |Gumpelzhaimer |1796}} For a list of {{langx|de|Reichsstände|label=none}} in 1792, see [[List of Imperial Diet participants (1792)]].

The most powerful lords of the later empire were the Austrian Habsburgs, who ruled {{Convert|240000|km2|abbr=on}} of land within the Empire in the first half of the 17th century, mostly in modern-day Austria and the Czech Republic. At the same time the lands ruled by the electors of Saxony, Bavaria, and Brandenburg (prior to the acquisition of Prussia) were all close to {{Convert|40000|km2|abbr=on}}; the [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg|Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg]] (later the Elector of Hanover) had a territory around the same size. These were the largest of the German realms. The Elector of the Palatinate had significantly less at {{Convert|20000|km2|abbr=on}}, and the ecclesiastical Electorates of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier were much smaller, with around {{Convert|7000|km2|abbr=on}}. Just larger than them, with roughly {{Convert|7000|–|10000|km2|abbr=on}}, were the Duchy of Württemberg, the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel, and the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They were roughly matched in size by the prince-bishoprics of Salzburg and Münster. The majority of the other German territories, including the other prince-bishoprics, were under {{Convert|5000|km2|abbr=on}}, the smallest being those of the Imperial Knights; around 1790 the Knights consisted of 350 families ruling a total of only {{Convert|5000|km2|abbr=on}} collectively.{{Sfn |Whaley |2012b |p=188}} Imperial Italy was less fragmented politically, most of it {{Circa|1600}} being divided between Savoy (Savoy, Piedmont, Nice, Aosta), the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (Tuscany, bar Lucca), the Republic of Genoa (Liguria, Corisca), the duchies of Modena-Reggio and Parma-Piacenza (Emilia), and the Spanish Duchy of Milan (most of Lombardy), each with between half a million and one and a half million people.{{Sfn |Smith |1920 |p=19}} The [[Low Countries]] were also more coherent than Germany, being entirely under the dominion of the [[Spanish Netherlands]] as part of the [[Burgundian Circle]], at least nominally.

In 1792, 21 families (8 electors and 13 princely families) held 81 percent of the Empire's territory, plus all electoral and 56 of the 100 princely votes. These 21 families held 25 territories (some families had cadet branches e.g. the Bavarian and Palatinate Wittelsbachs), by far the largest being Austria and Prussia. Another 16.4 percent of the Empire was split between 151 ecclesiastical and secular lords, generally lacking princely status, with the majority of that 16.4 percent being held by a tenth of the lords. The remaining 2.6 percent of the Empire was split between 51 disconnected imperial cities and 400 families of Imperial Knights.<ref>Wilson 2004, p. 413–414.</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Territorial shares of the Reich after the Thirty Years' War{{Sfn |Wilson |2004 |p=307}}{{Efn|Going by the given areas, Wilson's figures only include the German and Czech speaking parts of the Reich, thus excluding the French (e.g. [[Austrian Netherlands]], [[Franche-Comté]]) and Italian (e.g. [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]], [[Savoyard state|Piedmont-Savoy]]) parts. This is evident in how the territories of the electors and "other German rulers" adds up to the stated total of the Reich, and in how the Reich's area does not change from the given {{Convert|687338|km2|abbr=on}} total from 1648 to 1792, despite many French territories of the [[Burgundian Circle]] being lost in this time. The figures also exclude lands held outside of the Empire (including German ones), such as the Hohenzollern Prussian territories.}}
|-
! Ruler
! 1648
! 1714
! 1748
! 1792
|-
| Austrian Habsburgs
| 225,390&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (32.8%)
| 251,185&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (36.5%)
| 213,785&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (31.1%)
| 215,875&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (31.4%)
|-
| Brandenburg Hohenzollerns
| 70,469&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (10.2%)
| 77,702&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (11.3%)
| 124,122&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (18.1%)
| 131,822&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (19.2%)
|-
| Other secular prince-electors{{Efn|In 1648: Saxony, Bavaria, and the Electoral Palatinate. At later dates: Saxony, Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, and Hanover.}}
| 89,333&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (13.1%)
| 122,823&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (17.9%)
| 123,153&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (17.9%)
| 121,988&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (17.7%)
|-
| Other German rulers
| 302,146&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (44.0%)
| 235,628&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (34.3%)
| 226,278{{nbs}}km<sup>2</sup> (32.9%)
| 217,653{{nbs}}km<sup>2</sup> (31.7%)
|-
| '''Total'''
| 687,338
| 687,338
| 687,338
| 687,338
|}

=== King of the Romans ===
{{Main|King of the Romans}}
[[File:Weltliche Schatzkammer Wien (189)2.JPG|thumb|The [[Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire|crown of the Holy Roman Empire]] (latter half of the 10th century), now held in the [[Schatzkammer (Vienna)]]]]

A prospective Emperor first had to be elected [[King of the Romans]]. [[List of German monarchs|German kings]] had been elected since the 9th century; at that point they were chosen by the leaders of the five most important tribes (the [[Salian Franks]] of [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]], [[Ripuarian Franks]] of [[Franconia]], [[Saxons]], [[Bavaria]]ns, and [[Swabia]]ns). In the Holy Roman Empire, the main dukes and bishops of the kingdom elected the King of the Romans.

The imperial throne was transferred by election, but Emperors often ensured their own sons were elected during their lifetimes, enabling them to keep the crown for their families. This only changed after the end of the Salian dynasty in the 12th century.

In 1356, Emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] issued the [[Golden Bull of 1356|Golden Bull]], which limited the [[prince-elector|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 [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]], [[Mainz]], and [[Trier]]. During the [[Thirty Years' War]], the [[Duke of Bavaria]] was given the right to vote as the eighth elector, and the [[Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg]] (colloquially, Hanover) was granted a ninth electorate; additionally, the Napoleonic Wars resulted in several electorates being reallocated, but these new electors never voted before the Empire's dissolution. A candidate for election would be expected to offer concessions of land or money to the electors in order to secure their vote.

After being elected, the King of the Romans could theoretically claim the title of "Emperor" only after [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|being crowned by the Pope]]. In many cases, this took several years while the King was held up by other tasks: frequently he first had to resolve conflicts in rebellious northern Italy or was quarreling with the Pope himself. Later Emperors dispensed with the papal coronation altogether, being content with the styling ''Emperor-Elect'': the last Emperor to be crowned by the Pope was [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] in 1530.

The Emperor had to be male and of noble blood. No law required him to be a Catholic, but as the majority of the Electors adhered to this faith, no Protestant was ever elected. Whether and to what degree he had to be German was disputed among the Electors, contemporary experts in constitutional law, and the public. During the Middle Ages, some Kings and Emperors were not of German origin, but since the Renaissance, German heritage was regarded as vital for a candidate in order to be eligible for imperial office.{{Sfn |Hirschi |2005 |pp=393–399}}

=== Imperial Diet ===
{{Main|Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)}}
[[File:Balduineum Wahl Heinrich VII.jpg|thumb|The Seven [[Prince-elector]]s (''{{lang|la|[[Codex Balduini Trevirorum]]}}'', {{circa|1340|lk=no}})]]

The Imperial Diet ({{lang|de|Reichstag}} or {{lang|de|Reichsversammlung}}) was not a legislative body as is understood today, as its members envisioned it to be more like a central forum, where it was more important to negotiate than to decide.{{Sfn |Malettke |2001 |p=22}} The Diet was theoretically superior to the emperor himself. It was divided into three classes. The first class, the [[Council of Electors]], consisted of the electors, or the princes who could vote for King of the Romans. The second class, the [[Council of Princes]], consisted of the other princes. The Council of Princes was divided into two "benches", one for secular rulers and one for ecclesiastical ones. Higher-ranking princes had individual votes, while lower-ranking princes were grouped into "colleges" by geography. Each college had one vote.

The third class was the Council of Imperial Cities, which was divided into two colleges: [[Swabia]] and the [[Rhine]]. The Council of Imperial Cities was not fully equal with the others; it could not vote on several matters such as the admission of new territories. The representation of the Free Cities at the Diet had become common since the late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, their participation was formally acknowledged only as late as 1648 with the [[Peace of Westphalia]] ending the [[Thirty Years' War]].

=== Imperial Aulic Chancellery ===
The Imperial Aulic Chancellery ({{lang|de|Reichshofkanzlei}}) was the main ''Aulic'' (Courtly) [[Chancery (medieval office)|Chancellery]] of the Holy Roman Empire. It was formed in 1559, by emperor [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]], and existed until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806. During that period, it was headed by the [[Imperial Archchancellor]] ({{lang|de|Reichserzkanzler}}), an honorary post traditionally reserved for the [[Archbishops of Mainz]]. In practice, it was run by the Imperial Vicechancellor ({{lang|de|Reichsvizekanzler}}), who was appointed among notable statesmen and administrators in imperial service.{{sfn |Gross |1933}}

=== Imperial courts ===
{{Multiple image
| align=left
| total_width = 400
| image1 = Audienz Reichskammergericht.jpg
| caption1 = ''Reichskammergericht'', around 1750
| image2 = Reichshofrat.jpg
| caption2 = ''Reichshofrat'', around 1700
}}

The Empire also had two courts: the ''Reichshofrat'' (also known in English as the [[Aulic Council]]) at the court of the King/Emperor, and the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'' (Imperial Chamber Court), established with the [[Imperial Reform]] of 1495 by Maximilian I. The Reichskammergericht and the Aulic Council were the two highest judicial instances in the Old Empire. The Imperial Chamber court's composition was determined by both the Holy Roman Emperor and the subject states of the Empire. Within this court, the Emperor appointed the chief justice, always a highborn aristocrat, several divisional chief judges, and some of the other puisne judges.<ref name=reichskammergericht.de/>

The Aulic Council held standing over many judicial disputes of state, both in concurrence with the Imperial Chamber court and exclusively on their own. The provinces Imperial Chamber Court extended to breaches of the public peace, cases of arbitrary distraint or imprisonment, pleas which concerned the treasury, violations of the Emperor's decrees or the laws passed by the Imperial Diet, disputes about property between [[Imperial Estate|immediate tenants of the Empire]] or the subjects of different rulers, and finally suits against immediate tenants of the Empire, with the exception of criminal charges and matters relating to imperial fiefs, which went to the [[Aulic Council]]. The Aulic Council even allowed the emperors the means to depose rulers who did not live up to expectations.{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=429}}{{Sfn |Pavlac |Lott |2019 |p=143}}

=== Imperial circles ===
[[File:Map of the Imperial Circles (1512)-en.png|thumb|upright=1.35|A map of the Empire showing division into Circles in 1512]]

As part of the Imperial Reform, six [[Imperial circle]]s were established in 1500; four more were established in 1512. These were regional groupings of most (though not all) of the various states of the Empire for the purposes of defense, imperial taxation, supervision of coining, peace-keeping functions, and public security. Each circle had its own parliament, known as a ''Kreistag'' ("Circle Diet"), and one or more directors, who coordinated the affairs of the circle. Not all imperial territories were included within the imperial circles, even after 1512; the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]] were excluded, as were [[Old Swiss Confederacy|Switzerland]], the imperial fiefs in northern Italy, the lands of the [[Imperial Knights]], and certain other small territories like the [[Lordship of Jever]].

=== Army ===
{{Main|Army of the Holy Roman Empire}}
{{Further|Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor}}

The [[Army of the Holy Roman Empire]] ({{langx|de|Reichsarmee}}, {{langx|de|Reichsheer|label=none}} or {{langx|de|Reichsarmatur|label=none}}; {{langx|la|exercitus imperii}}) was created in 1422 and as a result of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] came to an end even before the Empire. It should not be confused with the [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|Imperial Army]] ({{langx|de|Kaiserliche Armee|label=none}}) of the Emperor.

Despite appearances to the contrary, the Army of the Empire did not constitute a permanent [[standing army]] that was always at the ready to fight for the Empire. When there was danger, an Army of the Empire was mustered from among the elements constituting it,{{Sfn |Corvisier |Childs |1994 |p=306}} in order to conduct an imperial military campaign or {{langx|de|Reichsheerfahrt|label=none}}. In practice, the imperial troops often had local allegiances stronger than their loyalty to the Emperor.

=== Administrative centres ===
[[File:Vienna Austria Metropolis - Buda, vulgo Ofen, prima & regia Ungaria regni civitas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Vienna, circa 1580 by [[Georg Braun]] and [[Frans Hogenberg]]]]

Throughout the first half of its history the Holy Roman Empire was reigned over by a [[Itinerant court|travelling court]]. Kings and emperors toured between the numerous [[Kaiserpfalz]]es (Imperial palaces), usually resided for several weeks or months and furnished local legal matters, law and administration. Most rulers maintained one or a number of favourite Imperial palace sites, where they would advance development and spent most of their time: Charlemagne ([[Aachen]] from 794), Otto I ([[Magdeburg]], from 955),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tullner |first=Mathias |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmPPBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 |title=Geschichte des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt |date=2013 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-3229-7346-7 |page=27 |language=de |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> Frederick II ([[Palermo]] 1220–1254), Wittelsbacher ([[Munich]] 1328–1347 and 1744–1745), Habsburger ([[Prague]] 1355–1437 and 1576–1611; and [[Vienna]] 1438–1576, 1611–1740 and 1745–1806).{{Sfn |Cantor |1993 |pp=212–215}}{{Sfn |Ehlers |Flachenecker |Päffgen |Schieffer |2016 |pp=31–}}<ref name=Thelocalgermancapitals/>

This practice eventually ended during the 16th century, as the emperors of the [[Habsburg dynasty]] chose [[Vienna]] and [[Prague]] and the [[Wittelsbach dynasty|Wittelsbach]] rulers chose [[Munich]] as their permanent residences (Maximilian I's "true home" was still "the stirrup, the overnight rest and the saddle", although Innsbruck was probably his most important base; Charles V was also a nomadic emperor).{{Sfn |Pavlac |Lott |2019 |p=27}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Benecke |first=Gerhard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEyfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP25 |title=Maximilian I (1459–1519): An Analytical Biography |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-0000-0840-1 |page=25 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Neil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orOgAAAAMAAJ |title=Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor |date=1970 |publisher=F. Watts |isbn=978-0-5310-0937-6 |page=74 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Vienna became Imperial capital during the 1550s under [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] (reigned 1556–1564). Except for a period under [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]] (reigned 1570–1612) who moved to Prague, Vienna kept its primacy under his successors.{{Sfn |Pavlac |Lott |2019 |p=27}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Patrouch |first=Joseph F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j5EoSdYyccC&pg=PA11 |title=Queen's Apprentice: Archduchess Elizabeth, Empress María, the Habsburgs, and the Holy Roman Empire, 1554–1569 |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0041-8030-7 |page=11 |language=en |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> Before that, certain sites served only as the individual residence for a particular sovereign. A number of cities held official status, where the [[Imperial Estates]] would summon at [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]]s, the [[deliberative assembly]] of the empire.{{Sfn |Gagliardo |1980 |pp=22–23}}{{Sfn |Brockmann |2006 |p=15}}

The [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] (''Reichstag'') resided variously in [[Paderborn]], [[Bad Lippspringe]], [[Ingelheim am Rhein]], [[Diedenhofen]] (now [[Thionville]]), [[Aachen]], [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], [[Forchheim]], [[Trebur]], [[Fritzlar]], [[Ravenna]], [[Quedlinburg]], [[Dortmund]], [[Verona]], [[Minden]], [[Mainz]], [[Frankfurt am Main]], [[Merseburg]], [[Goslar]], [[Würzburg]], [[Bamberg]], [[Schwäbisch Hall]], [[Augsburg]], [[Nuremberg]], [[Quierzy-sur-Oise]], [[Speyer]], [[Gelnhausen]], [[Erfurt]], [[Cheb|Eger]] (now [[Cheb]]), [[Esslingen am Neckar|Esslingen]], [[Lindau]], [[Freiburg]], [[Cologne]], [[Konstanz]] and [[Trier]] before it was moved permanently to [[Regensburg]].{{Sfn |Schindling |1986 |p=64}}

Until the early 16th century the elected emperor was [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|crowned]] and anointed by the Pope in [[Rome]], among some exceptions in [[Ravenna]], [[Reims]], and the last coronation in 1530 in [[Bologna]]. Since then, rulers proclaimed themselves as emperor after their coronation as German king. The [[Imperial election]]s usually took place in Frankfurt am Main.{{Sfn |Erbe |2000 |pp=19–30}}{{Sfn |Angermeier |1984}}

In December 1497 the [[Aulic Council]] (''Reichshofrat'') was established in [[Vienna]].{{Sfn |Hochedlinger |Mata |Winkelbauer |2019}}

In 1495 the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'' was established, which variously resided in [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], [[Augsburg]], [[Nuremberg]], [[Regensburg]], [[Speyer]] and [[Esslingen am Neckar|Esslingen]] before it was moved permanently to [[Wetzlar]].{{Sfn |Barker |1911 |p=341}}

=== Foreign relations ===
The Habsburg royal family had its own diplomats to represent its interests. The larger principalities in the Holy Roman Empire, beginning around 1648, also did the same. The Holy Roman Empire did not have its own dedicated ministry of foreign affairs and therefore the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] had no control over these diplomats; occasionally the Diet criticised them.{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |p=70}}<!--Note the page numbers 70 and 69 came from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holy_Roman_Empire&diff=prev&oldid=905420229&diffmode=source which shows 0230344593}}, 9780230344594 - it is possible the different editions (which have different ISBNs) may have the content in different locations. -->

When [[Regensburg]] served as the site of the Diet, France and, in the late 1700s, Russia, had diplomatic representatives there.{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |p=70}} The kings of Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden had land holdings in Germany and so had representation in the Diet itself.{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |p=69}} The Netherlands also had envoys in Regensburg. Regensburg was the place where envoys met as it was where representatives of the Diet could be reached.{{Sfn |Härter |2011 |pp=122–123, 132}}<!--Note that page 122 discusses which countries sent envoys, and page 132 discusses why Regensburg was chosen-->

== Imperial families and dynasties ==
{{See also|Erbreichsplan|Empire of Charles V}}
Some constituencies of the Holy Roman Empire had additional royal or imperial territories that were, sometimes from the outset, outside the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire. [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], inheriting both German aspirations for imperial sovereignty and the Norman Sicilian kings' dream of hegemony in the Mediterranean, had ambitious design for a world empire. Boettcher remarks that marriage policy also played an important role here, "The marital policy of the Staufer ranged from Iberia to Russia, from Scandinavia to Sicily, from England to Byzantium and to the crusader states in the East. Henry was already casting his eyes beyond Africa and Greece, to Asia Minor and Syria and of course on Jerusalem." His annexation of Sicily changed the strategic balance in the Italian peninsula. The emperor, who wanted to make all his lands hereditary, also asserted that papal fiefs were imperial fiefs. On his death at the age of 31 though, he was unable to pass his powerful position to his son, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]], who had only been elected King of the Romans.{{Sfn |Boettcher |2005 |p=342}}{{Sfn |Wilson |2016b |p=2028}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ertl |first=Alan W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9PGRaZt-zcC&pg=PA202 |title=Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration |date=2008 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-5994-2983-0 |page=202 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> The union between Sicily and the Empire thus remained personal union.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Houben |first=Hubert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Duwowbx1vuQC&pg=PA7 |title=Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler Between East and West |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5216-5573-6 |page=7 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> Frederick II became King of Jerusalem in 1225 through marriage to [[Isabella II of Jerusalem|Isabella II (or Yolande) of Jerusalem]] and regained Bethlehem and Nazareth for the Christian side through negotiation with [[Al-Kamil]]. The Hohenstaufen dream of world empire ended with Frederick's death in 1250.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=O'Connell |first1=Monique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlcjDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA102 |title=The Mediterranean World: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Napoleon |last2=Dursteler |first2=Eric R. |date=2016 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-1901-5 |page=102 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Van |first1=Cleve |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hP1nAAAAMAAJ |title=The Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Immutator Mundi |last2=Cleve |first2=Thomas Curtis Van |date=1972 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-1982-2513-3 |page=120 |language=en |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref>

In its earlier days, the Empire provided the principal medium for Christianity to infiltrate the pagans' realms in the North and the East (Scandinavians, Magyars, Slavic people etc.).{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |pp=69}} By the Reform era, the Empire, in its nature, was defensive and not aggressive, desiring of both internal peace and security against invading forces, a fact that even warlike princes such as Maximilian I appreciated.{{Sfn |Wilson |1999 |pp=52–53}} In the Early Modern age, the association with the Church (the Church Universal for the Luxemburgs, and the Catholic Church for the Habsburgs) as well as the emperor's responsibility for the defence of Central Europe remained a reality though. Even the trigger for the conception of the Imperial Reform under Sigismund was the idea of helping the Church to put its house in order.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |pp=lxxv}}{{Sfn |Brady |2009 |p=72}}{{Sfn |Johnson |1996 |p=52}}
[[File:Magyarország a 15. sz. első felében.jpg|thumb|Hungarian map of parts of the Holy Roman Empire (''Német-római Császárság''), including Italy, Bohemia (''[[Csehország]]''), and Hungary (''[[Magyarország]]'') under Sigismund in the 15th century]]
Traditionally, German dynasties had exploited the potential of the imperial title to bring Eastern Europe into the fold, in addition to their lands north and south of the Alps. Marriage and inheritance strategies, following by (usually defensive) warfare, played a great role both for the Luxemburgs and the Habsburgs. It was under [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of the Luxemburg]], who married [[Mary, Queen of Hungary|Mary, Queen regnal and the rightful heir of Hungary]] and later consolidated his power with the marriage to the capable and well-connected noblewoman [[Barbara of Cilli]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Populer |first=Michèle |date=1993 |title=Mályusz (Elemér). Kaiser Sigismund in Ungarn 1387–1437 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1993_num_71_4_3918_t1_0953_0000_2 |journal=Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=953–957 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref> that the emperor's personal empire expanded to a kingdom outside the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire: Hungary. This last monarch of the Luxemburg dynasty (who wore four royal crowns) had managed to gain an empire almost comparable in scale to the later Habsburg empire, although at the same time they lost the [[Kingdom of Burgundy]] and control over Italian territories. The Luxemburgs' focus on the East, especially Hungary, allowed the new Burgundian rulers from the Valois dynasty to foster discontent among German princes. Thus, the Habsburgs were forced to refocus their attention on the West. Frederick III's cousin and predecessor, [[Albert II of Germany]] (who was Sigismund's son-in-law and heir through his marriage with [[Elizabeth of Luxembourg]]) had managed to combine the crowns of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia under his rule, but he died young.{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=18–19}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Amati |first=Roberto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ophcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PP85 |title=History of european integration in 2500 years: Ancient origins are renewed in the present aeternitas |date=2022 |publisher=Tektime |isbn=978-8-8354-3496-2 |page=85 |language=en |access-date=6 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Irgang |first=Winfried |title=Sehepunkte – Rezension von: Kaiser Sigismund (1368–1437) – Ausgabe 14 (2014), Nr. 11 |url=https://sehepunkte.de/2014/11/26191.html |website=sehepunkte.de}}</ref>

During his rule, Maximilian I had a double focus on both the East and the West. The successful expansion (with the notable role of marriage policy) under Maximilian bolstered his position in the Empire, and also created more pressure for an [[imperial reform]], so that they could get more resources and coordinated help from the German territories to defend their realms and counter hostile powers such as France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZFlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |title=The Holy Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1910-6563-7 |language=en |access-date=6 August 2022}}</ref>{{Sfn |Whaley |2012a |pp=18–19, 69}} Ever since he became King of the Romans in 1486, the Empire provided essential help for his activities in Burgundian Netherlands as well as dealings with Bohemia, Hungary and other eastern polities.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Wanders |first=Patrick |title=Maximilian I and the Holy Roman Empire: The Authority of a King of the Romans (1486–1490) |access-date=6 September 2022 |url=https://www.academia.edu/9533296 |pages=1–39}}</ref> In the reigns of his grandsons, Croatia and the remaining rump of the Hungarian kingdom chose [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]] as their ruler after he managed to rescue Silesia and Bohemia from Hungary's fate against the Ottoman. Simms notes that their choice was a contractual one, tying Ferdinand's rulership in these kingdoms and territories to his election as King of the Romans and his ability to defend Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leustean |first=Lucian N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spKUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT255 |title=Orthodox Christianity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Southeastern Europe |date=2014 |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8232-5608-2 |page=255 |language=en |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Simms |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GypWDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1737 |title=Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, from 1453 to the Present |date=2013 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-4650-6595-0 |page=1737 |language=en |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref> In turn, the Habsburgs' imperial rule also "depended on holding these additional extensive lands as independent sources of wealth and prestige."{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=221}}

[[File:Habsburg Empire of Charles V.png|thumb|The empire of Charles V at its peak after the Peace of Crépy in 1544]]
The later Austrian Habsburgs from Ferdinand I were careful to maintain a distinction between their dynastic empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Peter Wilson argues that the institutions and structures developed by the [[Imperial Reform]] mostly served German lands and, although the Habsburg monarchy "remained closely entwined with the Empire", the Habsburgs deliberately refrained from including their other territories in its framework. "Instead, they developed their own institutions to manage what was, effectively, a parallel dynastic-territorial empire and which gave them an overwhelming superiority of resources, in turn allowing them to retain an almost unbroken grip on the imperial title over the next three centuries."{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |p=ii}} Ferdinand had an interest in keeping Bohemia separate from imperial jurisdiction and making the connection between Bohemia and the Empire looser (Bohemia did not have to pay taxes to the Empire). As he refused the rights of an Imperial Elector as King of Bohemia (which provided him with half of his revenue{{Sfn |Evans |2006 |p=82}}), he was able to give Bohemia (as well as associated territories such as Upper and Lower Alsatia, Silesia and Moravia) the same privileged status as Austria, therefore affirming his superior position in the Empire.{{sfn |Whaley |2011b |p=370}}{{Sfn |Evans |Wilson |2012 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rSON55zorLsC&pg=PA126 126]}} The Habsburgs also tried to mobilize imperial aid for Hungary (which, throughout the 16th century, cost the dynasty more money in defence expenditure than the total revenue it yielded).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Perry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjXVdMol61sC&pg=PA303 |title=Lineages of the Absolutist State |date=2013 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-7816-8010-0 |page=303 |language=en |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref>

Since 1542, Charles V and Ferdinand had been able to collect the Common Penny tax, or ''Türkenhilfe'' (Turkish aid), designed to protect the Empire against the Ottomans or France. But as Hungary, unlike Bohemia, was not part of the Empire, the imperial aid for Hungary depended on political factors. The obligation was only in effect if Vienna or the Empire were threatened.<ref name="Tracy 163"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zmora |first=Hillay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5OFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |title=Monarchy, Aristocracy and State in Europe 1300–1800 |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1347-4798-6 |page=50 |language=en |access-date=17 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ninness |first=Richard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBQHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |title=German Imperial Knights: Noble Misfits between Princely Authority and the Crown, 1479–1648 |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-0002-8502-4 |page=106 |language=en |access-date=17 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> Wilson notes that, "In the early 1520s the Reichstag hesitated to vote aid for Hungary's King Louis II, because it regarded him as a foreign prince. This changed once Hungary passed to the Habsburgs on Louis' death in battle in 1526 and the main objective of imperial taxation across the next 90 years was to subsidize the cost of defending the Hungarian frontier against the Ottomans. The bulk of the weaponry and other military materiel was supplied by firms based in the Empire and financed by German banks. The same is true of the troops who eventually evicted the Ottomans from Hungary between 1683 and 1699. The imperial law code of 1532 was used in parts of Hungary until the mid-17th century, but otherwise Hungary had its own legal system and did not import Austrian ones. Hungarian nobles resisted the use of Germanic titles like Graf for count until 1606, and very few acquired the personal status of imperial prince."{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |pp=ii–IA30}}
[[File:Map of the Holy Roman Empire, 1789 en.png|thumb|Habsburg domains within the Holy Roman Empire in 1789]]
Responding to the opinion that the Habsburg's dynastic concerns were damaging to the Holy Roman Empire, Whaley writes that, "There was no fundamental incompatibility between dynasticism and participation in the empire, either for the Habsburgs or for the Saxons or others."<ref name="Whaley on Silver" /> Imperial marriage strategies had double-edged effects for the Holy Roman Empire though. The Spanish connection was an example: while it provided a powerful partner in the defence of Christendom against the Ottomans, it allowed [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] to transfer the [[Burgundian Netherlands]], [[Franche-Comte]] as well as other imperial fiefs such as [[Milan]] to his son [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]]'s Spanish Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Downey |first=Kirstin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1qYAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA307 |title=Isabella: The Warrior Queen |date=2014 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-3855-3412-3 |page=307 |language=en |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dandelet |first=Thomas James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGMZAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 |title=The Renaissance of Empire in Early Modern Europe |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5217-6993-8 |page=78 |language=en |access-date=6 September 2022}}</ref>

Other than the imperial families, other German princes possessed foreign lands as well, and foreign rulers could also acquire imperial fiefs and thus become imperial princes. This phenomenon contributed to the fragmentation of sovereignty, in which imperial vassals remained semi-sovereign, while strengthening the interconnections (and chances of mutual interference) between the Kingdom of Germany and the Empire in general with other kingdoms such as Denmark and Sweden, who accepted the status of imperial vassals on behalf of their German possessions (which were subjected to imperial laws). The two Scandinanvian monarchies honoured the obligations to come to the aid of the Empire in the wars of 17th and early 18th centuries. They also imported German princely families as rulers, although in both cases, this did not produce direct unions. Denmark consistently tried to take advantage of its influence in imperial institutions to gain new imperial fiefs along the [[Elbe]], although these attempts generally did not succeed.{{Sfn |Wilson |2016 |pp=ii–IA29}}

== See also ==
{{Portal bar|Holy Roman Empire|Middle Ages|Monarchy}}
* [[Family tree of German monarchs]]
* [[List of states in the Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 10th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 11th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 12th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 13th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 14th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 16th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 17th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 18th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of state leaders in the 19th-century Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of wars involving the Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[Succession of the Roman Empire]]
* [[Geheimrat]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist|refs=

{{Efn|name=GoldenBull|''Quapropter statuimus, ut illustrium principum, puta regis Boemie, comitis palatini Reni, ducis Saxonie et marchionis Brandemburgensis electorum filii vel heredes et successores, cum verisimiliter Theutonicum ydioma sibi naturaliter inditum scire presumantur et ab infancia didicisse, incipiendo a septimo etatis sue anno in gramatica, Italica ac Sclavica lingwis instruantur, ita quod infra quartum decimum etatis annum existant in talibus iuxta datam sibi a Deo graciam eruditi''. {{Harv|Zeumern|1908}}}}

{{Efn|name=Area|German "Roman" Empire: Due to feudal organization the realm controlled by the emperor is hard to define, much less measure. It is estimated to peak around 1050 at about 1.0 Mm<sup>2</sup>. {{Harv|Taagepera|1997|p=494}}}}

{{Efn|name=prince|The only prince allowed to call himself "king" of a territory in the Empire was the [[King of Bohemia]] (after 1556 usually the Emperor himself). Some other princes were kings by virtue of kingdoms they controlled outside of the Empire}}

{{Efn|name=Avakov|Populations of 1.6 million and 1.5 million given for the areas within the borders of modern Belgium and the Netherlands, respectively, around 1600; the Spanish holdings in the Burgundian Circle also included Franche-Comte, Luxembourg, and other small territories. {{Harv|Avakov|2015}}}}

{{Efn|name=Milan|1.35 million population given for the Duchy of Milan. {{Harv|Smith|1920|p= 19}}}}

{{Efn|name=Charlemagne1|While Charlemagne and his successors assumed variations of the title ''emperor'', none termed themselves ''Roman emperor'' until Otto II in 983. {{Cite web |title=Nature of the empire |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269851/Holy-Roman-Empire/10156/Nature-of-the-empire |access-date=15 February 2014 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online}}}}

{{Efn|name=Translation|Translation of the grant of privileges to merchants in 1229: {{Cite web |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Privileges Granted to German Merchants at Novgorod, 1229 |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1229novgorod-germans.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814182510/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1229novgorod-germans.html |archive-date=14 August 2014 |access-date=13 April 2020 |publisher=Fordham.edu}}}}

}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
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<ref name="isites">{{Citation |last1=Puga |first1=Diego |title=International trade and institutional change: A death in Venice |work=Venice Seminar MIT |url=http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic599385.files/venice_seminar_MIT_R1a.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903230511/http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic599385.files/venice_seminar_MIT_R1a.pdf |archive-date=3 September 2015 |last2=Trefler |first2=Daniel}}</ref>
<ref name="EB.HRE">{{Cite web |title=Holy Roman Empire |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269851/Holy-Roman-Empire |access-date=15 February 2014 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online}}</ref>
<ref name="EB.Silesia">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Silesia|volume=25}}</ref>
<ref name="EB.Pippin">{{Cite web |date=16 May 2023 |title=France: History, Map, Flag, Capital, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/France |website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online}}</ref>
<ref name="reichskammergericht.de">{{Cite web |date=4 July 2015 |title=Society for Imperial Chamber Court Research, Wetzlar |url=https://grkg.wordpress.com/english-information |access-date=7 September 2021 |website=Museum and Research Center for the Imperial Chamber Court (Reichskammergericht)}}</ref>
<ref name="Thelocalgermancapitals">{{Cite web |date=18 August 2016 |title=Seven German cities you never knew were once capitals |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20160818/seven-german-cities-you-never-knew-were-once-capitals |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620060523/https://www.thelocal.de/20160818/seven-german-cities-you-never-knew-were-once-capitals |archive-date=20 June 2019 |access-date=20 June 2019 |website=[[The Local]]}}</ref>

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* {{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiFWYsG-t7UC |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493–1648 |date=2012a |publisher=OUP |isbn=978-0-1987-3101-6 |volume=I |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeqGLXvgH7YC |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, Volume II: The Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich, 1648–1806 |date=2012b |publisher=OUP |isbn=978-0-1996-9307-8 |volume=II |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |author-link=Peter H. Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSBIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=The Holy Roman Empire 1495–1806 |date=1999 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-3492-7649-3 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=From Reich To Revolution: German History, 1558–1806 |date=2004}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |date=December 2006 |title=Bolstering the Prestige of the Habsburgs: The End of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 |journal=The International History Review |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=709–736 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2006.9641109 |s2cid=154316830}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years' War |date=2009 |publisher=Allen Lane}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire |date=2016 |publisher=Belknap Press |isbn=978-0-6740-5809-5}}
* {{Citation |title=Goldene Bulle |date=1908 |editor-last=Zeumern |editor-first=Karl |url=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Goldene_Bulle_%28Zeumer,_1908%29 |publisher=Hermann Böhlaus}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Žůrek |first=Václav |date=31 December 2014 |title=Les langues du roi. Le rôle de la langue dans la communication de propagande dynastique à l'époque de Charles IV |trans-title=The languages of the king. The role of language in dynastic propaganda communication during the time of Charles IV |journal=Revue de l'Institut Français d'Histoire en Allemagne |language=fr |issue=6 |doi=10.4000/ifha.8045 |doi-access=free}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Benjamin |title=Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5215-2148-2 |ol=7744146M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bryce |first=James |author-link=James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce |title=The Holy Roman Empire |date=1864 |publisher=Macmillan |oclc=1347435 |ol=17729330M}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered |date=2010 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-8454-5992-5 |editor-last=Coy |editor-first=Jason Philip |ol=38653949M |editor-last2=Marschke |editor-first2=Benjamin |editor-last3=Sabean |editor-first3=David Warren}}
* Donaldson, George. ''Germany: A Complete History'' (Gotham Books, New York, 1985)
* Hahn, Hans Joachim. ''German thought and culture: From the Holy Roman Empire to the present day'' (Manchester University Press, 1995).
* Scribner, Bob. ''Germany: A New Social and Economic History, Vol. 1: 1450–1630'' (1995)
* [[Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger|Stollberg-Rilinger, Barbara]]. ''The Holy Roman Empire: A Short History''. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2018.
* Treasure, Geoffrey. ''The Making of Modern Europe, 1648–1780'' (3rd ed. 2003). pp.{{nbs}}374–426.
* Zophy, Jonathan W., ed. ''The Holy Roman Empire: A Dictionary Handbook'' (Greenwood Press, 1980)
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Library resources box}}
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* [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/hre.htm Heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire]
* [http://www.mcm.edu/academic/depts/history/maps/HOLYROMEMPIRE.html The Holy Roman Empire in the 16h century (map)]
* [http://corndancer.com/vox/aer/aer_art/map01_1648.jpg The Holy Roman Empire in the 17th century (map)]
* [http://www.hoeckmann.de/germany/index.htm The Holy Roman Empire in the 18th century (interactive map)]
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