50 Fun Facts About Holy Roman Empire

Which Frankish king was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day 800?

The pope wanted a male Roman emperor as head of Christendom after Empress Irene took sole power in Constantinople.

Which German king's 962 coronation by Pope John XII is often taken as the empire's true beginning?

In 955 he had crushed the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld; the following year he deposed the very pope who had crowned him.

In what year did the last emperor abdicate and dissolve the Holy Roman Empire?

Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine had pulled the German client states out from under the empire after his crushing victory of 1805.

Which philosopher quipped that the Holy Roman Empire was 'in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire'?

By his day the Thirty Years' War had left the empire a patchwork of some 300 territories, so the joke landed.

'Holy' was added to the empire's name in 1157 under Barbarossa, reflecting his ambition to dominate what?

The full form 'Holy Roman Empire' is only attested from 1254.

After a 1512 decree, the empire was often styled the Holy Roman Empire 'of the' what?

The addition coincided with the loss of the Italian and Burgundian lands, though historians dispute whether the suffix was ever truly official.

Nazi propaganda later labelled the Holy Roman Empire as which 'Reich'?

The German Empire of 1871 became the Second and Nazi Germany the Third; after the dissolution people had simply called it 'the old Empire'.

Besides Germany and Italy, which kingdom joined the empire in 1032 as its third main component?

By the 15th century effective control of both Italy and this kingdom had faded and governance concentrated on the Kingdom of Germany.

To which pope did Emperor Henry IV make his humiliating 1077 'Walk to Canossa'?

Henry had pointedly addressed the pope by his birth name, Hildebrand; the dispute over appointing bishops is known as the Investiture Controversy.

Which 1122 agreement between Henry V and the papacy ended the Investiture Controversy?

The empire kept its political power but the emperor lost the sacred aura he had once enjoyed, and the princes emerged as major players.

In which region did Frederick Barbarossa die in 1190, while taking part in the Third Crusade?

He had emphasised the 'Romanness' of the empire, and at Roncaglia in 1158 had his imperial rights enumerated in terms of Justinian's law code.

Which crusade did the excommunicated Frederick II lead in 1228, regaining Jerusalem by treaty?

Ruling mostly from Sicily, he granted sweeping privileges to the German princes, and the 1232 Statutum first called them 'lords of their lands'.

After 1257, Richard of Cornwall contested the crown with which Spanish king, who never set foot in Germany?

The princes used the leaderless decades to consolidate their own holdings; Rudolf of Habsburg's election in 1273 ended the deadlock.

Who in 1273 became the first Habsburg to hold the royal title, though he was never crowned emperor?

In 1282 he granted Austria and Styria to his own sons, beginning the family's long reliance on its hereditary lands.

Which 1356 decree by Charles IV fixed the college of prince-electors and imperial election rules?

It is named for its golden seal, made a majority of electors sufficient rather than unanimity, and was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2013.

How many prince-electors chose the emperor under Charles IV's 1356 decree?

Three were archbishops (Mainz, Trier, Cologne) and four secular rulers, including the King of Bohemia; the Bull suggested electors' sons learn German, Latin, Italian and Czech.

Which city did Charles IV make the seat of the emperor, ushering in that land's 'Golden Age'?

He built up Bohemia as the Luxembourg dynasty's core land; the Kingdom of Bohemia had been raised from a duchy in 1198.

To what title did a prospective emperor first have to be elected before claiming the crown?

In theory only papal coronation then made him emperor; later rulers skipped that step and simply styled themselves Emperor-Elect.

In which Italian city did Clement VII crown Charles V in 1530, the last papal imperial coronation?

Later emperors dispensed with the pope entirely and styled themselves Emperor-Elect; Charles abdicated in 1556 and retired to a monastery at Yuste.

Which city regularly hosted imperial elections from the 14th century onward?

The Archbishop of Mainz summoned the electors and presided; a few elections were held elsewhere, such as Cologne in 1531.

In what year did Frederick III become the first Habsburg to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor?

He was wary of reform for most of his reign but presided over its first phase in old age to secure the election of his son Maximilian.

Which new imperial court, largely independent of the emperor, was created at the 1495 Reichstag at Worms?

A new tax, the Common Penny, was meant to fund it; Maximilian answered by setting up a rival court, the Reichshofrat, in Vienna in 1497.

How many Imperial Circles (Reichskreise) existed after the last four were added in 1512?

They handled defence, taxation, coinage and peace-keeping regionally; Bohemia, Switzerland and the Italian fiefs stayed outside the system.

Which 1555 settlement let the empire's rulers choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for their territories?

Zwinglians, Calvinists and radicals were left out; Calvinism was only recognised in 1648.

In which 1547 war did Charles V defeat the Protestant princes without crushing Protestantism?

The princes survived defeat, and Charles eventually gave up his dream of a single Christian world empire when Pope Paul IV sided with France.

When Charles V split his inheritance, who received the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian lands?

Spain and the Burgundian lands went to his son Philip II, whose awkward manner and lack of German doomed any hope of the princes accepting him.

Which emperor, a lover of Greek philosophy, lived isolated in Bohemia and left the empire weakened at his death in 1612?

When the Bohemians rebelled against his successors, the result was the Thirty Years' War.

The Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648 was signed in which two cities?

Talks were split because each side insisted on meeting on territory it controlled; 109 delegations took part.

About how many territories were represented in the Imperial Diet at the time of the Peace of Westphalia?

Many 'little states' covered only a few square miles, which is why the empire was likened to a patchwork carpet.

From 1663 until the empire's dissolution the Imperial Diet sat in permanent session in which city?

Members rarely attended in person, so the late Diet was in effect a standing conference of ambassadors from the estates.

What was the Reichsgut?

After the 13th century it was increasingly pawned to local dukes, and rulers relied instead on their own dynastic lands, the Hausmacht.

Which battle in 1805 preceded Francis II's decision to lay down the imperial crown?

The Treaty of Pressburg followed, and Napoleon reorganised much of Germany into the Confederation of the Rhine.

What new title had Francis II taken for himself in 1804, two years before dissolving the empire?

It was his response to Napoleon crowning himself Emperor of the French; his house went on ruling Austria and Hungary until 1918.

Which two princely member states of the Holy Roman Empire survive as monarchies today?

Every other historic member state was dissolved or became a republic.

Which two Free Imperial Cities still exist as states of the Federal Republic of Germany?

Both are city-states in the modern Bundesrepublik; Lübeck lost its free status only in 1937.

What was the empire's principle that its rulers inherited supreme power from the ancient Roman emperors called?

The first emperor himself used the motto Renovatio imperii Romanorum, 'renewal of the Roman Empire'.

What was a Kaiserpfalz?

With no fixed capital, rulers toured between them; favourite sites over the centuries included Magdeburg, Palermo and Vienna.

Which city was the first emperor's favourite palace site from 794, and later a coronation place of German kings?

German kings were elected and crowned there for centuries, including one elected there in 936 who went on to be crowned emperor.

In 996 Otto III appointed his cousin as the first German pope. What name did he take?

Roman nobles led by Crescentius II revolted against a foreign pope; Otto died young in 1002 and his reign is remembered as 'largely unrealized potential'.

Which Byzantine princess married Otto II, forming marital ties between the two Roman empires?

Their son Otto III inherited the throne at three, and imperial women such as Adelaide and Theophanu acted as regents and co-rulers.

Which Hohenstaufen emperor gained the Norman Kingdom of Sicily by marrying Constance of Sicily?

He even blackmailed Richard the Lionheart, but died suddenly in 1197 leaving an infant heir and a disputed double election.

Which southern German city, home of the Fugger and Welser bankers, is called the capital of early capitalism?

It also hosted the most important post office in the empire; the Fuggers were badly hurt by Spanish Habsburg bankruptcies in 1557, 1575 and 1607.

Which port in the Habsburg Netherlands handled a reported 40% of world trade before merchants fled to Amsterdam?

Conflicts with the Habsburg-Spanish government in 1576 and 1585 drove the exodus north.

Whom did Charles V defeat in the bribery-ridden 1519 imperial election?

Frederick the Wise of Saxony and Henry VIII were also candidates; Charles was Maximilian's grandson through his father and Ferdinand of Aragon's through his mother.

Per historian Peter Wilson, roughly what was the empire's population in 1700, excluding Imperial Italy?

By one estimate the empire did not regain its 1618 population until 1750, such was the demographic damage of the Thirty Years' War.

When did the Netherlands de facto leave the empire, a departure formally accepted only in 1653?

The empire stayed neutral in the Dutch revolt against Spain, and the Reichstag ratified Dutch neutrality as late as 1728.

At which 955 battle did Otto the Great win a decisive victory over the Magyars?

Four years earlier he had married Queen Adelaide of Italy and taken control of that kingdom.

Who was the first king of the Salian dynasty, elected in 1024 after Henry II died?

The group of dukes and nobles who chose him eventually developed into the college of electors.

Napoleon reorganised much of the dissolved empire in 1806 into which new body?

It was replaced by the German Confederation in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars.

In what year was the Army of the Holy Roman Empire, the Reichsarmee, created?

It should not be confused with the emperor's own Imperial Army, the Kaiserliche Armee.