Civilization · Early Middle Ages · Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

962–1806

The Holy Roman Empire was the great medieval empire of central Europe, neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, as Voltaire joked. It lasted 844 years from Otto the Great's coronation to Napoleon's dissolution of it in 1806.

Facts

Founded: 962, Otto I crowned emperor by the Pope.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Holy Roman Empire
Ended: 1806, Francis II dissolved it under Napoleon's pressure.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Holy Roman Empire
Heartland: Central Europe, above all Germany and northern Italy.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Holy Roman Empire
Major rulers: Charlemagne, the model; Frederick Barbarossa; Charles V, who ruled half the world.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Holy Roman Empire

Images

Aachen Cathedral, where the emperors were crowned for 600 years. (Wikimedia Commons)

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