Holy Roman Empire

often called the German Empire. It began with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800. It was renewed by Otto the Great in 962 and ended with the abdication of Francis II in 1806. The empire was in theory the political counterpart of the Holy Catholic Church. A mosaic of the tenth century hanging in the church of St. John in the Lateran of Rome represents the pope and the emperor kneeling at the footstool of Christ. With one hand, Christ bestows the keys of heaven, emblem of spiritual authority, on the pope; and with the other hand, he bestows the standard of the empire, emblem of temporal sovereignty, on the emperor. The Holy Roman Empire was a revival of the notion of a universal empire analogous to a universal church. It included in general the German speaking people of central Europe, and was connected closely with Italy. Various regions outside of Germany were included at times in the empire. The important dynasties were the Carlovingian (represented by Charlemagne; the Saxon, represented by Henry the Fowler; Otto I; the Franconian line, including Henrys III, IV, and V; the Hohenstaufen, represented by Frederick Barbarossa; the Hapsburgs, including Maximilian I and Charles V.

Neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.--Voltaire.

The theory of the Medieval Empire is that of a universal Christian monarchy. The Roman Empire and the Catholic Church are two aspects of one society, a society ordained by the Divine Will to spread itself over the whole world. At the head of this society in its temporal character, as an empire, stands the temporal chief of Christendom, the Roman Caesar. At its head in its spiritual character, as a church, stands the spiritual chief of Christendom, the Roman Pontiff. Caesar and Pontiff, alike, rule by divine right, each as God's immediate vicar within his own sphere. Each is bound to the other by the closest ties. . . . And each of these lofty offices is open to every baptized man; each alike is purely elective. . . . Here is a conception as magnificent as it was impractical.--E. A. Freeman.