Holy Roman Empire (I): History 1
The Holy Roman Empire (German: Heiliges R misches Reich; Latin: Sacrum Romanum Imperium), the full name after 1512 was the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation or the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation (German: Heiliges R misches Reich deutscher Nation; Latin: Sacrum Romanorum Imperium nationis Germanicae), Chinese abbreviated as "Shrews", was a feudal monarchy in Western and Central Europe from 962 to 1806, with the German Kingdom as its core, including the surrounding areas of Germany and Austria (the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and the western half of Poland), and at its peak the Kingdom of Frisia (all the Lowland states today: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg), the Kingdom of Burgundy (eastern France), and the Kingdom of Italy (present-day Northern Italy).
The Holy Roman Empire was initially a unified state; but for most of its history it was a "nation in the name of nothingness", a multinational group consisting of "hundreds of smaller princely states, principalities, counties, imperial free cities, bishopric states, ecclesiastical fiefdoms", and the small states within the empire were independent, equivalent to a political alliance with loose members.
In the early days of the Holy Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire was ruled by emperors with real power, no different from other normal countries; in the Middle Ages, it evolved into an alliance state that "only recognized the Holy Roman Emperor as the supreme authority, and the emperor needed to be elected by the seven electors", the emperor had no direct power over the domestic princes; because of the large number of countries, in the Reformation, Thera became a conflict between the old and new sects, and after the end of the Thirty Years' War, the old and new alliances reconciled with each other and signed the Treaty of Westphalia. In the middle and late period of the empire, the Habsburg dynasty of the Grand Duchy of Austria monopolized the throne of the Holy Roman Empire for 400 years through royal marriages and money bribes, and vienna, the capital of Austria, became the de facto capital of the empire.
The Holy Roman Empire was forcibly dissolved by Napoleon I of the French Empire during the French Revolution, and the Divine Roman Empire disintegrated and ceased to exist, the original Holy Roman Emperor abdicated and transferred the throne to the Austrian Empire, while the old political territory excluded the most powerful Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, and all the remaining small countries were unified into the Rhine Federation, a vassal state of France.
Nazi Germany called Shri Lo the "First German Empire", while the modern Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria regarded the Holy Roman Empire as part of the history of Germany, Austria and the German nation, and the Czech Republic also regarded the Holy Roman Empire as an irreplaceable element in the history of its predecessor, the Kingdom of Bohemia.
1. Otto I established an empire
Around 900, local power rose in the East Frankish Kingdom to form four principalities based on four Germanic tribes: Saxony (Saxons), Franconia (Old Frankish), Swabians (Almanians) and Bavaria (Bavarians). In 911, Louis, the last king of the Carolingians, died, but the East Frankish nobles did not choose a member of the Carolingian family of West Francia as their successor, but instead elected Conrad, Duke of Franconia, as the new king. On his deathbed, Conrad designated Henry, a bird catcher from the Duke of Saxony, as his successor. In 919, Henry, Duke of Saxony, among the many Dukes of the East Franconian Kingdom, was elected King of the East Franconian Kingdom (Saxony Dynasty), and his descendants continued to rule the East Frankish Kingdom for about a century. Henry I renamed the Kingdom of East Francia the Kingdom of Germany. In 936, Henry died, and his designated heir, also his son, Otto I, was elected king in Aachen. He quelled a series of rebellions waged by his eldest brother and some dukes. After that, the king succeeded in taking over the appointment and dismissal of dukes and often appointed bishops to administer administrative affairs. In 951, Otto I helped Adelaide, a widow queen of Italy, defeat her enemies. Marry her and take control of Italy. In 955, Otto I won a decisive victory at the Battle of Lehifid, the Hungarian chieftains of Sauerkabuls and Rael, and the chiefs of Sur.
In 962, King Otto I of Germany was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope John XII, becoming the guardian and emperor of Rome and the supreme ruler of the Roman Catholic world. Since then, the affairs of the Empire have been intertwined with those of Italy and the Holy See. The coronation ceremony of Otu made the Germanic kings heirs of the Charlemagne Empire and also made them heirs of ancient Rome through the principle of imperial succession. The empire did not have a fixed capital, and the king was constantly traveling back and forth with various residences to handle government affairs (known as Kaiserpfalz). However, each king had a preferred location, which for Ötu I was Magdeburg.
The throne continued to pass in the form of elections, but before the kings died, their heirs were often elected as the next king, making it possible for their families to retain the throne for a long time. This feature continued until the end of the Salian rule in the 12th century. This also reignited conflict with the Eastern Roman Emperor of Constantinople, especially after Otto I's son Otto II proclaimed himself Emperor of the Romans. Nevertheless, Otto maintained his marriage to the Eastern Roman Empire by marrying the Byzantine princess Theophano (the niece of Emperor Nikephorus II). Their son, Otto III, focused on Italy and the Holy See and engaged in extensive diplomacy, but died young in 1002.
He was succeeded by his cousin Henry II, who focused on internal German affairs.
2. The reign of the Salian family in Franconia
In 1024, Henry II died without heirs, and Conrad II of Franconia was elected King of East Francia and crowned emperor in 1027.
Conrad II succeeded to the Kingdom of Burgundy after the death of King Rudolph III of Burgundy.
In 1125, the last monarch, Henry V, died without heirs, and the salian rule came to an end.
During the nearly 100-year reign of the Salian family, there was a far-reaching struggle for the right to resign between the emperor and the Holy See.
3. The struggle for the right of bishops to resign
In the early to middle Middle Ages, the Germanic aristocracy was generally ill-educated and therefore unable to provide efficient administration, so successive kings often hired Catholic bishops who were familiar with the roman legal system to manage administrative affairs, and as a result, kings often decided on who would enter the church.
In the early days of Cluny's reforms, the Holy See increasingly considered such acts to be an inappropriate ultra vires. Determined to oppose such acts, Pope Gregor VII sparked a dispute with Emperor Henry IV for the right to appoint bishops, who opposed the Pope's interference and persuaded the bishop to depose him. The Pope fought back, and also punished the Emperor with a law-breaking, excommunication, the dethronement of the king and the lifting of Henry's oath of allegiance. Learning of the emperor's excommunication, the German princes, in an effort for greater power, elected another king, Rudolf of Rheinfelden of Swabia. Finding himself politically isolated, the Emperor forced himself to make the famous canosa trip in 1077 and restore himself to the church at the cost of humiliation. After the restoration of the religion, Henry successfully defeated the opposing kings, and once pushed Ego slightly to the end, but eventually encountered more uprisings, re-expulsion, and even rebellions launched by his own sons.
In 1122, his second son Henry V successfully concluded the Worms Religious Agreement with the Pope and bishops. The political power of the Empire was retained, but the conflict showed that the power of all rulers was limited, especially with regard to the Church, and abolished the sainthood previously enjoyed by the king. The Pope and the princes have since occupied an equally important place in the political system of the Empire.
It is worth noting that during this period, the "king of the Romans" (Latin: Rex Romanorum) replaced the (eastern) Frankish king (or simply "king"), becoming for the first time the title of uncoated emperor elected: this is the response of Henry IV, who ascended to the throne at an age of age, to Pope Gregory VII, who attempted to call the young king "king of the Germans" or "king of the Teutonics" (Latin: Rex Teutonicorum) to deny the Romanism and universality of the reign of the unmarried emperor, thus establishing the supremacy of the Holy See over the empire.