Portal:Holy Roman Empire

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History of the Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire portal gives an overview of events from about 900 to 1806, that affected the territories of the Empire and its leading aristocratic families.

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The purpose of the Holy Roman Empire portal is to make it easy for readers to find and explore articles about the Holy Roman Empire and its aristocratic families, as well as enabling editors to come together to work to enhance the subject and its themes. New editors are warmly welcome and invited to participate in adding new articles and improving existing ones – the first steps are very easy.

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Louis William of Baden-Baden

Louis William of Baden-Baden
Louis William of Baden-Baden

Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, nicknamed Turkish Louis or the Shield of the Empire was the victorious imperial general of the Turkish Wars. The Turks called him the "Red King" because of his red uniform jacket which could be seen far across the battlefields.

Louis William was born on 8 April 1655, seven years after the end of the Thirty Years' War, in the Hôtel de Soissons in Paris and died on 4 January 1707 in his unfinished palace in Rastatt. His name was chosen after his grandfather, Margrave William, and his godfather, Louis XIV, the King of France. He was the son of the heir to the throne, Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden and Louise of Savoy-Carignan, whose brother, Eugene Maurice of Savoy-(Soissons)-Carignan, was the father of the famous Prince Eugene.

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Important noble families
AgilolfingsAhalolfingsAndechsAribonidsArnulfingAscaniaBabenbergBalduinBillungBurchardingCaroligiansConradinesDiepolding-RapotonesEkkehardinsEmichonesEppensteinsEtichonidsEzzonidsGriffinsHabsburgHohenstaufenHohenzollernLudovingiansLuitpoldingsLuxembourgMatfriedsMeinhardinerNassauNortheimObodritesOttonians PlantagenetPopponidsPremyslidReginarSaliansSieghardingiansSpanheimSupplinburgUdalrichingsUnruochingsWelfsWigericsWittelsbachWettinWilhelminersWürttembergZähringen

Important imperial treaties, edicts and legal sources
Peace of AugsburgConfoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticisConstitutio Criminalis CarolinaCuius regio, eius religioGolden Bull of 1356Ems PunctationEwiger LandfriedePeace of ConstanceTreaty of LunévilleTreaty of VeniceYoungest RecessGerman mediatization (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) • Ottonian-Salian Imperial Church SystemPeace of PassauSachsenspiegelSchwabenspiegelStatutum in favorem principumTreaty of Bonn (921) • Peace of WestphaliaEdict of WormsConcordat of Worms

Conflicts and key events
Anti-kingsAugsburg InterimBattle of the Three EmperorsWar of the Austrian Succession War of the Bavarian SuccessionWalk to CanossaCrusadesInvestiture ControversyBattle of LechfeldBattle of LegnanoWar of the Palatine SuccessionDefenestrations of PragueReformationSchmalkaldic LeagueSchmalkaldic WarSeven Years' WarThirty Years' WarWestern Schism

Terminology
Imperial Army (Reichsarmee) • Free imperial city (Freie Reichsstadt) • HasenratPerpetual Diet of Regensburg (Immerwährender Reichstag) • InterregnumCoronationRecess (Reichsabschied) • Imperial ban (Reichsacht) • FlagsReichsdeputationReichsexekutionReichsexekutionsordnungReichsfürstenratImperial Italy (Reichsitalien) • Imperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien) • Imperial Register (Reichsmatrikel) • Imperial Prelate (Reichsprälat) • Imperial Reform (Reichsreform) • Imperial Government (Reichsregiment) • Imperial Knighthood (Reichsritterschaft) • ReichsstädtekollegiumReichssturmfahneReservatrechteRömermonatQuaternionenadlerWahlkapitulation

Organisation of the Empire

Structures

Institutions of the Empire

Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, 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. It developed in the Early Middle Ages and lasted for almost 1,000 years until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned Frankish king Charlemagne as Roman emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe more than three centuries after the fall of the ancient Western Roman Empire in 476. The title lapsed in 924, but was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor by Pope John XII, fashioning himself as Charlemagne's and the Carolingian Empire's successor, and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries. From 962 until the twelfth century, the empire was one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe. The functioning of government depended on the harmonious cooperation between emperor and vassals; this harmony was disturbed during the Salian period. The empire reached the apex of territorial expansion and power under the House of Hohenstaufen in the mid-thirteenth century, but overextension of its power led to a partial collapse.

Scholars generally describe an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, and a gradual development of the imperial role. While the office of emperor had been reestablished, the exact term for his realm as the "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, although the emperor's theoretical legitimacy from the beginning rested on the concept of translatio imperii, that he held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome. Nevertheless, in the Holy Roman Empire, the imperial office was traditionally elective by the mostly German prince-electors. In theory and diplomacy, the emperors were considered the first among equals of all Europe's Catholic monarchs.

A process of Imperial Reform in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries transformed the empire, creating a set of institutions which endured until its final demise in the nineteenth century. According to historian Thomas Brady Jr., the empire after the Imperial Reform was a political body of remarkable longevity and stability, and "resembled in some respects the monarchical polities of Europe's western tier, and in others the loosely integrated, elective polities of East Central Europe." The new corporate German Nation, instead of simply obeying the emperor, negotiated with him. On 6 August 1806, Emperor Francis II abdicated and formally dissolved the empire following the creation – the month before, by French emperor Napoleon – of the Confederation of the Rhine, a confederation of German client states loyal not to the Holy Roman emperor but to France. (Full article...)

History of the Holy Roman Empire

Extent of the Holy Roman Empire
Extent of the Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire (Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium) was the official name for the sovereign territory of the Roman-German Emperor from the Middle Ages to the year 1806. The name of the Empire is derived from the claim of its medieval rulers that it continued the tradition of the Ancient Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire is the forerunner of the modern nation-states of Germany and Austria. To distinguish it from the German Empire founded in 1871 it is also referred to by modern historians as the “Old Empire” (German: Altes Reich) more...

Well known people of the Holy Roman Empire

Emperors and kings
Otto IOtto IIOtto IIIHenry IIConrad IIHenry IIIHenry IVHenry VConrad IIIFrederick IHenry VIPhilip of SwabiaOtto IVFrederick IIHenry VIILouis IVCharles IVFrederick IIICharles VFerdinand IFerdinand IIJoseph ICharles VIIFrancis II

Important church leaders
Leo IIIGregory VIIUrban IIInnocent IIIAlexander IIILeo XJan HusMartin LutherPhilip Melanchthon John Calvin

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