The
Holy Roman Emperor () was the
elected monarch ruling over the
Holy Roman Empire, a
Central European state in existence during the
Middle Ages and the
Early Modern period. By convention the first Emperor was taken to be the
Frankish king
Charlemagne, crowned as
Emperor of the West by
Pope Leo III on
25 December 800, although the Empire itself (as well as the style
Holy Roman Emperor) didn't come into use until some time later. Holy Roman Emperors were crowned by the
Popes up until the
16th century, and the last Emperor,
Francis II, abdicated in
1806 during the
Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empire's final dissolution.
The
Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the
translatio imperii (
transfer of rule) principle that regarded the (Germanic) Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the
Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of
Julius Nepos in
480.
Establishment of the Holy Roman Empire
After Charlemagne's death in 814, his realm was eventually divided into three by his grandsons at the
Treaty of Verdun of 843. The
Western realm would later become
France, the
Middle realm Lotharingia or Lorraine, and the
Eastern realm Germany. The title of Emperor was held by several Carolingian Frankish monarchs until the ascension of
Otto I of the
Eastern realm, in 962. From this time onward, Eastern Francia became the Holy Roman Empire, and its rulers, after being elected as
King of Germany, would be crowned as emperor by the
Pope. The last emperor to be crowned by the pope was
Charles V; all emperors after him were technically
emperors-elect, but were universally referred to as
Emperor.
Conflict with the Papacy
The title of
Emperor (
Imperator) carried with it an important role as protector of the
Catholic Church, and emperors were ordained as
subdeacons of the Catholic Church (thus women were ineligible to be crowned). As the papacy's power grew during the Middle Ages, Popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The most well-known and bitter conflict was that known as the
Investiture Controversy fought during the
11th century between
Henry IV and
Pope Gregory VII.
Succession
Successions to the kingship were controlled by a complicated mélange of factors. Elections meant the kingship of
Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of
France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. Some scholars suggest that the task of the elections was really to solve conflicts only when the dynastic rule was unclear, yet, the process meant that the prime candidate had to make concessions, by which the voters were kept on side, which were known as
Wahlkapitulationen (election capitulations). The
Electoral council was set at seven princes (three archbishops and four secular princes) by the
Golden Bull of 1356. It remained so until
1648, when the settlement of the
Thirty Years' War required the addition of a new elector to maintain the precarious balance between Protestant and Catholic factions in the Empire. Another elector was added in
1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in
1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire.
After
1438, the Kings remained in the house of
Habsburg and
Habsburg-Lorraine, with the brief exception of one
Wittelsbach,
Charles VII. In
1508, and permanently after
1556, the King no longer traveled to Rome for the crowning by the Pope.
List of Emperors
This list includes all emperors from Charlemagne, including Emperors-Elect. The
numeration of Emperors follows that of the
Kings of Germany; thus, there are some gaps in the tally. For example,
Henry the Fowler was King of Germany but not Emperor;
Emperor Henry II was numbered as his successor as German King. The Guideschi follow the numeration for the
Duchy of Spoleto.
Carolingian Dynasty
House of Guideschi
Guy III of Spoleto, 891–894
Lambert II of Spoleto, 894–898
Carolingian Dynasty
Arnulf of Carinthia, 896–899
Louis III the Blind, 901–905
Berengar of Friuli, 915–924
Ottonian (Saxon) Dynasty
Otto I the Great, 962–973
Otto II, 973–983
Otto III, 996–1002
Henry II the Saint, 1014–1024 (enumerated as successor of Henry I who was German King 919–936 but not Emperor.)
Salian (Frankish) Dynasty
Conrad II, 1027–1039 (enumerated as successor of Conrad I who was German King 911–918 but not Emperor)
Henry III, 1046–1056
Henry IV, 1084–1105
Henry V, 1111–1125
Supplinburger dynasty
Lothair III, 1133–1137 (enumerated as successor of Lothair II, who was King of Lotharingia 855–869 but not Emperor)
Staufen (or Hohenstaufen dynasty)
Frederick I Barbarossa, 1155–1190
Henry VI, 1191–1197
House of Welf
Otto IV of Brunswick, 1209–1215 (d.1218)
Staufen (or Hohenstaufen dynasty)
Frederick II, 1211–1250
House of Luxembourg
Henry VII, 1312–1313
House of Wittelsbach
Louis IV the Bavarian, 1328–1347
House of Luxembourg
Charles IV, 1355–1378
Sigismund, 1433–1437
House of Habsburg
Frederick III, 1452–1493
Maximilian I, 1508–1519 (emperor-elect)
Charles V, 1530–1556 (did not formally abdicate until 1558) (emperor-elect 1519–1530)
Ferdinand I, 1556-1564 (emperor-elect) (was not officially emperor-elect until 1558)
Maximilian II, 1564–1576 (emperor-elect)
Rudolf II, 1576–1612 (emperor-elect; enumerated as successor of Rudolf I who was German King 1273–1291 but not Emperor)
Matthias, 1612–1619 (emperor-elect)
Ferdinand II, 1619–1637 (emperor-elect)
Ferdinand III, 1637–1657 (emperor-elect)
Leopold I, 1658–1705 (emperor-elect)
Joseph I, 1705–1711 (emperor-elect)
Charles VI, 1711–1740 (emperor-elect)
House of Wittelsbach
Charles VII Albert, 1742–1745 (emperor-elect)
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Francis I, 1745–1765 (emperor-elect)
Joseph II, 1765–1790 (emperor-elect)
Leopold II, 1790–1792 (emperor-elect)
Francis II, 1792–1806 (emperor-elect)
Coronation
The Emperor was crowned in a special ceremony, traditionally, though not always, performed by the Pope in Rome, using the Imperial Regalia. Before 1508, a king, though elected and exercising all the powers of the Emperor, couldn't call himself by that title. In 1508, Pope Julius II conceded to Maximilian I the right to use the title of Emperor without coronation in Rome, though the title was qualified as Electus Romanorum Imperator, "Emperor of the Romans by election". Other than Charles V, all succeeding Emperors availed themselves of the right to use the title without going to Rome for coronation. Even before 1530, coronations were somewhat rare phenomena, and several were not performed by a generally recognized Pope at all.
| Emperor |
Coronation date |
Officiant |
Location |
| Charles I |
25 December 800 |
Pope Leo III |
Rome |
| Louis I |
816 |
Pope Stephen V |
Reims |
| Lothair I |
5 April 823 |
Pope Paschal I |
Rome |
| Louis II |
850 |
Pope Leo IV |
Rome |
| Charles II |
29 December 875 |
Pope John VIII |
Rome |
| Charles III |
12 February 881 |
|
| Guy |
May 891 |
Pope Stephen V |
|
| Lambert |
30 April 892 |
Pope Formosus |
Ravenna |
| Arnulf |
22 February 896 |
Rome |
| Louis III |
901 |
Pope Benedict IV |
Rome |
| Berengar |
December 915 |
Pope John X |
Rome |
| Otto I |
2 February, 962 |
Pope John XII |
|
| Otto II |
25 December, 967 |
Pope John XIII |
|
| Otto III |
21 May, 996 |
Pope Gregory V |
|
| Henry II |
14 February, 1014 |
Pope Benedict VIII |
|
| Conrad II |
26 March, 1027 |
Pope John XIX |
|
| Henry III |
25 December, 1046 |
Pope Clement II |
|
| Henry IV |
31 March, 1084 |
Antipope Clement III |
|
| Henry V |
13 April, 1111 |
Pope Paschal II |
|
| Henry V |
23 March, 1117 |
Antipope Gregory VIII |
|
| Lothair III |
4 June, 1133 |
Pope Innocent II |
Basilica of St. John Lateran |
| Frederick I |
18 June, 1155 |
Pope Adrian IV |
|
| Henry VI |
14 April, 1191 |
Pope Celestine III |
|
| Otto IV |
4 October, 1209 |
Pope Innocent III |
|
| Frederick II |
22 November 1220 |
Pope Honorius III |
|
| Henry VII |
29 June 1312 |
Cardinals |
|
| Louis IV |
17 January 1328 |
Sciarra Colonna |
|
| Charles IV |
5 April, 1355 |
Cardinal |
|
| Sigismund |
31 May, 1433 |
Pope Eugenius IV |
|
| Frederick III |
19 March, 1452 |
Pope Nicholas V |
|
| Charles V |
February 1530 |
Pope Clement VII |
Bologna, Italy |
External results
Click here for more details on Holy Roman Emperor
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://holy_roman_emperor.totallyexplained.com">Holy Roman Emperor Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
We see you're using Internet Explorer. Try Firefox, we think you'll like it better.
· Firefox blocks pop-up windows.
· It stops viruses and spyware.
· It keeps Microsoft from controlling the future of the internet.
Click the button on the right to download Firefox. It's free.
NEW: Download the Totally