What is the Holy Roman Empire?

Question

I mean I know it's like the west side of the old Roman Empire but why was it called the Holy Roman Empire?

Answer 1

It started once the Romans had an emperor by the name of Constantine, who openly embraced Christianity. He was the one who split the empire into the Eastern and Western states, putting the new capital at Byzantium, afterwards known as Constantinople

Answer 2

Towards the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th centuries Charlermane, the frankish king, built and empire consisting of France, northern parts of Spain, what was known as West Germany, Austria and Northern Italy. He declared an Empire with him as Emperor. You see western Europe had been dreaming of an empire ever since the Roman Empire.
After his death in 814 A.D. he divided(as according to the old frankish custom)the empire between his three sons. Charles, Lothar and Louis. After civil wars until the treaty of Verdun in 842 A.D. the empire was permanently divided.
After a period of strife brang about by the Vikings and Magyars and others, a German prince by the name of Henry the Fowler restored order and formulated what was to become THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. This was called this because it wanted to be known as holy(because of christianity), roman(because the name Roman had great traditions and conotations)and empire( to have unity and call it after the Roman empire) It's inspiration and the historic official start was the empire of Charlermane.
Actually Henry was a very good ruler(his policy was A CHICKEN EVERY SUNDAY IN EVERY POT)
His son OTTO became the Holy Roman Emperor. This position was conferred by election from amongst the princes and rulers of the empire. Quiet a bit of the time son followed father. In the 13th century the Hasburgs(Austria) won the battle of Marchfield and became the Holy Roman Emperors. Vienna became mostly the capitlal. The empire survived the onslaught of the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century(1247-1249) and eventually expanded itself to the east. It reached a peak under Charles V who ruled from 1515-1545 and then retired to a monastery. After tat it had some Spannish connections but was held by the Emperors of Austria.
It officially came to an end at the battle of Austrlitz when the armies of the empire(Austria) were crushed by Napoleon in 1806. After that the kings of Austria were just called the Austrian Emperors.
At it's peak it contained Germany, Austria, Hungary, parts of Poland, parts of Yugoslavia, Czchoslovakia, West Rumania, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxumberg, parts of eastern France and Norhern Italy as well as the island of Sicilly. It was grand experiment and a hope for Europe. However it was many of the times disunited and under incompitent and foolish ruler. Although it was officially an empire, it was only an empire dependent on the good will of the princes at most and an empire in name only at the least. It was as Voltaire said : THAT IT WAS NEITHER HOLY, ROMAN OR AN EMPIRE. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The Holy Roman Empire was a mainly Germanic conglomeration of lands in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It was also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from the late 15th century onwards. It originated with the partition of the Frankish Empire following the Treaty of Verdun in 843, and lasted until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

At its peak, the Holy Roman Empire encompassed the territories of present-day Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, and the Netherlands as well as large parts of modern Poland, France and Italy. At the time of its dissolution it consisted of its core German territories and smaller parts of France, Italy, Poland, Croatia, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Answer 4

The Holy Roman empire was first started when Pope Leo 3 placed a crown on Charlemagne's head crowning him king of the holy roman empire. It was probably called the holy roman empire in an effort to help repair the schism that was just enhanced by crowning Charlemagne, you know give them a little credit by putting in the word rome. Well I mean that is if I can recall correctly of course, subject to error if you know what I mean.

Answer 5

In AD 960, Pope John XII appealed to King Otto I for aid against the powerful Berenger II of Italy. Otto, like Pepin and Charlemagne before him, promptly marched into Italy to save the pope. In gratitude, Pope John XII crowned Otto as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, in AD 962. It was called “Holy” because this revived Western Empire was supposed to reign supreme in Christendom. It was called “Roman” because it was supposed to be the heir of the powers of the defunct Roman Empire in the West. It was an “empire” because all of central Europe, from the North Sea to the Adratic, was under the control of the Emperor.

Answer 6

To try and put it as briefly as possible, the West side was under the influence of the Pope by that time. The East side was basically Greek Orthodox. So naturally the people of the West side would only consider their West side to be the Holy one.

Answer 7

they were insane, they were geremens!they werent holy nor roman to me!

Answer 8

Maybe Wiki says

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire