Germany: The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire came into existence with the imperial coronation (962) of Otto I. (A list of Otto's successors until 1806 accompanies the article on the Holy Roman Empire.) As a result of their difficult dual role as emperors and German kings, and especially because of their interests in Italy, Otto's successors could not prevent the German dukes and their vassals from increasing their power at the expense of the central authority. Imperial power was further undermined by the conflict between emperors and popes, manifest in the struggle over investiture.

Emperor Frederick I (reigned 1152–90; also known as Frederick Barbarossa) of the Hohenstaufen line was one of the most energetic medieval German rulers. He unsuccessfully challenged the power of the pope (see Guelphs and Ghibellines), being defeated by the Lombard League in 1176. However, Frederick did succeed in partitioning (1180) the domains of Henry the Lion of Saxony and Bavaria, thus destroying the last great independent German duchy. Until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Germany remained a patchwork of numerous small temporal and ecclesiastical principalities and free cities.

The campaigns of the 12th and 13th cent. against the Slavs (see Wends) resulted in tremendous eastward expansion and the establishment of the margraviate of Brandenburg and the domain of the Teutonic Knights. The turbulent reign (1212–50) of Emperor Frederick II, who was active in Sicily, and who engaged in a major conflict with the papacy, left Germany in a state of anarchy. Several rival kings appeared, but none held wide authority, and lawlessness prevailed. The dark period of the Great Interregnum (1254–73) ended with the election of Rudolf I, count of Hapsburg (see Hapsburg), as German king, but neither he nor his successors could create a centralized monarchy. Germany thus diverged from the great kingdoms of Western Europe—France, England, and Spain—where the trend was toward increasing centralization.

To offset the tendency toward independence of the nobles, the emperors relied chiefly on the prosperous cities, many of which formed into leagues for their common defense and interests—e.g., the Hanseatic League and the Swabian League. German commerce and banking prospered in the late 15th and early 16th cent., the heyday of such merchant princes as those of the Fugger and Welser families of Augsburg. With the help of these capitalists, Emperor Charles V (reigned 1519–58) financed his many campaigns.

The weakness of the imperial position was evident when, in the Protestant Reformation (16th cent.), the Catholic emperor was unable to enforce his religious policies or to prevent the conversion to Protestantism of many powerful princes. Links between religious and economic unrest were reflected in the Peasants' War (1524–26) and in the unsuccessful attempt of the Imperial Knights under Franz von Sickingen to secularize ecclesiastical domains.

Continued unrest and Protestant gains helped stimulate the Counter Reformation, which hardened the religious and political divisions in Germany. A religious settlement was reached only after the devastating Thirty Years War (1618–48), which was a crushing setback to the cause of German unity. The chief theater of the war, Germany was reduced to misery and starvation, lost a large part of its population, and became, as a result of the Peace of Westphalia (1648; see Westphalia, Peace of), a loose confederation of petty principalities under the nominal suzerainty of the emperor. Depopulation brought increased competition for peasant labor and helped to perpetuate the institution of serfdom, which was declining in other parts of Western Europe.

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