The Holy Roman Empire is a complex political union that lasted from 962 to 1806 and potentially represented the largest state in Central Europe, founded by Emperor Otto I. At its peak (in 1050), under Henry III, it included there were German, Czech, Italian and Burgundian territories. She grew out of the East Frankish kingdom, proclaiming herself the heir of Great Rome, in accordance with the medieval idea of "translatio imperii" ("transition of the empire"). The Holy Roman Empire represented a conscious attempt at state rebirth.
True, by 1600 only a shadow of its former glory remained from it. Its heart was Germany, which by this period represented many principalities, successfully asserting themselves in their independent position under the rule of the emperor, which never had absolute status. Therefore, since the end of the fifteenth century, it has been better known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
The most important territories belonged to the seven electors of the emperor (King of Bavaria, Margrave of Brandenburg, Duke of Saxony,count palatine of the Rhine and three archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne), who are referred to as the first estate. The second consisted of unelected princes, the third - from the leaders of 80 free imperial cities. Representatives of the estates (princes, princes, lords, kings) were theoretically subject to the emperor, but each had sovereignty on their lands and acted as they saw fit, based on their own considerations. The Holy Roman Empire was never able to achieve the kind of political unification that existed in France, developing instead into a decentralized, limited elective monarchy made up of hundreds of subblocs, principalities, districts, free imperial cities, and other areas.
The Emperor himself also owned lands in Inner, Upper, Lower and Front Austria, controlled Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia. The most significant area was the Czech Republic (Bohemia). When Rudolf II became emperor, he made Prague its capital. According to contemporaries, he was a very interesting, intelligent, reasonable person. However, unfortunately, Rudolf suffered from bouts of insanity, which developed from his tendency to depression. This had a profound effect on the government structure. More and more privileges of power fell into the hands of Mattias, his brother, despite the fact that he had no authority over it. The German princes tried to take advantage of this problem, but as a result (by 1600) they not only did not unite their efforts, but, on the contrary, betweenthey split.
So let's sum it up. The main milestones of the political union of the territories: the formation of the Holy Roman Empire took place in 962. Otto, its founder, was crowned by the pope in Rome. Beginning in 1600, the power of the emperors was only nominal.
Although some of them tried to change their position, to strengthen their positions of power, their attempts were prevented by the papacy and the princes. The last was Francis II, who, under the pressure of Napoleon I, refused the title, thereby putting an end to its existence.
