However, it is intriguing that the eastern and western Roman empires are not hostile to each other, but closely cooperate in many aspects. In the following decades, Rome was repeatedly captured and bloodbath by Alaric I and Vandals of Visigoth Kingdom, and the strength and majesty of the Western Roman Empire plummeted.
In 476, the Western Roman Empire was completely disintegrated, and the last Roman emperor personally issued the abdication edict, announcing that the Western Roman Empire no longer existed and all the colonies of the Empire could be independent on their own.
The Eastern Roman Empire was preserved and later called the Byzantine Empire. Although the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, its emperor was deposed by the Visigoths. However, Roman rule in Paris lasted until 486. That year, Clovis, the leader of a Frankish unit of the Germanic nation, completely defeated the Romans and established the Morovian dynasty of the Frankish kingdom.
Later, the Frankish kingdom continued to grow and reach its peak under Charlemagne's rule of Caroline Dynasty, and conquered the territories of France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, northern Italy, Bohemia, western Austria and the northeast corner of Iberian Peninsula.
In 800, Charlemagne was crowned as "Emperor of Rome" by the Pope while attending a church in Rome, and the whole Frankish kingdom was also called Charlemagne Empire. On Christmas Day in 800, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of Rome by Pope Leo III. The Western Roman Empire was restored in the form of the transfer of the throne to the Frankish king.
Charlemagne Empire laid the foundation of the later Holy Roman Empire at least in theory until 1806 when the Holy Roman Empire was abolished. Pope Leo III thought that the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 marked the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, but most people still thought that the empire at that time should be called the Frankish Empire.
In 840, Charles the Great's son Louis I died, and his empire fell apart.
In 843, three sons of Louis I concluded the treaty of verdun, which was divided into three parts. Among them, Lothar (795-855), the eldest grandson of Charlemagne, inherited the title of emperor, and owned territory from the south of the lower reaches of the Rhine River, through the Rhone River basin, and all the way to central Italy, known as the Central Frankish Kingdom. And his younger brother Louis (804-876), known as Germanic Louis, were divided into areas east of the Rhine River and called the Eastern Frankish Kingdom. Another brother, the bald Charlie, owns another western region, called the West Frankish Kingdom. After Charlemagne's death, the title of emperor of the Western Roman Empire has been held by Carolyn, the monarch of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom and the Western Frankish Kingdom in turn. At first, the crown of Carolingian dynasty fought endlessly between West Frank and East Frank, and first it fell into the hands of bald Charlie of West Frank and fat Charlie of East Frank as trophies.
However, after the death of Fat Charlie in 888, Caroline's empire fell apart and never recovered. According to Reggio of Plume, each part of the empire chose a "little king" from within. However, after fat Charlie was deposed in 887, Caroline's empire collapsed and there was no reunification.
Since Fat Charlie, the title holders of Roman emperors are mostly Italian kings crowned by the Pope. The actual rule of Italian kings is extremely limited, limited to the northeast of Italy, and almost all of those kings are local nobles in Italy. The last such emperor was Belengel I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, the local forces of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom rose, forming four principalities based on four Germanic tribes, namely: Saxony (Saxony), Frankenia (ancient Frankish), Schwaben (aleman) and Bavaria (Bavaria).
9 1 1 When Lu Yi, the last king of Carolingian family, died in, the aristocrats of the East Franks did not choose the Carolingian family members of the West Frankish kingdom as the heirs of Louis, but elected Conrad, Duke of Franken, as the new king. On his deathbed, Conrad appointed his arch-enemy Herzogtum Von Sachsen Henry I (German) as his successor.
In 9 19, Herzogtum Von Sachsen Henry was elected as the king of the eastern Frankish kingdom among many dukes. After Henry's death, his son Otto succeeded to the throne and became the king of East Frank.
Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the king of the Otto family, continued to rule the Eastern Frankish kingdom for about a century. Otto I, Henry's designated heir, was elected King of Aachen in 936. He suppressed a series of rebellions initiated by his eldest brother and some dukes. After that, the king successfully mastered the appointment and dismissal of dukes, and often appointed bishops to manage administrative affairs.
In 19951year, Otto I helped the Italian widow queen Adelaide defeat her enemy. He married her and took control of Italy.
In 955, Otto I won a decisive victory over magyars at the Battle of Lechfield.
In 962, Otto I, king of the Eastern Frankish and Otto Dynasties, was crowned emperor by Pope John XII in Rome. In 973, he became the guardian and emperor of Rome and the supreme ruler of the Roman Catholic world.
Since then, the affairs of the Germanic Kingdom have been intertwined with those of Italy and the Holy See. Otto's coronation ceremony made the Germanic kings the heirs of Charlemagne Empire, and also made them the heirs of ancient Rome through the principle of imperial succession.
The kingdom has no fixed capital, and the king keeps going back and forth to various residences to handle government affairs (known as Kaiserpfalz). However, every king has his favorite place. For Otto I, that is magdeburg. The throne continues to pass through elections, but before the king dies, their children are often elected as the next king, which makes it possible for their family to keep the throne for a long time. This feature lasted until the end of the Salem dynasty in the12nd century.
This also renewed the conflict between Constantinople and the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, especially after Otto I's son Otto II claimed to be the Emperor of Rome. Nevertheless, Otto maintained the marriage relationship with the Eastern Roman Empire by marrying the Byzantine princess Theofanu. Their son, Otto III, devoted himself to Italy and Vatican and carried out extensive diplomatic activities, but he died young in 1002.
His cousin Henry II succeeded him and focused on German internal affairs. 1024, Henry II, the emperor of the Otto dynasty of the Roman Empire, died childless, and Conrad II from Frankish was elected as the king of Eastern Frankish, and was crowned the emperor of the Roman Empire on 1027.
During the reign of the dynasty, there was a fierce struggle with the Pope for the right of appointment. It is worth noting that during this period, the "King of Romans" (Latin: Rex Romanorum) replaced the (East) King of Franks (or "King" for short) and became the title of uncrowned king for the first time: this is the annual age ("age"). Childhood. Henry IV, who was crowned king, responded to Pope Eliot VII, who tried to deny the romanticism and universality of the rule of the king who was not crowned emperor by calling the young king "German King" or "Teutonicorum" (Latin: Rex Teutonicorum), thus establishing the superiority of the Vatican to the empire.
1 125 The last monarch, Henry V, died, leaving no children, and the dynasty ended. Kings often hire bishops to manage administrative affairs and decide who will be converted. In the early days of the reform in Colonia, the Vatican increasingly thought that such ultra vires behavior was inappropriate. Pope Gregory Ⅶ was very concerned about Clooney's reform, and he was determined to oppose this behavior, which led to a controversy with King Henry IV, who opposed the interference of the Pope and persuaded the bishop to depose the Pope. The Pope excommunicated the king in turn, deposed him and lifted Henry's pledge of allegiance.
The king found himself politically isolated, so he forced himself to take a famous trip to Kanosha in 1077, and restored his religious membership at the expense of humiliation. At the same time, the principality of Germany elected another king: Rudolph of Swabia. Henry successfully defeated him, but in the end, he suffered more uprisings, re-excommunication, and even rebellion by his own son.
His second son, Henry V, successfully reached a religious agreement with the Pope and Bishop in 1 122. The political power of the empire was preserved, but this conflict showed that the power of all rulers was limited, especially the power related to the church, and the king's previous status as a saint was cancelled. Since then, the Pope and the monarchy have occupied an equally important position in the political system of the empire. The Frankish Dynasty ended with the death of Henry V in 1 125. The vassal states chose lothaire II, an influential old Herzogtum Von Sachsen, instead of the blood relatives of the king. When he died in 1 138, the vassal states once again turned their attention to more influential families. Therefore, instead of choosing lothaire's favorite heir: Henry, the "proud" son-in-law of the Welf family, they chose Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen family, a close relative of the Salem family. This incident triggered a contradiction between the two families for more than a century. Conrad deprived the Weilf family of their property, but after his death 1 152, his nephew Frederick I succeeded to the throne, shook hands with the Weilf family and returned the property of his cousin Henry the lion, although the amount was less than before.
The rulers of the Hohenstaufen family are increasingly lending their land to their miniature models, and Frederick hopes that they will be more reliable than the dukes. At first, this new class mainly served the war, which was the predecessor of their later chivalry class and the foundation of imperial power. Another essential change of the empire during the Hohenstaufen dynasty was the establishment of a new order of the whole empire in Longkalia. On the one hand, this move is to abolish the private fiefs of many dukes, on the other hand, it also tries to put the emperor's servants under the same legal, judicial and public prosecution system, which is the predecessor of the modern concept of "legal system". Another brand-new idea is to build a new urban system-completed by the emperor and the local duke. The formation of this concept is partly due to the sharp increase in population, but also to focus on the economic development of key areas. In the past, cities were only formed on the basis of ancient Rome or under the jurisdiction of bishops. Some cities, including Frejborg, were founded in the12nd century, which to some extent became the economic development templates of many later cities, such as Munich.
Frederick was crowned emperor in 1 155. He emphasized the "romanticism" of the empire, partly to prove the legitimacy of the independence of imperial power from religious power. 1 158 The imperial parliament held in Longkalia reaffirmed the rights of the emperor according to the Civil Code of the Eastern Roman Empire. Since the dispute between the right of independent religion and the right of appointment of imperial power, it has always been regarded as equivalent to imperial power, but it was first listed in Longkalia. This broad scope of power includes building roads, setting tariffs, minting coins, punitive charges and appointing and dismissing public officials. These powers can be clearly found in Roman law. This move has a far-reaching impact.
Frederick's policy was mainly aimed at Italy, where he clashed with some increasingly rich and independent cities, especially Milan. He was also involved in the conflict with the Vatican by supporting the minority candidate against Pope Alexander III. Frederick supported a series of pseudo-popes before shaking hands with the Pope in 1 177. In Germany, the emperor has repeatedly protected Henry Lion (especially Munich and Lubeck) in front of competitors such as principalities and cities. However, Henry's support for Frederick's policy was not very strong. When the Italian war entered a crisis, Henry refused the emperor's request for military support. After Frederick returned to Germany, in a rage, he filed a lawsuit against Duke Henry, and all Henry's land was confiscated.
During the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the German dukedoms successfully and peacefully promoted the process of settling in the eastern land by relying on the eloquent peasants, businessmen and craftsmen (including Christians and Jews) in the western part of the empire. Before that, these lands were settled by Western Slavs or no one. The gradual Germanization of these lands is a complex phenomenon, which could not be reasonably explained before racial prejudice appeared in the19th century. With the eastward expansion of the settlement and the intermarriage between the local Slavic rulers and the Germans, the influence of the empire continued to rise and eventually reached Pomerania and Silesia. At the same time, the Teutonic Order was invited to Prussia by Duke Conrad of Macedonia in 1226 to promote the Christianization of Prussians. However, the Teutonic Order and its Germanic successor, Prussia Kingdom, were never part of the Holy Roman Empire.
1 190, Frederick the Red Beard participated in the Third Crusade and died in Asia Minor. During the reign of his son and heir Henry VI, the Hohenstaufen dynasty reached its peak. Henry brought the Norman kingdom of Sicily under his own rule, captured the psychological examination of the king lion of England, and tried to establish a hereditary monarchy before 1 197 died. Although his son Frederick II was elected king, he was just a child living in Sicily. The Duke of Germany decided to elect an adult king, and two candidates, Philip of Swabia, the youngest son of Frederick with red beard, and Otto of Brunswick, the son of Henry the lion, competed for the throne. 1208, Philip was murdered in a quarrel, and Otto won a short victory (note: the reign of Otto IV was verve dynasty) until he also began to claim the throne of Sicily. Pope Innocent III was afraid of threats from the empire and Sicily, so he supported King Frederick II of Sicily to March into Germany and defeat Otto. Although he passed the throne of Sicily to his son Henry before going to Germany, Frederick did not fulfill his promise to separate the two countries after his victory, and still retained the actual control over Sicily. This situation lasted until 1220 when Frederick was crowned emperor. The Pope was afraid of Frederick's centralization and was finally punished. On the other hand, Frederick promised to launch the Crusade, but it was postponed again and again. Although excommunicated, Frederick led the Crusade in 1228, which ended in a series of negotiations and temporarily restored the kingdom of Jerusalem. The contradiction between the emperor and the Pope intensified day by day. Finally, with the support of the Pope, German countries elected new kings (note: Frederick II).
Bohemia, the only kingdom in the empire, is an important regional power. 12 12, Emperor Frederick II awarded the Sicilian Gold Seal, which recognized the royal titles of King Premis Otoka I (who has been using the title of king since 1 198) and his descendants, and promoted the Principality of Bohemia to a kingdom. Since then, the Czech king has been exempted from all obligations except attending the imperial conference.
In addition to his imperial demands, Frederick's rule was a turning point in the disintegration of imperial centralization. When he focused on building Sicily into a modern centralized country, he spent most of his time far away from Germany, and gave the principality and bishops of Germany a wide range of privileges: in the Confederacy and Principle Bus Church of 1220, Frederick granted many powers to bishops, such as setting tariffs, coinage and fortification. In favorem principum's 1232 Statutum, most of the above privileges are allocated to secular areas. Although many of these privileges have existed in advance, they are now widely and once granted. Frederick hoped that when he concentrated on Italian affairs, the principality of Germany could help him maintain order north of the Alps. The Duke of Germany was called domini terr for the first time in the Secular Events Act of 1232. That is, the master of their territory, which is also an extraordinary progress in political terms. Rudolph of the Habsburg dynasty was an ideal puppet for the German aristocrats at that time: he had a prominent family background (the godson of Frederick II, the matriarchal line of the Hohenstaufen family), but he was old (55 years old when he ascended the throne) and weak (the Habsburg family only had scattered territory in Upper Burgundy at that time). However, they all underestimated the genius of the veteran: 1276, Rudolph I declared war on the Bohemian King Otoka II, who annexed Babenburg territory without authorization, and finally killed his opponent in the Battle of Dunkrout two years later, successfully turning the vast Austria into the hereditary territory of the Habsburg family, thus becoming a powerful German vassal on an equal footing with Bohemia. Since then, the imperial power has almost always been in the hands of Bohemian kings (mainly from Luxemburg family) and Austrian Grand Duke (Habsburg family), until Bohemian and Hungarian King Ferdinand I from Habsburg family took over the imperial power and Austrian Grand Duke Carl V from their brothers. The Habsburg family in Austria is also the Grand Duke of Austria and the King of Bohemia, and its branch, the Habsburg-Lorraine family, monopolized the throne until the empire fell.
However, during this period, even though the emperor had a strong strength and a vast hereditary territory, the road to centralization of the holy Roman Empire was still difficult: Rudolph I's act of bringing Austria into the family territory was unanimously resented by the feudal nobles, so that after his death, it was not Albright of Habsburg who was elected as the emperor of the Roman Empire, but Adolf of Nassau; All Karl IV, who controlled Bohemia, Upper Saxony, Brandenburg and other vast territories, could do was to issue imperial edicts to confirm the privileges of the governor, so as to prevent the emergence of opposing emperors and the outbreak of civil war. Maximilian I's imperial reform was the farthest, but only by reforming the imperial parliament and feudal military system and establishing imperial ruling courts and imperial districts could a central government ruled by and serving the nobles be produced. And this fragile central government was shattered in the later religious reform. As for Karl V, the world hegemon, a devout Catholic, because of the cultural background of Spain and Burgundy, he never won the support of German aristocrats, and finally fell into the quagmire of religious disputes, giving way to his younger brother Ferdinand I.13rd century also witnessed the comprehensive change of land management mode in the late Middle Ages, which made preparations for the new bourgeoisie in Ran Ran to transfer political power at the cost of losing aristocratic feudalism. Besides paying poll tax, money began to represent the economic value of agriculture more. More and more farmers are required to pay land tax. The concept of "ownership" began to replace the ancient jurisdiction model, although they are still closely related. In imperial jurisdiction, power is more closely linked: no matter who owns the jurisdiction of land, other powers will follow. However, it is very important that the judicial power in this period does not include judicial power. In fact, the latter did not really appear until the century. Court trials rely heavily on traditions and practices.
During this period, the areas under the jurisdiction of the empire began to transform into the predecessors of modern countries. This process varies greatly in different regions, and the fastest-growing regions largely coincide with the regions of ancient Germanic tribes. It is worth noting that during this period, the empire began to have a reciprocal relationship with the German nation-state and the countries in the Germanic region: Frederick III added "German nation/country is Germanic" to the title for the first time. ) Modifier, maximilian I added "Germania Rex" to the etiquette title for the first time, while the traditional title of Germania rule was "Romanorum Rex" with unclear responsibilities.
However, the northern Italian city-States, such as Venice, Florence and Pisa, which became rich due to the development of capitalism, continued to attract the attention and energy of the emperor and weakened the empire's attention to Germanic and other parts of Italy.
In addition, the empire lacks recognized laws of succession to the throne, so once the emperor dies, it will often lead to disputes over the succession of the emperor, which will lead to civil war and anarchy in the empire. Successive emperors must defeat other unsupportive governors by force, or must find ways to win the support of most governors in order to maintain the authority of the emperor; In this case, the Holy Roman Empire gradually evolved into a loose "confederation organization", although its member States were assembled into a core "country". 1789, the French Revolution broke out. Louis XVI, the brother-in-law of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, was overthrown. And his sister, Queen Marie Antoinette of France, were executed by France and the government. Coupled with the spread of "fairness, freedom and fraternity", Leopold II tried to unite with European monarchies to defend the French monarchy by force. 1792, Leopold II formally formed an alliance with Prussia and prepared to intervene in France by force. But then he died suddenly. However, his son, Emperor Franz Ii of the Holy Roman Empire, continued his policy and formed the first anti-French alliance with Prussia, Sardinia, Britain, the Netherlands and Spain the following year. However, in 1797, because the allied forces were defeated by the French-Italian allied forces led by Napoleon and were forced to make peace, the alliance collapsed.
1799, the European powers took advantage of the opportunity of the French army to trap Napoleon's army in Egypt and launched the anti-French war again. This time, the imperial alliance formed the second anti-French alliance with Britain, Turkey and Russia. However, at the end of the same year, Napoleon returned to China alone, launched a coup in Fog Moon, gained the military and political power in France, and became the first ruling party in France. After that, Napoleon personally commanded the Italian army, turned back to deal with the anti-French countries, and defeated the allies at 1800. The empire had to make peace with Napoleon and dissolve the anti-French alliance. In the announcement issued three weeks after the coup, Napoleon announced that the "Great Revolution was over", which made the European powers a little relieved, their strength was damaged, and they temporarily gave up their anti-French actions. But Napoleon's ambition made Europe go to war again a few years later.
In May, Napoleon declared himself emperor. Franz Ii, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, saw the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon, which aggravated the division of German city-states, and worried that France would expand again and compete with the Holy Roman Empire. Therefore, he decided to unite Britain, Russia, Sweden and Naples to form the third anti-French alliance. 1805, the empire invaded Bavaria, an ally of the French empire, with the support of Russian troops. Naples attacked Napoleon's allies in Italy with the imperial army. However, Napoleon reacted quickly and crossed the Rhine from his native land. On February 2nd, 65438, the armies of France, Russia and the Holy Roman Empire fought a "Battle of Huang San" in Austerlitz. Napoleon finally not only held Bavaria, but also invaded Moravia, the Habsburg territory, drove the imperial army out of Italy and defeated Russian reinforcements in Prussia.
12 16 years, the French and the Empire finally signed the Pressburg Peace Treaty. After the signing of the peace treaty, Napoleon decided to set up a confederation of the Rhine River with himself as lord protector, so as to consolidate his allies in Germany. 1On July 2nd, 806, under the coercion and inducement of Napoleon, 16 members of the Holy Roman Empire signed the Treaty of Rhine Confederacy, leaving the empire and joining the Confederacy. This move seriously weakened the Austrian position as a Lord in Germany, which made Franz Ii very unhappy. In order to attract more countries to join the Confederacy, Napoleon decided to personally end the Holy Roman Empire. Therefore, he issued an ultimatum to Emperor Franz Ii, asking him to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire and give up the title of the Holy Roman Emperor and the king of the Roman people. Finally, on August 6th, 1806, Franz Ii abandoned the holy Roman emperor and only kept the Austrian emperor. The Holy Roman Empire officially perished.