The Holy Roman Empire: The Early Middle Ages

The Holy Roman Empire was a diverse complex of territories that lasted for over a thousand years, located in Europe that was created during the Early Middle Ages, which proceeded until its disintegration in 1806. Today Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and parts of France, Italy, and Poland where the European states that made of Holy Roman Empire’s loose confederation. French writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire statement on the Holy Roman Empire, “the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” was a conventional way to describe this institution and its was a failure since the beginning.

Charlemagne conceived around the year 742, “he began

The Habsburgs originated from a long line of German kings. The Habsburgs family married their way into power using inbreeding, which also to retain all their inherits inside the family. “And one the tactics used by the Hapsburgs was the promote dynastic marriages between Hapsburg cousins, thus keeping inheritances within the family and out of the hands of the church. This Hapsburg inbreeding worked politically but over the centuries it brought out recessive family genes for mental illness and, most famously, these oversized lower jaws, that became Europe's most recognizable profile. In short: inbreeding, great way to keep money in the family, maybe not the best way to keep A++ kings in the family” (Green, 2014). They were able to ruled over Austria, the Netherlands, Milan, Sicily, and Spain along with the Holy Roman Empire. This established their power above the papacy. The papacy responded to this situation in 1356 by creating the Holy Roman Emperor an elected position. In order to become emperor, candidates must have advocate from at least 4 of 7 electors. The electors were normally three archbishops and four secular rulers. “The emperor had a broad range of powers, but they were limited in application. He could approve or veto laws, propose and enforce laws, appoint officials, represent the empire internationally, and serve as the

His mother Joanna, her parent was Ferdinand and Isabella. Joanna rule Spain and parts of Italy, including Naples and Sicily, and Americas. Charles’ father Philip I was the Duke of Burgundy and rule the German grounds. Charles inherited his family land making him leader of Spain and Germany, just Charles was neither Spanish nor German Charles was French. Governing over such larges number was not suited for Charles, especially since German peasants were rebelled against the empire during that time, “By the time Charles bought his throne in 1521, German merchants had come to think of themselves as being guaranteed the rights to speak in a parliament, to have a say in their taxes, and even to form their own militias” (Green, 2014). Rebelling Germans was not the only problem Charles encounter, Protestantism also made life difficult for Charles. Particularly when Martin Luther a German theologian and his followers stated they will obey their own religion instead of obeying to the emperor's command. Even though Charles V made some poor decision, he made some effort to make the Holy Roman Empire