The Holy Roman Empire was an empire in central Europe consisting of many territories and ethnicities. Once very powerful, the empire’s authority slowly decreased over centuries and by the Middle Ages the emperor was little more than a figurehead, allowing princes to govern smaller sections of the empire. Though the various ruling princes owed loyalty to the emperor, they were also granted a degree of independence and privileges. The emperor, an elected monarch, needed the allegiance of the princes and other aristocracy to support him, in turn giving them power or money. This tenuous allegiance between powers was greatly strained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as religious reform dominated Europe and religious tensions divided the empire. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the empire’s power significantly declined because of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation split the empire’s states into Protestant and Catholic divisions, straining the peace between territories. Though the relationship between the princes and the emperor had already been tenuous, the princes, seeing the religious divisions, sensed weakness in the empire and further challenged imperial authority. The Holy Roman emperors battled Protestant princes in Germany into the seventeenth century, where tensions were still high from the Reformation and wars of religion – initially contained to the German territories – began to include other territories and states. As more European states joined the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire continued to deteriorate. From the early sixteenth to the mid seventeenth century, the Holy Roman Empire’s power declined greatly because of its internal religious rifts, conflicts (in particular the Thirty Years War, whic... ... middle of paper ... ...> * Crankshaw, Edward. The Habsburgs. New York: Viking, 1971. Print. Greengrass, Mark. The Longman Companion to The European Reformation, C. 1500-1618. London: Longman, 1998. Print. Hsia, R. Po-chia. Social Discipline in the Reformation: Central Europe 1550-1750. London: Routledge, 1989. Print. Linder, Robert Dean. The Reformation Era. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008. Print. McElwee, W. L. The Reign of Charles V: 1516-1558. London: Macmillan and, 1936. Print. Scribner, Bob. “Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation.” History Today 1 October 1982: 10-14. Print. “The Twelve Articles of the Peasants.” 1525. TS. Marxists Internet Archive. The Peasant War in Germany. Web. 11 Nov. 2015. “Treaty of Westphalia.” 1648. TS. Lillian Goldman Law Library, New Haven. The Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Works Cited: http://members.ll.net/ken/hunter3.html Ozment, Steven. The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth –Century German Town. New York: Harper Perennial, 1996. Print.
The Austrian, Habsburg Empire was, in the literal sense, disconnected; its holdings ranged in size from the large territory of Spain, to smaller territories, such as the Netherlands which were bordered by competing nations. An inherent problem of maintaining control of such a sprawling empire was the fact that there were many dissimilar communities with unique cultures and ways of thinking. This dynamic made it difficult for the House of Habsburg to exercise control and to unify its empire. Religion proved to be the most difficult matter to control, attempts to do so resulted in the Thirty Years’ War.
The Western Roman Empire was constantly in chaos and could not firmly establish an undisputed government. When it fell, in 476 AD, the civilization had no central government to act as a backbone. It was ruled by the Pope, who appointed Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, as emperor in 800 AD. This event led to the transformation of the civilization into the Holy Roman Empire. This lasted unti...
Under emperors Ferdinand I and his son Maximillian II, Protestantism in Germany grew quickly (Callahan and Higgs 92). After a transition in rulers, king Charles was left ...
... the Era. Vol. 4. Detroit: n.p., 2005. N. pag. Renaissance Europe 1300-1600. Rpt. in N.p.: n.p., n.d. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
Martin Luther’s Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation was published in 1520. In the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Martin Luther claims that the Catholic
...ced by permission of." Renaissance and Reformation Reference Library. Ed. Julie L. Carnagie, Peggy Saari, and Aaron Saari. Vol. 1: Vol.1: Almanac. Detroit: UXL, 2002. World History in Context. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
15 Cassirer, 15. 16 Cassirer, 171. 17 Cassirer, 136. 18 Cassirer, 164. 19. Cragg, Gerald R. The Church and the Age of Reason, 1648-1789.
Roper, H. R.. The crisis of the seventeenth century; religion, the Reformation, and social change. [1st U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 19681967. Print.
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Shuck, M. That They May Be One: Social Teaching of the Papal Encyclicals, 1749-1891. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. 1991.
Gonzalez, Justo L. 1984. The early church to the dawn of the Reformation. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.
Perhaps no other event was as influential to the rise of papacy in Rome as the decline of the Roman empire. With the decline of the empire, the church became the last refuge of stability. Without the protection of the empire, Rome was subject to poverty, disrepair, and attack from enemies.1 The rise of the papacy was a response to this situation. It was further cemented by the leadership of such men as Leo I and Gregory I, the latter sometimes referred to as the father of the medieval papacy.2 Finally, the granting of lands and authority to the bishop of Rome greatly increased the power of the Roman church.3
Burns, Julia. "Notes MLA 6318". Church and State in Early Modern England. Fall 2013. Dr. D. David.