Goodbye HRE

 

   While sitting in a sophomore college history course with a hundred of my fellow sleepyheads, I got my first glimpse into the complexities and the sorrows of history. The course was specifically a History of the Modern World, which meant the history of Europe for the last 500 years. One of the few things I remember from the course was the quip about the Holy Roman Empire being neither Holy, Roman, or an Empire.

   Holy?  Can any government be truly holy? Roman? It was composed of the areas that are now Germany, the Czech Republic, and southeastern France. An empire? Sometimes it was an empire, but for much of the time it was composed of semi-independent principalities, and its borders shrank and expanded over the centuries. Anyway, it was on this day in 1806 that Emperor Francis II declared the Holy Roman Empire kaput.

   The HRE got rolling way back on Christmas Day in 800 AD when the pope crowned Charlemagne emperor. The original Roman Empire had collapsed three centuries earlier. Those three centuries are called the Dark Ages mainly because we don't know much about what was going on then. People weren't writing things down. Trade was stagnant. No one went to college. Life probably didn't change much for the peasants as long as a horde of passing barbarians didn't burn their village. 

   Charlemagne was a big promoter of writing. The monks began bringing out the books they had hidden away. Academies were opened and trade picked up. The position of emperor gradually became elective, with the most powerful princes choosing one of their peers to be crowned by the pope. While France to the west became more and more powerful under its hereditary king, the HRE remained a collection of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities. Even individuals such as the imperial knights were considered independent.

   There were lots of squabbles with the pope. One emperor deposed the pope and set up one he liked better. Another emperor appointed his cousin as pope. That was Gregory V, the first German pope. Later popes clawed back their authority and a tense balance was won. The various princes and duke were often at war with each other. The emperor set up a court to settle disputes. This was the beginning of the "rule of law."

   The empire reached its apex in the 12th century under Henry VI. This is the same Henry who held Richard the Lionheart prisoner till England paid a huge ransom. Henry died on his way to the Crusades and the empire was never quite the same. The rising bourgeoisie cut into the power of the nobles. The nobles argued among themselves and with the emperor. The pope kept interfering, and Luther didn't help matters by dividing the empire along religious lines.

   The empire was beset by France and Spain to the west, and the Turks to the east. Bohemia revolted. Still, the empire kept limping along. Then came Napoleon. After the battle of Austerlitz, emperor Francis II abdicated on this day in 1806. Napoleon took the Rhineland as well as Francis's daughter. Francis was left as King of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which lasted till 1918. The only remnants of the old empire today are the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Principality of Liechtenstein.   

It's puzzling how long it was able to last.