Holy Roman Emperor

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Coats of arms of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 to 1576.

The Holy Roman Emperor was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, a predecessor of numerous countries mainly in central Europe. A wide stretch of the continent, with some variation, was held together by the Emperors, from the 8th century, to 1806, and the Empire's collapse.

"Emperor", was a title passed from the Romans to the Franks in 800, as Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, King of the Franks, Emperor, in exchange for his protection, with the head of the Church protector of the Frankish Empire also. At the death of Charlemagne the Frankish realm was split into three parts by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, and the Emperors were in the middle realm, Lotharingia. In 962, Otto I, Duke of the Saxons, and the King of the Germans, was crowned Emperor, which, in medieval theory, was referred to as translatio imperii, Latin for transfer of rule.

A Holy Roman Emperor, as well as the Holy Roman Empire itself, was only known as such in later centuries, with the Pope ever increasing his role in the affairs of state, and the strong influences of the Crusades. Initially, the Emperor called himself Imperator Augustus, which was meant to be a succession to the Roman Emperors. It is certainly true that a militarial ruler such as Charlemagne, with the religion of kingly sacrifice in Franko-Germanic culture, was a powerful patron for the Church.

Until 1508, the King of the Romans, who was elected by a group of princes later known as Electors, was Emperor only when he was crowned by the Pope, in Rome. Curiously, after his coronation, the Emperor was still the King (a title with functions in feudal law). By the dub of 'Emperor', he had been made protector of the Church, for the continuance of Christianity, as, duly, protector of souls, a religious task, rather than military. Emperors were also ordained as subdeacons, aids of Christian services, which excluded non-Catholics and women from the Roman throne. Thus, confraternity between the military and religious was never entirely clear and led to much conflict between the Dukes and the Popes; an example may be seen with the Investiture Controversy in the 11th century.

Successions to the Kingship were controlled by a complicated mélange of factors. Elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male Catholic successors. Some scholars suggest that the task of the elections was really to solve conflicts only when the dynastic rule was unclear, yet, the process meant that the prime candidate had to make concessions, by which the voters were kept on side, which were known as Wahlkapitulationen (election capitulations). Significantly enough though, elections were contributors to the decline of the kingdom. With the rigidity in the Empire, the Collegiate of Electors was stuck to a select number of seven by the Golden Bull in 1356 until 1623, when, with the Thirty Years' War, more Electors were added in an attempt to keep overlordship by the Emperors, and the dominion, by the Church.

After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg, with the brief exception of the Wittelsbach, Charles VII. In 1508, and permanently after 1556, the King assumed the title of Emperor-elect, no longer travelling to Rome for the crowning by the Pope. Nonetheless, the King was commonly referred to as Emperor.

The office of Holy Roman Emperor was at an end, in 1806, with the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire. Its last occupant, Francis II, with anticipation of Napoleon's command for the abolition, had made himself Franz I, Emperor of Austria, in 1804. Holy Roman Emperors, and the Empire, now dwell in history books.