Holy Roman Empire


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Holy Roman Emperor Matthias reigned from 1612 to 1619. The Protestants were allowed to hold official administrative positions and to practice their beliefs openly. Their churches were returned to them. They were granted the right to erect new church buildings.
 
Charles VI (1 October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative, Charles II. In 1708, he married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his four children.
More information: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (28 August 1691 – 21 December 1750) was Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary; and Archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. She was renowned for her delicate beauty and also for being.
More information: Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel - Wikipedia

Charles VI with his wife Empress Elisabeth Christine and their daughters in 1730.

Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190.
More information: Frederick Barbarossa - Wikipedia

Penny or denier with Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, struck in Nijmegen.

Henry VI (November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sicily as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Constance I. He is buried in the Cathedral of Palermo.
More information: Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia


Henry's grave in the Cathedral of Palermo:

Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg (c. June 1075 – 4 December 1137), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens, Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia. He died while returning from a successful campaign against the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.
More information: Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Richenza of Northeim (c. 1087/1089 – 10 June 1141) was Duchess of Saxony from 1106, Queen of Germany from 1125 and Holy Roman Empress from 1133 as the wife of Lothair of Supplinburg.
More information: Richenza of Northeim - Wikipedia

Crown from Richenza's grave:

Henry V (probably 11 August 1081 or 1086[1] – 23 May 1125) was King of Germany (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, in 1098.
More information: Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Henry V's tomb, Cathedral of Speyer:

Empress Matilda (c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to Germany as a child when she was married to the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She travelled with the emperor to Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned empress in St Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry V had no children, and when he died in 1125, the imperial crown was claimed by his rival Lothair of Supplinburg.
More information: Empress Matilda - Wikipedia
 
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Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death in 1519. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself elected emperor in 1508 at Trent, with Pope Julius II later recognizing it. This broke the tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the Imperial title. Maximilian was the only surviving son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal.
More information: Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia


Mary of Burgundy (13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy and County of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1477 to her death.
As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, Mary inherited the Burgundian lands at the age of 19 upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. In order to counter the appetite of the French king Louis XI for her lands, she married Maximilian of Austria, with whom she had two children.
More information: Mary of Burgundy - Wikipedia

Bianca Maria Sforza (5 April 1472 – 31 December 1510) was Queen of Germany and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire as the third spouse of Maximilian I. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan by his second wife, Bona of Savoy.
More information: Bianca Maria Sforza - Wikipedia
 
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Maximilian II (31 July 1527 – 12 October 1576) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death in 1576. A member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, he was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on 14 May 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on 24 November 1562. On 8 September 1563, he was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia in the Hungarian capital Pressburg (Pozsony in Hungarian; now Bratislava, Slovakia). On 25 July 1564, he succeeded his father Ferdinand I as Holy Roman Emperor.
More information: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, with his family in 1553.

Maria of Austria or Maria of Spain (21 June 1528 – 26 February 1603), also known as Isabel, was the empress consort and queen consort of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary. She served as regent of Spain in the absence of her father Emperor Charles V from 1548 until 1551 and was one of the most powerful empresses of the Holy Roman Empire.
More information: Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress - Wikipedia

Portrait of Empress Maria of Austria.

Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the House of Habsburg.

Rudolf's legacy has traditionally been viewed in three ways: an ineffectual ruler whose mistakes led directly to the Thirty Years' War; a great and influential patron of Northern Mannerist art; and an intellectual devotee of occult arts and learning which helped seed what would be called the Scientific Revolution. Determined to unify Christendom, he initiated the Long Turkish War (1593–1606) with the Ottoman Empire. Exhausted by war, his citizens in Hungary revolted in the Bocskai Uprising, which led to more authority being given to his brother Matthias. Under his reign, there was a policy of toleration towards Judaism.
More information: Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia


Matthias (24 February 1557 – 20 March 1619) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612 to 1619, Archduke of Austria from 1608 to 1619, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608 to 1618 and King of Bohemia from 1611 to 1617. His personal motto was Concordia lumine maior ("Unity is stronger in the light").

Matthias played a significant role in the familial opposition of the Habsburgs against his brother Emperor Rudolf II. After gaining power, he showed little political initiative of his own. The course of his politics was determined by Cardinal Melchior Klesl until his fall in 1618. As a consequence of his failed religious and administrative policies, the Bohemian Revolt, the initial theatre of the Thirty Years' War, began during the final year of Matthias' reign.
More information: Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia


Anna of Tyrol (4 October 1585 – 14 December 1618) was by birth an Archduchess of Austria and member of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg and by marriage Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Queen of Hungary.

The first crowned Holy Roman Empress since the mid-15th century, she was responsible for the moving of the Imperial court from Prague to Vienna, which became one of the centers of European culture. A proponent of the Counter-Reformation, she held a great influence over her husband Matthias, with whom she founded the Imperial Crypt, which later became the burial place of the Habsburg dynasty.
More information: Anna of Tyrol - Wikipedia

 
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The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, a hoop crown (Bügelkrone) with a characteristic octagonal shape, was the coronation crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, probably from the late 10th century until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
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Charlemagne wearing the Imperial Crown.
 
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Conrad II (c. 990 – 4 June 1039), also known as Conrad the Elder and Conrad the Salic, was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms of Germany (from 1024), Italy (from 1026) and Burgundy (from 1033).
The son of Franconian count Henry of Speyer (also Henry of Worms) and Adelaide of Metz of the Matfriding dynasty, that had ruled the Duchy of Lorraine from 959 until 972, Conrad inherited the titles of count of Speyer and Worms during childhood after his father had died around the year 990.
More information: Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Miniature depiction in Conrad II, c. 1130.

Gisela of Swabia (c. 990 – 15 February 1043), was queen of Germany from 1024 to 1039 and empress of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 to 1039 by her third marriage with Emperor Conrad II. She was the mother of Emperor Henry III.
More information: Gisela of Swabia - Wikipedia

Empress Gisela entering a church.
 
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Henry II (6 May 973 – 13 July 1024 AD), also known as Saint Henry, was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler of the Ottonian line. As Duke of Bavaria, appointed in 995, Henry became King of the Romans ("Rex Romanorum") following the sudden death of his second cousin, Emperor Otto III in 1002, was made King of Italy ("Rex Italiae") in 1004, and crowned emperor by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.
More information: Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Cunigunde of Luxembourg, (c. 975 – 3 March 1040), was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Henry II. She ruled as interim regent after the death of her spouse in 1024. She is a saint and the patroness of Luxembourg; her feast day is 3 March.
More information: Cunigunde of Luxembourg - Wikipedia

Henry III (28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.
More information: Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Agnes of Poitou (c. 1025 – 14 December 1077) was the queen of Germany from 1043 and empress of the Holy Roman Empire from 1046 until 1056 as the wife of Emperor Henry III. From 1056 to 1061, she ruled the Holy Roman Empire as regent during the minority of their son Henry IV.
More information: Agnes of Poitou - Wikipedia

Gunhilda of Denmark (c. 1020 – 18 July 1038), was Queen of Germany as the wife of King Henry III from 1036 until her death.
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The cornerstone of the Speye Cathedral was laid by Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II.
 
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
More information: Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (German: der Rote), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.
More information: Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

Theophanu Skleraina (c. AD 955 – 15 June 991) was empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Emperor Otto II, and regent of the Empire during the minority of their son, Emperor Otto III, from 983 until her death in 991. She was the niece of the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes. Theophanu was known to be a forceful and capable ruler, and her status in the history of the Empire was in many ways exceptional. According to Wilson, "She became the only consort to receive the title 'co-empress' (coimperatrix augusta), and it was envisaged she would succeed as sole ruler if Otto II died without a son."
More information: Theophanu - Wikipedia
 
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Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), was East Frankish (German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son of Henry the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim.
Otto inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship of the Germans upon his father's death in 936. He continued his father's work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king's powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom's most important duchies. This reduced the various dukes, who had previously been co-equals with the king, to royal subjects under his authority. Otto transformed the church in Germany to strengthen royal authority and subjected its clergy to his personal control.
More information: Otto the Great - Wikipedia

Edith of England, also spelt Eadgyth or Ædgyth (910–946), a member of the House of Wessex, was the East Frankish (German) queen from 936, by her marriage to King Otto the Great.
More information: Eadgyth - Wikipedia

Adelaide of Italy (931 – 16 December 999 AD), also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Emperor Otto the Great. She was crowned with him by Pope John XII in Rome on 2 February 962. She was the first empress designated consors regni, denoting a "co-bearer of royalty" who shared power with her husband. She was essential as a model for future consorts regarding both status and political influence. She was regent of the Holy Roman Empire as the guardian of her grandson in 991–995.
More information: Adelaide of Italy - Wikipedia
 
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Berengar I was Holy Roman Emperor from 915 to 924.
As emperor, Berengar interfered in an episcopal election of the diocese of Liege. After the demise of Bishop Stephen in 920, Herman I, Archbishop of Cologne, tried to impose his choice of the monks of the local cloister on the vacant see. The monk was Hilduin. Berengar, King Charles III of France and Pope John X interfered. Another monk, Richer, was appointed to the see with Emperor Berengar's support.
 
In 1477 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III elevated Duke Sigismund of Austria to Archduke of Austria.
 
In 1477 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III elevated Duke Sigismund of Austria to Archduke of Austria.
Frederick III was the cousin of Sigismund of Austria and extremely wealthy too!
 
Henry VI (November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sicily as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Constance I.
Henry was the second son of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy. Well educated in the Latin language, as well as Roman and canon law, Henry was also a patron of poets and a skilled poet himself. In 1186 he married Constance of Sicily. Henry, stuck in the Hohenstaufen conflict with the House of Welf until 1194, had to enforce the inheritance claims by his wife against her nephew Count Tancred of Lecce. Henry's attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Sicily failed at the siege of Naples in 1191 due to an epidemic, with Empress Constance captured. Based on an enormous ransom for the release and submission of King Richard I of England, he conquered Sicily in 1194; however, the intended unification with the Holy Roman Empire ultimately failed due to the opposition of the Papacy. In Sicily, Henry had a reputation for ruthless suppression of political opponents. To this day, he is sometimes given the epithet "the Cruel" (il crudele) by Italian historiographers.
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Constance I (2 November 1154 – 27 November 1198) was the queen of Sicily from 1194 until her death and Holy Roman Empress from 1191 to 1197 as the wife of Emperor Henry VI.
As queen regnant of Sicily, she reigned jointly with her spouse and later with her infant son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. She is particularly notable for her actions against her own family, the Norman kings of Sicily; she played an important role in the end of the Hauteville presence in Sicily.
Despite being the sole heir to the throne of Sicily, she did not marry until she was 30 due to a prophecy; shortly after becoming empress, she was involved in the succession war against her illegitimate nephew King Tancred for the Sicilian throne, during which she was captured, though she was later released unharmed. In the history of Holy Roman Empire only two empresses were captured, with the other being her mother-in-law Empress Beatrice.
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Ambassadors were received by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.
 
It was during the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III that stone vaulting was put into the nave of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and work begun on raising a second spire to match the first.
 
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