Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

A loosely federated European political entity that began with the papal coronation of the German king Otto I as the first emperor in 962 and lasted until Francis II's renunciation of the title at the instigation of Napoleon in 1806. The empire was troubled by papal-secular squabbles over authority and after the 13th century by the rising ambitions of nationalistic states. By 1273 the empire consisted primarily of the Hapsburg domains in Austria and Spain.

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Holy Roman Empire

n

(Historical Terms) the complex of European territories under the rule of the Frankish or German king who bore the title of Roman emperor, beginning with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 ad The last emperor, Francis II, relinquished his crown in 1806

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Holy Roman Empire - a political entity in Europe that began with the papal coronation of Otto I as the first emperor in 962 and lasted until 1806 when it was dissolved by Napoleon political entity, political unit - a unit with political responsibilities Europe - the 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use `Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British Isles