Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor held a wide variety of titles throughout his long history. He is also known as the holy emperor or Roman-Germanic Emperor (German: Römisch-deutscher Kaiser), although these actually adopted —at at least initially—the title Emperor of the Romans (Latin: Imperator Romanorum). The first monarch to be so named was the Frankish King Charlemagne, crowned in Rome on Christmas of the year 800. After several monarchs and a brief interregnum, the crown passed to the German people through Otto the Great, crowned on February 2, 962. Historians have not reached a consensus on which of these coronations gave rise to the Holy Roman Empire. The last Emperor was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire on August 6, 1806 due to pressure from the French Emperor Napoleon I.

Creation

The imperial title was established at the coronation of the Frankish king Charlemagne by Pope Leo III at Christmas 800. This act did not found a new state, but rather the pope granted the king of the Franks the position of defender of the church, being its religious representative for social interest. The creation of an imperial territory came later, when the imperial title was associated with the kingdoms of Germany and Italy (and Burgundy from 1033). After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the Carolingian Empire was divided between the grandsons of Charlemagne. The imperial title, which remained in the hands of the kings of Italy, gradually lost relevance until it disappeared with the death of Berengar of Friuli in 924.

On February 2, 962, the title was revived with the coronation of Otto the Great by Pope John XII, an event that marked the birth of the Holy Roman Empire (or its re-establishment, according to some historians). On February 13, the Diploma Ottonianum was signed, confirming the donations of Pepin (756), Charlemagne (774) and the Constitutio Romana of 824, thus linking the Carolingian Empire with the Germanic.

Imperial title description

At his coronation, Charlemagne was proclaimed Imperator Romanorum (Emperor of Romans). Although this is the title commonly used to refer to the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, the truth is that there was never a truly defined imperial title. Before Otto II, the most common term to refer to the emperor was < b>Imperator Augustus (August Emperor).

Crown of the emperor of the Holy Empire.

Naturally, the title of Charlemagne led to conflicts with the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). On January 13, 812, Charlemagne and Michael I signed the "Peace of Aachen": in exchange for giving up Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, the Frankish emperor is recognized as Basileus, Greek equivalent of Emperor or King, but not of the Romans. Emperors in the East were called Basileus ton Romaion (Βασιλεύς των Ρωμαίων), considering themselves rulers of the entire Roman Empire. Charlemagne changed his imperial title to Imperator Romanum gubernans imperium (Emperor ruling the Roman Empire), thus claiming neither Roman heritage nor Byzantine legitimacy. However, future emperors returned to claim this legitimacy in opposition to the emperors of the East, later contemptuously nicknamed "Emperors of the Greeks" (Imperator Graecorum).

Given the impossibility of being crowned in Rome, Pope Julius II recognized Maximilian I as emperor-elect on February 4, 1508. In this way, the following emperors were entitled Electus Romanorum Imperator Semper Augustus. In fact, this recognition became automatic in Maximilian II, Rodolfo II, Ferdinand III, José I and José II, who had been crowned King of the Romans during the emperors' lifetime.

Imperial Election

The imperial anointing and coronation of Louis II in April 850 established a constant throughout the Middle Ages, that such rites could only be performed by the pope, and in Rome, even if he had previously been anointed king. In 855, with the abdication and death of Emperor Lothair I, Louis II, who was already King of Italy, did not obtain territories north of the Alps, and by remaining Italian sovereign, the imperial title was identified with the Italian kingdom. In this way, with the distribution made by Lothair I, the imperial title was confined to Italy and to the defense of the papacy from the incursions of the Saracens and the Magyars, which resulted, after the death of Louis II, that the own papacy arrogated the initiative to designate the emperor.

After the double elections of 1198, 1257 and 1314, and the assumption by the papacy of the power to approve and legitimize a certain candidate, the need to establish a procedure for the election of the emperor without papal intervention was appreciated. In the declaration of Rhens (1338), the validity of an election by majority was proclaimed as an ancient imperial custom and that the elected King of the Romans would assume power immediately, without requiring papal approval; this declaration was established at the subsequent Diet of Frankfurt as imperial law. Finally, at the Diet of Nuremberg, Carlos IV promulgated the Golden Bull of 1356, which established and fixed the imperial election procedure. In 1356 the seven prince electors were the archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg. Between 1621 and 1648 the Count Palatine of the Rhine was removed from the Electoral College. From 1623 a new electorate was created for the Duke of Bavaria, which became extinct in 1777. In 1692 the ninth House of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) was created electorate, which did not enter the Electoral College until 1708. Between 1706 and 1714, the electors of Cologne and Bavaria were excluded. In 1801 the electorates of Trier and Cologne became extinct. And in 1803 four new electorates were created for Württemberg, Baden, Hesse-Kassel and Salzburg (which never voted).

The candidate for the imperial coronation was chosen by the German princes as King of the Romans, during the emperor's lifetime or during interregnum; and once crowned as King of Romans in Germany, he was to go to Rome to be crowned by the pope as emperor. Given the internal difficulties in the Empire itself, the trip was delayed for years, and there were even Kings of Romans who were not crowned emperors throughout their reign. Holy Roman Emperors were crowned by Popes up until the 16th century. Since then, if the candidate for the future emperor was chosen during the emperor's lifetime, he was chosen and crowned as King of the Romans, and at the death of his predecessor he automatically became elected emperor; but if the candidate for emperor was chosen in interregnum, then he was crowned days after his election as emperor-elect.

List of Emperors

Image	Emperor	Dynasty	Coronation	Final
	Carlos I el Grande(Carlomagno)	Carolingia	25 December 800	28 January 814
	Luis I el Piadoso (Ludovico Pío)	Carolingia	11 September 813 and 5 October 816	20 June 840
	Lotario I	Carolingia	817 and 5 April 823	29 September 855
	Louis II the Young	Carolingia	6 April 850	12 August 875
	Carlos II el Calvo	Carolingia	25 December 875	6 October 877
	Carlos III el Gordo	Carolingia	12 February 881	11 November 887 Budget
	Spoleto guide	Carolingia (Spoleto Duchy)	21 February 891	12 December 894
	Spoleto's burial	Carolingia (Spoleto Duchy)	30 April 892	15 October 898
	Carinthian Arnulfo	Carolingia	22 February 896	8 December 899
	Luis III the Blind	Carolingia	February 901	21 July 905
	Berengario de Friuli	Lombard	25 December 915	7 April 924
	Oton I the Great	Saxon	2 February 962	7 May 973
	Oton II	Saxon	25 December 967	7 December 983
	Oton III	Saxon	21 May 996	23 January 1002
	Henry II	Saxon	26 April 1014	13 July 1024
	Conrado II	Salia	26 March 1027	4 June 1039
	Henry III	Salia	25 December 1046	5 October 1056
	Henry IV	Salia	31 March 1084	31 December 1105
	Enrique V	Salia	13 April 1111	23 May 1125
	Loyalty II	Supplinburg	4 June 1133	4 December 1137
	Federico I	Hohenstaufen	18 June 1155	10 June 1190
	Enrique VI	Hohenstaufen	15 April 1191	28 September 1197
	Oton IV	Güelfa	4 October 1209	25 July 1215 Budget
	Frederick II	Hohenstaufen	22 November 1220	13 December 1250
	Henry VII	Luxembourg	29 June 1312	24 August 1313
	Louis IV	Wittelsbach	17 January 1328	11 October 1347
	Carlos IV	Luxembourg	5 April 1355	29 November 1378
	Segismundo	Luxembourg	31 May 1433	9 December 1437
	Federico III	Habsburg	19 March 1452	19 August 1493
	Maximilian I	Habsburg	4 February 1508 Elect Emperor	12 January 1519
	Carlos V	Habsburg	24 February 1520 Crowned Emperor	28 February 1558
	Fernando I	Habsburg	14/24 March 1558 Elect Emperor	25 July 1564
	Maximilian II	Habsburg	25 July 1564 Elect Emperor	12 October 1576
	Rodolfo II	Habsburg	12 October 1576 Elect Emperor	20 January 1612
	Matías	Habsburg	13 June / 24 June 1612 Election / coronation	20 March 1619
	Fernando II	Habsburg	28 August / 9 September 1619 Election / coronation	15 February 1637
	Fernando III	Habsburg	15 February 1637 Elect Emperor	2 April 1657
	Leopoldo I	Habsburg	18 July / 1 August 1658 Election / coronation	5 May 1705
	José I	Habsburg	5 May 1705 Elect Emperor	17 April 1711
	Carlos VI	Habsburg	12 October / 22 December 1711 Election / coronation	20 October 1740
	Carlos VII	Wittelsbach	24 January / 12 February 1742 Election / coronation	20 January 1745
	Francisco I	Lorraine	13 September / 4 October 1745 Election / coronation	18 August 1765
	Joseph II	Habsburg-Lorraine	18 August 1765 Elect Emperor	20 February 1790
	Leopoldo II	Habsburg-Lorraine	30 September / 9 October 1790 Election / coronation	1 March 1792
	Francis II	Habsburg-Lorraine	5 July / 14 July 1792 Election / coronation	6 August 1806