The Holy Roman Empire It had its origin in the kingdom of Germania, one of the three parts that the Carolingian Empire was divided.
The Treaty of Verdun divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms:Germania, France, and Lotharingia. Of these kingdoms, the one that managed to maintain royal authority most vigorously was that of Germania. However, some grand dukes dominated the country.
One of them was Henry the Birdcatcher, Duke of Saxony, who was elected king in 918 and tried to strengthen his power in opposition to the grand dukes. At that time, Germania was threatened by the constant invasions of the Normans, Hungarians and Slavs. The latter came, like the Hungarians, from Eastern Europe.
This was the kingdom that Otto I inherited in 936 , son of Henry the Birdcatcher. Unlike the last Carolingians in France, Otto I defended his kingdom from invasions and stopped the ambitions of the nobility.
For this reason, in the year 962 Otto was proclaimed emperor. In this way the Holy Roman Empire was born. , whose long life only ended in 1806. This empire, which was a new attempt to rebuild the Western Roman Empire and had a great inspiration in Charlemagne, became the main power in Europe .
The title of sacred or holy was added to this reconstruction. , because it was a Christian empire that revived the idea of the unity of Christianity. It was also called Germanic, because its base was the kingdom of Germania. This empire was the largest territorial state in medieval Europe. Throughout its history it was ruled by four dynasties:the Saxony, the Franconian, the Hohenstaufen and the Habsburgs.
The Empire of Otto I
When Otto assumed the throne in the year 936, his main objective was to turn the nobles into officials loyal to the king. However, very soon this monarch had to face the revolts that carried out all the dukes of the kingdom, challenging their authority.
Otto controlled these insurrections, but was convinced that he could not count on the dukes to consolidate his power. So, he found in the Church a powerful ally against the German nobility.
Relations with Byzantium
To reassert himself as emperor of the Romans, Otto I wanted to marry his son to a Byzantine princess. But the emperor of Byzantium, Nicephorus II, flatly refused, and Otto I's ambassador was told that his lord was neither an emperor nor a Roman, but a simple barbarian king, and that a marriage between his son and an imperial princess was not up for discussion. However, during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor John II, the union between Otto's son and the Greek Theophane, distantly related to the Byzantine Emperor, was achieved.
The Church's support for the Holy Roman Empire
The bishops were in fights against the dukes who wanted to take away their lands. Otto came to their defense, gave them military aid and money, and also gave them more land. In return, the Church had to help him in the administration of the kingdom and the army.
In this way, the bishops became officials of the state . For this reason they were frequently represented with a staff, a symbol of their religious power, and at the same time with a sword, which represented their earthly power.
Thanks to the support he gave the Church. Otto defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Lech (955); he stopped the invasions of the Normans and the Slavs and kept his kingdom in peace.
In 961, Otto I responded to the call of Pope John XII, threatened by the Italian king Berengar II. At the head of a magnificent army, he crossed the Alps, while Berengar fled, and appointed himself King of Italy .
In the year 962, Oton I was proclaimed emperor by the Pope . Otto recognized the legitimacy of papal power. However, he claimed the right to appoint the Supreme Pontiff and, furthermore, to intervene in the election of all the bishops. From then on, the fate of the Church was linked to that of the German emperors.
Otto I spent the last years of his life in Italy. He three times he led expeditions to southern Italy:against the Muslims and against the Byzantines themselves. When he died, in the year 973, he was succeeded by his son.
LinkswiththeChurch
Shortly after Otto I's coronation, he issued an edict confirming Pepin the Short's donation of land to the Pope and ordering that henceforth the Pope should take an oath of allegiance to the Emperor and that, in addition, the Germanic monarchs had to participate in the pontifical elections. Exercising this right, Otto I dismissed John XII himself, who was the Pope who crowned him, and imposed Pope Leo VIII on his successor.
Successors of Otto I
For Otto's successors, the task was not easy, since the dukes, the conquered monarchs, the Slavs and the Hungarians were waiting for the opportunity to rebel . For this reason, the reign of Otto II (973-983) was plagued by revolts.
But, in addition, Otto II faced the kings of Denmark and France, and the constant sieges on the eastern border. He died shortly after being defeated by the Muslims in southern Italy.
The third of the Ottos was only three years old when he inherited the throne, so the regency passed to his mother, Theophane. Otto III strongly took up the imperial project of his grandfather. However, the Church and the nobles rebelled against the power of the German emperors.
Imperial Obsession of Otto III
Among the German emperors, one of the most obsessed with the idea of imperial renewal was Otto III, who named Rome the capital of the empire. At the same time, this monarch appealed to the legacy of Charlemagne. The chronicles tell that to imbue himself with the strength of the former emperor, Otto III kept the nails, a tooth and a pectoral cross of Charlemagne that he unearthed from the monarch's tomb in Aachen.
Rest of Europe
France was beginning to be run by feudal lords, although it was under the nominal suzerainty of the Capetian family. England, invaded by the Vikings, struggled to reorganize. In Spain, the small Christian kingdoms of the north began the reconquest of the territories in the hands of the Muslims. Finally, Italy was experiencing great confusion as a result of the struggles between the Papacy and the Byzantine emperor, to which were added the rivalries between the nobles and the looting of the Saracens.