14th Century In Germany
The Holy Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum, German: Heiliges Römisches Reich, Italian: Sacro Romano Impero) was a varying complex of lands that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe. It grew out of East Francia, one of the primary divisions of the Frankish Empire. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes. In its last centuries, it had become quite close to a union of territories.
The empire's territory lay predominantly in Central Europe and at its peak in 1050 under Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, included territories of the Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Burgundy. For much of its history, the Empire consisted of hundreds of smaller sub-units, principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial Cities and other domains.
The Holy Roman Empire explicitly proclaimed itself to be the continuation of the Western Roman Empire under the doctrine of translatio imperii ("transfer of rule" via a succession of singular rulers vested with supreme power). In 962 Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor (Latin: Imperator Romanus Sacer), although the Roman imperial title was first restored to Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800. Otto was the first emperor of the realm who was not a member of the earlier Carolingian dynasty. The last Holy Roman Emperor was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
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Famous quotes containing the words century and/or germany:
“Love is sinister,
is mean to us in separation;
makes our thin bodies thinner.
This fellow Death
lacks mercy
and is good at counting our days.
And Master,
you, too, are subject
to the plague of jealousy
so think:
how could womenfolk,
soft as sprouts,
live like this?”
—Amaru (c. seventh century A.D.)
“By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, to-day in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a bête noire the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!”
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)